How hard is CNC Machining?

[kustomizer]

What caliber fuse do you use in the truck?

.22 blanks so you can hear it when you blow a tail light fuse

 

[aj]

What caliber fuse do you use in the truck?

Fuse.... Hmm... Isn't that the thing we used to use to wrap the aluminum foil around to get the radio to work?

 

[FamilyTradition]

What caliber fuse do you use in the truck?

Fuse? We don't need no stinkin' fuses!

No joke, I was having problems with the wiring in that truck one time (non waterproof connections when the previous owner did trailer lights) and my neighbor wanted to come over and help.

His solution was to run a new wire and hooked directly to the battery (not even an inline fuse). He wired in a light switch to turn them on (like the one in your house).

When he left, I just did all new heat shrink connections for the tail lights. He sold his house a few years ago and the new neighbors seem to have electrical problems all the time - go figure He was a real nice guy, though

 

[Plane Parts]

I am a 19 year old apprentice who works in quality assurance. Within my factory, we have CNC Mills and Lathes, mainly mazak and haas. The work that machinists do looks so intimidating, and makes me wonder how easy it actually is to program or operate these machines. People I ask say it’s easy work, and that it is just button pushing, but it looks so much more harder than that.

Bare in mind, I have 0 experience on machines, apart from a couple weeks on manual lathes and mills.

Thanks

All you gotta do is push the green button.....

But I assume you strive to do more than that. I enjoy it. I do my own programming, setups, and run the machine. I was trained as an engineer but enjoy my life as a small CNC machines shop life much more. And make a lot more money. What I recommend. Is learn good design work first along side a CNC programming class. Many junior college have good programs like that. Take classes in math and some basic engineering (statics, material properties, electrical) and skip all the woke BS they would force on you in a 4 year college. Get a job at a good shop, learn the trade, and save your pennies for your own shop someday.

 

[1032screw]

Algebra ? I can't remember ever using algebra, thank god. Double yes on the trig but what did you use algebra for ?

RPM = 4 x CS / DIA, feed rate = IPT x # flutes x RPM are both examples of algebra.

 

[EmGo]

RPM = 4 x CS / DIA, feed rate = IPT x # flutes x RPM are both examples of algebra.

Nah, that's just arithmetic. Algebra is where you get those nasty variables and equations and all that stuff.

 

[mhajicek]

Just use HSMAdvisor. No math needed.

 

[Milling man]

People I ask say it’s easy work, and that it is just button pushing, but it looks so much more harder than that.

Chances are you see one type of work they do and they say "it's just a push of a button" about some other type of work. For example, you see the setup programmer at work setting up the machine to process some new part, and he tells you about working on the CNC machine from the operator's point of view.
When we first bought our first Mazak (milling machine), my assistant recruited a variety of people as operators. During the day on weekdays, a hefty man worked, who before that had no experience working on machine tools at all (he couldn’t remember how the “bevel” is called correctly), but he had 10 years of service in the chemical defense troops But he was very diligent, and I don't remember any big problems with him. His work on the machine consisted of changing blanks, controlling the main dimensions on finished parts with the help of a caliper, sometimes he changed the programs on the machine - but all the processes were already checked and debugged by me. He quickly learned how to replace a broken tool and how to measure it with the machine's built-in setter. I say this to the fact that you definitely can not be afraid of the work of the operator - almost anyone can not cope with it.
If you want to go further than just changing parts, there is nothing incredibly complicated there either. Even the most super-duper multi-axis milling-turning-grinding-sex machine has 3 linear axes and 3 rotary axes in the end, which clearly show the position of the tool relative to the workpiece. You certainly need good spatial thinking, the ability to imagine how objects are located in space, how they move.
As for good mathematical and/or geometrical abilities, I know good technologists both with and without them. Yes, if we are talking about cool specialists - I do not know anyone who would have problems with all of the above. But if this is an intermediate-level specialist, then, for example, he may well not know all the G-codes and not understand the movements of the instrument very well, but at the same time do his job well.
I also want to talk about the cutting process itself (this is my professional area, so I just can’t keep silentt ). Machining is a multi-sided process, and it is about the same on both manual and CNC machines. If you want to improve in this area, you will definitely have to understand well (or at least quite well) how exactly the chips are separated from the material, what forces arise during this. You must understand which rig is applicable in one case and which in another.
But in general, as I said, it is far from being as difficult as the Large Hadron Collider I started learning CNC from the 8th or 9th grade, at first not understanding how this thing works at all. The main thing is to WANT to understand how all the processes in the machine work, and how to make the part in the best possible way.

 

[MazatrolMatrix]

I think that studying math and learning how to calculate stuff yourself, not depend on software all the time, improves your ability to think in all areas and gives you more brain power to work with.

 

[prime_mover]

I learned in trade school that not everyone is cut out for it. In fact, most aren't. It was only a one year class, and out of 21 people, 11 finished, and only 3 of us had high aptitude. We were handed jobs upon finishing the program. I went to work as a prototype machinist which was quite fortunate.

Manual machining and cnc programming requires a high aptitude for the work. It's got to be in your blood. My grandfather was an airplane mechanic. My father was a car mechanic. My uncle owns an HVAC company. Practically every man in my extended family does something mechanical. Also, a lot of people are simply too absent minded not to make mistakes all the time. You've got to have a talent for not making mistakes very often, or when you do, not making them twice. Alot of mistakes are practically inconsequential. You can make these. Some mistakes are catastrophic. These you cannot.

