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Cnc cookbook is great, there's a ton of great articles on machining theory and considerations for programming etc beyond just the g-wizard software
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Mar 31, 2021 00:19
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 00:26 |
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I use a notebook and photos for work holding and setup type stuff. I used the mastercam tool library and defaults to store a lot of speeds/feeds/programming details with tool definitions per cutting tool/material and it worked ok, I'd supplement it with an excel document that I'd keep extra stuff in. I was mostly able to standardize my cutting tools across jobs so it didn't take much to keep speed/feed/depth/width notes on hand and programming was pretty quick with that. Setup sheets are also super handy and a good way to take notes as you run the job and then either go back in and update like BRBFU said or I would just tape them in my notebook and use them as reference, I usually ran small enough qty of parts that I wouldn't adjust programming after the first run unless it was out of tolerance. I like to do a save as of CAM files when I export so I always have the as-run program archived to keep track of things.
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Nov 29, 2021 21:20
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I built or found basic models of the table, vices, fixturing parts I regularly used and mocked up some toolholders etc and did something similar when vendors didnt have full 3D available, it wouldn't do advanced collision checking but once youre worried about the column crashing into the part I'm rechecking stuff anyways because that would be a bad day. Sometimes would be frustrating if I assumed I had a free long er32 collet holder or something and they were all tied up in other jobs and had to reprogram things when I was planning on running the mill but it was worth it all in all. Most machine tool sales companies and workholding companies will provide de-featured CAD if you ask from a work account, Mastercam in SW always drove me mad because any change to the model or assembly would need a re-calculation of all the toolpaths, I'd build it in an assembly and then just export an iges and program in mastercam directly. I was programing and operating the mill so I'd do goofy stuff like program the roughing for a mould with a big finishing allowance for rest machining and start that running while I programmed the rest of the part, so being able to lock toolpaths and not have them change was important to me, it was always stressful if something hosed up and I had to rebuild a roughing toolpath and then know it wasn't 1:1 with the code I ran. This was for jobs where the roughing could be a couple hours of run time and having that productive vs watching the machine was huge for getting stuff done.
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Nov 30, 2021 01:03
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The diamondy-est stuff you can get, PCD vapor deposition coated carbide or pcd cutting edge in a carbide shank tools. They also rip through aluminum injection casting materials that have high silica content or any other highly abrasive no ferrous materials.
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Nov 30, 2021 16:55
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Brazed PCD tools often look like router bits with long straight flutes and come in pretty long LOC and as its a brazed tool it's naturally a relieved neck cutter and you can get them in long shanks for deep cuts. You still might have chip evac issues but if it's stuff you can do with a normal endmill you can probably find a PCD tool in the same dimensions that will work. The real wild ones are when they grow (god knows how) a helical vein of diamond in a carbide core and then grind helical flutes into the cutter so the cutting edge and primary/secondary reliefs are in the diamond but the main depth of the flute is in the carbide. They look a lot like a normal endmill but apparently demolish aluminum, I didn't see it in person but our usual.machinenvendor sells makinos and did a MAG6 install for an aerospace shop and said they'll push 3" PCD endmills at 30k rpm as fast as the machine can run it, like 800-1000ipm. Full load on a 125hp spindle...
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Dec 1, 2021 05:59
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The makino mags are super cool machines, the photos the guy was showing me of the install were wild - they built a new building for this machine cell, the foundation was poured with a giant pit for the machine base so it was level with the floor, had something like a 10 pallet pool for the machine with 6m x 2m pallets, the works. He couldn't say anything about who it was for or where but I assume it was an aerospace supplier for Boeing as I'm in the PNW and they're a Washington based machine vendor. Some fun videos of the MAG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkbkpUBD4E8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LlUtyRa-Pg
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Dec 1, 2021 19:01
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You might also reference the design of insert cutters in general, I've seen some shop made face mills and insert endmills that used standard inserts. I'm pretty sure that most of them get their cutting geometry from the insert and have relatively basic positioning of the insert relative to the cutter body.
