Anybody works with VMCs/CNC mills? Looking for some help

[vili...@googlemail.com]

Hello,

I wonder if anybody here works with VMCs/cnc mills etc? I bough my first vertical cnc mill and am looking for somebody to pass on some experience before I start crashing spindles. It has Fanuc controls.

I have general knowledge with VMCs, tool holdeing, workholding, toolpath generation from my previous work many moons ago. But never actually had to operate machine myself. I have bought some basic toolholding, workholding and stock and would like to start making chipc. At the moment reading CNC Handbook, machine manual and trying to watch tutorials, but it is all hard going without practical experience. I think I just need somebody to come over and point the finger to the obvious, so that everything starts clicking together. 

I am in Loughborough. 

Any constructive input is much appreciated.

[smith...@btinternet.com]

Hi, in a similar situation myself I have a Denford CNC Lathe Starturn 4 and Bridgeport Series 1 CNC both retrofitted to Mach3/4 (at least 5 years ago) but always finding myself defaulting to manual as I mostly do one offs.

I am Nottingham based,

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nottingham Hackspace - Nottinghack" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to nottinghack...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/nottinghack/44d4373c-2321-424f-b5ce-02560f2b238cn%40googlegroups.com.

[vili...@googlemail.com]

Thanks for the response. Mach3/4 as I understand is a very different conroller. 

So far I have got an impression that fanuc controllers are a bit of a marmite. So I am trying to find somebody whom do like working with them and could pass on tips and tricks. It is not the most intuitive interface.  

[smith...@btinternet.com]

Hi again.  One tip would be to try out some cutting using plastic foam board (usually used on soffits).  I used this to practice with some 2D cuts on my BP.  The only drawback is that its difficult to get more than 20mm in thickness.

I believe there are commercial products for using on CNC but unfortunately at commercial prices.  Obviously speeds and feeds would need to be converted which might cause problems.

Barry

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/nottinghack/56f930e7-3e55-4750-81f1-bf38b411724bn%40googlegroups.com.

[dougcr...@gmail.com]

Machinable wax is also a great option for testing toolpaths, as you won't gum up the tool if you crash, and the toolpath quality can be inspected. When you're proving out toolpaths, you could also start by cutting air, and using a reduced rapid override. Carefully watching DTG (distance to go) is also useful. Some CAM packages export the min Z value for each tool in the program.

Lots of crashes are linked to tool length as well, so good practice there can make sure things go right.

Ultimately you want to figure out a workflow, so following tutorials and taking notes, and using them to write procedures and checklists should be helpful to make sure you do things in the right order and don't forget anything.

I've personally got no specific experience with FANUC or Mach3/4 controllers, that said there are similarities between all CNC controls. I could potentially take a look. I'm located comparatively near Loughborough.

Douglas