 

[Fancuku]

People I ask say it’s easy work, and that it is just button pushing, but it looks so much more harder than that.

If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it.
Some highly skilled person programmed, made fixtures and setup the machine before they handed it out to the button pushers.

 

[mhajicek]

I learned in trade school that not everyone is cut out for it. In fact, most aren't. It was only a one year class, and out of 21 people, 11 finished, and only 3 of us had high aptitude. We were handed jobs upon finishing the program. I went to work as a prototype machinist which was quite fortunate.

Manual machining and cnc programming requires a high aptitude for the work. It's got to be in your blood. My grandfather was an airplane mechanic. My father was a car mechanic. My uncle owns an HVAC company. Practically every man in my extended family does something mechanical. Also, a lot of people are simply too absent minded not to make mistakes all the time. You've got to have a talent for not making mistakes very often, or when you do, not making them twice. Alot of mistakes are practically inconsequential. You can make these. Some mistakes are catastrophic. These you cannot.

I've been doing some moldmaking recently, and that's an area where a little mistake can have a pretty high cost. If you're running a batch of production parts and you make a mistake, ok, fix the mistake and make another part. In a mold, oops, throw it away and start over. You could lose days of work.

 

[FeinMecanix]

They kept the exhaust on my first car from dragging the road for years. And when they'd break I'd just go grab another hangar and a pair of dykes.

a pair of dykes is always best..

 

[Micmac1]

CNC Machining/Programming fairly basic parts is easy, making good parts, complex parts, in good time, and being competitive (better) than every tom dick and harry is an art.

 

[swampbilly 1980]

Would believe most on here might agree that sometimes, yeah- sometimes,..a traditional machining method gets tossed right out of the window particularly with older equipment and some material that's "supposed" to be the same material as the last time you ran it well.
After having run Screw Machines for over 25 yrs I found CNC machining quite a challenge in the programming end of it, and was kinda' lost without cams and a set of feed gears .
The fundamental differences I found after a few years between a Mill and a Lathe was -
*A mill moves the material to the tooling..
*A lathe moves the tooling to the material, dont let it overwhelm you.
If you can build yourself a basic machining foundation of knowledge, LISTEN to what the knowledgeable guys in the shop submit to you , eyes, ears wide open.

 

[empower]

I suck at math. I mean SUCK at it. But my shop is currently booked in to 2024 with REALLY good work. So I have to disagree with you on that point. CAD and CAM to the rescue. It all depends on the type of work the shop does.

I agree on all other points.

yeah math has very little to do with modern machining, especially CNC. more of just understanding how the cutter removes material, how the machine moves and how to translate that into CAM/code. i'm about average with math, and sure, i use it - but its super basic stuff.

 

[mhajicek]

Would believe most on here might agree that sometimes, yeah- sometimes,..a traditional machining method gets tossed right out of the window particularly with older equipment and some material that's "supposed" to be the same material as the last time you ran it well.
After having run Screw Machines for over 25 yrs I found CNC machining quite a challenge in the programming end of it, and was kinda' lost without cams and a set of feed gears .
The fundamental differences I found after a few years between a Mill and a Lathe was -
*A mill moves the material to the tooling..
*A lathe moves the tooling to the material, dont let it overwhelm you.
If you can build yourself a basic machining foundation of knowledge, LISTEN to what the knowledgeable guys in the shop submit to you , eyes, ears wide open.

Except when you put stock in the toolholder of your mill and put a bank of gang tools on the table...

 

[joecrs]

I am a 19 year old apprentice who works in quality assurance. Within my factory, we have CNC Mills and Lathes, mainly mazak and haas. The work that machinists do looks so intimidating, and makes me wonder how easy it actually is to program or operate these machines. People I ask say it’s easy work, and that it is just button pushing, but it looks so much more harder than that.

Bare in mind, I have 0 experience on machines, apart from a couple weeks on manual lathes and mills.

Thanks

There is a huge difference between a CNC operator and a machinist I can train a seal to operate a CNC machine with a few fish and 10 minutes of my time depending on the part he will be running. A skilled machinist takes years to master in fact it is a never ending learning cycle but to be some what proficient I would say 5 years minimum. Math is not so important we have computers for the CAD/CAM I have not done any manual math for 25 years other than adding and subtracting on a calculator. A lot of shops have different people to program and setup then they have people to push buttons and run the parts the difference between those 2 jobs is night and day.

 

[kustomizer]

yeah math has very little to do with modern machining, especially CNC. more of just understanding how the cutter removes material, how the machine moves and how to translate that into CAM/code. i'm about average with math, and sure, i use it - but its super basic stuff.

We make a lot of things in pairs, one of our biggest all time problems is operators with no math skills that would make 125 lefts and 75 rights, swear up and down that they made 100 pairs. There was a calculator at every machine yet we had the problem almost daily. I spent most of 30 years trying to teach 3rd grade math to adults.

 

[empower]

We make a lot of things in pairs, one of our biggest all time problems is operators with no math skills that would make 125 lefts and 75 rights, swear up and down that they made 100 pairs. There was a calculator at every machine yet we had the problem almost daily. I spent most of 30 years trying to teach 3rd grade math to adults.

if someone cant count simple quantities, i'm not sure they belong in any trade, lol