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Dec 2, 2021 02:38
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That parallel kinematic stuff is neat, we use a hexapod/stewart platform at work for motion simulation for some stuff, they're neat tech. With the 6 arms of a stewart platform you can do rotation of the platform in addition to the pitch and yaw, but it looks like the ecospeed has a c-axis mounted to the kinematic platform for rotating the angle heads which makes more sense for a machine tool. Be fun to check one of those out, I remember seeing something similar at one point for automotive(?) work that was also able to do some x/y translation. The singularity avoidance is always interesting stuff, I've gotten to do some work with industrial robots and avoidance of singularities and minimizing max joint angular velocity is where a lot of the money is in optimizing robot motion for big industrial applications.
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Dec 3, 2021 19:20
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Harvey tool makes four flute center cutting 45° chamfer mills, they're my go to for weird cutters. Everyone else's advice is good on generally what to look for, but if you need full groove a four flute will be better than a single flute engraving cutter.
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Dec 27, 2021 06:17
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biracial bear for uncut posted:That seems like an awful lot of work vs. simply probing tools relative to the machine table/spoilboard surface and doing all of your programming so that you retract above any clamps/fixtures during non-machining moves and account for your known material thickness in said programs when determining depth of cut/etc. Yeah I've always touched tools off relative to the table and then used g54 z to account for table to workpiece height. You can touch your probe off to the table and get that value so you can probe the top of workpiece and then use math to know table to workpiece heights. Tools don't need to benr wet per job and it's easy for using a height gauge or similar for setting workpiece z height if that's what you want to do.
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Jan 24, 2022 18:51
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It's the deep end of the pool but Edge Precision puts out great videos, I feel like I have a solid handle on machining and can programming and I'm always learning new stuff from his videos.
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Aug 17, 2022 07:20
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Back when I was learning about it I got a lot from reading modern machine shop, the practical machinist forums, and the CNC cookbook blog. This was all like a decade ago so no idea of the quality of those sites now.
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Sep 23, 2023 07:04
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Not closing the shapes implies it's missing steps at the stepper or the belts are slipping on the drives, which could be from too much drag or an electrical issue or something. If it was a racking/squareness issue the stars would be wonky but closed. It looks like most of the error was on the vertical axis for that test plate, but looks like there could be some horizontal error as well. Is it an h-bot style mechanism or independent axes?
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Dec 19, 2023 06:49
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H-bot refers to the motion system, both motors turn for any motion in x or y vs a more traditional gantry where there's an x motor and a y motor. If you push the head around by hand you should be able to see if one or both motors turn depending on how you move it, it'll help with troubleshooting.
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Dec 19, 2023 18:48
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We use a drag knife machine at work to cut heavy card stock for sewing patterns on a vac table. It's faster and easier than using the laser and leaves and nicer edge imo.
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Dec 31, 2023 22:49
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I'd be sketched out using a pneumatic tapper freehand but I'm a big baby. Getting them started square for the first couple turns can be a little weird and I like to be able to feel it out.
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Jan 12, 2024 05:13
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I'm also gonna throw out the idea of looking at a used YCM or similar Taiwanese machine, I ran one for a while and was super impressed for the price relative to a haas. I know we eventually sold ours for a price that would be in your budget but you'd need to commit to 3 phase and it's got a large footprint, but it'd make a great small part production machine from my experience with it.
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Feb 4, 2024 16:42
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I've always gotten cycle time estimations from my CAM software, not my machine fwiw. If you've set it up with accurate axis accelerations and rapid speeds etc it's usually pretty spot on in my experience.
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Feb 9, 2024 18:25
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I used to do a lot of masterCAM programming and my only tip is that it has a really weird but consistent internal logic. If you approach it from the perspective of modern software and UX its terrible and you'll be endlessly frustrated, but if you try to understand the underlying philosophy of the software it beings to flow a little better. It's been too long since I've used it regularly to articulate things, just sharing what helped me keep from throwing the computer in the dumpster when I was using it daily. I always wanted to run it integrated with Solidworks but had issues where rebuilding sketches would sometimes cause my toolpaths to need to be regenerated, which for large HSM toolpaths was very time consuming, and with adapting clearance would mean every other toolpath also needed to regen if an early one did. Part of the issue was having a weird workflow where I was programming and running the machine doing large composite molds, so I'd often program my main roughing path and while that ran for a couple hours I'd program all the finishing stuff, so having early toolpaths regen could lead to lost information on what was actually cleared out in my roughing cycle. Ways to work around it but frustrating for sure.
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Feb 19, 2024 17:04
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Are you talking about a centering dovetail vise like a 5th axis brand one? They're awesome for good access and then tabbing the part off and cleaning up quickly on the final surface. Those old workhorse machines are great, the amount of table size and z clearance you get relative to travel is amazing for being able to do stuff like this or drill deep holes or work on large parts, that looks like an awesome machine.
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Mar 5, 2024 15:02
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Yeah the machines built before tangential milling strategies with high feed rates, low radial engagement and high axial engagement were all about being big and rigid as you got mmr from big wide shallow cuts vs the current approach of fast, deep and light that needs way higher accelerations of the tool relative to the workpiece. It's real interesting how understanding of cutting tool dynamics, computer power for path calculations, and machine design/control dynamics all kinda pushed and pulled on each other to really change a lot of the core principles in how production machining is run these days.
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Mar 6, 2024 00:32
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That sounds like something interesting that'd I'd probably watch, but tbh I'd expect you to be at a pretty high level of skill and experience at all of this vs bumbling through it on camera. I enjoy watching technical videos where I'm learning from someone with a lot of experience and skill at the task but a lot of YouTube is 'im figuring it out come figure it out with me!' and I don't find it very compelling. Not trying to slag on your skills as I've got no idea what they're like, just a comment on YouTube content in general. For example, super fast Matt makes great stuff but a lot of his videos recently have been 'i didn't think about this so it's a problem and I'm just gonna bodge a solution' and that gets kinda frustrating to watch after a while.
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Mar 11, 2024 21:32
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It sounds interesting but personally I like watching stuff like edge precision, where the production values are decent but its a guy talking through solving complicated problems he knows a shitload about and executes at a high level. He sometimes gets into random bits about machine tool design and servicing or peculiars of old controls when it applies to the part he's working on in that video or set of videos. Stuff like way or spindle rebuilds would be really interesting if you can talk through what you're doing, but idk how much traction you'll get with a 'this machine has a bad spindle, lets open it up and figure it out video'. But also those kind of videos seems to do well, so maybe general youtube's taste is different from mine. You might have a hard time breaking into the YT market if you don't have something to set yourself apart with though.
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Mar 12, 2024 00:39
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If you're cutting thick materials in multiple passes on a laser it's 100% worth moving the focus down for the second pass, sometimes I'll focus on the top surface, drop it 1/4 of the material thickness, then drop it another 1/2 thickness for the second pass.
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Mar 19, 2024 00:45
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Onshape has a pretty good free tier and the Solidworks for makers program is now like $50/year for what seems to be a fully professional install? Its what I've ended up with having used SW professionally for a decade and it being pretty dang cheap for what it is.
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Mar 21, 2024 23:22
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Yeah the makers version I have still runs as a desktop install that's indistinguishable from the professional license on my work laptop. Idk about the drm, I have spotty Internet at times and have never had it drop. The worst part is the online launcher is in some obscure corner of their website and god help you if you lose your bookmark for it.
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Mar 22, 2024 23:24
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drat that sucks, every time I've had something moved by riggers we've done a full pre-move walkthrough to verify access, clearances, parking, etc. They've usually ended up bringing steel plate to set on the gravel parts of the lot and across transitions so theres no issues with the forklift getting stuck or anything. Where is the machine now? Did they drop it on your property and gently caress off?
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Mar 28, 2024 18:49
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 00:26 |
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CarForumPoster posted:They didnt even pick it up! And that option was available to them, plus I encouraged them to look at the road on google maps. And they had steel sheets to set down. They even set them down! This rigger was a straight dumbass and tried to back into a driveway with a semi on a dirt road. The wheels started to spin because of course the road was too narrow to execute this. It was never a good idea. The actual answer, as three separate people told him before he got stuck, was to drop the steel plates they had into the dirt and effectively extend the driveway. He called his boss who heard that he got stuck and told them not to do it. Absolute incompetence from start to finish. Aw gently caress that sucks, so they bailed on picking it up? I guess thats better than them bailing on dropping it off as your machine is then stuck at their facility and you'd have to deal with that. And yeah idk why you wouldnt drop the fork and plates, park the semi out of the way, then bring it back when you're ready to put it on the truck.
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Mar 28, 2024 19:33
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