Hi Adam, yes you can do quick and dirty jobs on the CNC by hand, but why “you shouldn’t” is because you are learning. You should take every opportunity to program the machine it will make you more confident and familiarize you with the various pages on the controller and functions. Also, you have a very bad habit from this video of starting the chamfer cut over the vise, the movable one in this video. If anything goes wrong you will crash right into the vise jaw. Ruining the cutter for sure, give the vise a character mark and possibly damages the spindle. Best to start out to the side on the “X” axis and come into the part while you are over space. Would also suggest slowing down the rapids, it’s not a production job, and there is no rush to crash the new machine. Don’t worry about us you can speed up the vid in post-production. Enjoy watching you learn, thank you for the content.
So glad to see you "playing" with your new "toys" You are an incredible teacher and love to see how you learn and most importantly share how YOU learn from your mistakes. Many people don't ask for help and just sit on the struggle bus and get frustrated. Reaching out to those who know "things" and making one's self better is awesome. Found you on the Tubes 3+ years ago and have loved your journey. You are an inspiration and a leader in your field. Keep it going!
Loving your machining content as usual Adam especially the cnc work since im a cnc machinist myself. Being relatively new to cnc work I can't stress this enough about how careful you need to be about opening the doors while the machine is in operation especially on an unproven program. Always slow your rapids down when tools are approaching the job and if you absolutely have to open the door to adjust coolant lines make sure you cycle stop first because if you accidentally programmed something wrong or didn't set a tool length correct or forgot to do something and it smashes into the part while your in there fiddling with something it can go bad in the blink of an eye. Obviously once you have proven a program let it go by all means. I've been doing cnc for 23 years and I still don't walk away from a machine while running the first part even on programs I programmed and have run 1000's of times. Believe me when I say it will sooner or later bite you in the ass and we all wan't you to be safe.
@@supremecommander2398 I would have thought the doors would automatically lock while the machine is running. Maybe a safety interlock with blinking light?
Adam, There is nothing wrong with using the MPG handwheel for edging parts like that. There may be a function in where you can just hold a feed button (my fadal has a JOG key) and the mill will walk across the part at a feed rate that is preset by feed override. It's a lot easier than cranking. The bore is undersized because (like any machine operation) there is tool pressure to account for, as well as the climb cutting vs conventional cutting pressure. Additionally you need to remember that the machine is not actually moving in a circle while it cuts, it moves in incremental XY directions, the accuracy is determined by the resolution of the CNC/machine hardware. If you are writing the program you have to make sure that the "D" (diameter) value for the tool offset is reflected properly. The actual tool diameter and what the machine thinks the tool diameter is are not always the same. Use this to your advantage, use the diameter (D value) to allow you to creep up on size. A larger "D" value will cut a smaller diameter counterbore, a small "D" value will cut a larger counterbore. The cutter compensation the program uses can make life a lot easier. HAAS has an excellent workbook for mill and lathe applications, you may want to look into it. Cutter compensation is a huge benefit, also write and save generic programs for facing, squaring, pocketing, etc. You can simply change a few values in the program and be cutting in a matter of minutes.
Adam when the bit squeals the speed of the feed is slightly faster then the bits rotation. ------>For anyone? The different's from a manual mill from an auto mill. Is every thing you did with your hands manually. You now have to program every signal step you would by hand in the auto mill to do for you. A total hands free operation. It's so hard to wrap your head around it when YOU have been doing it for so long by hand. Don't knock AB for stepping into the 22nd century. A complete total 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍's up Adam for stepping out of your comfort zone learning something new.
yes your correct. it kills the tools just like feeding 65 IPM. when you start trying to hold tight tolerances, the little things like tool stickout and part rigidity will greatly effect the overall outcome. I would also venture to say that the plate is going to show some flatness and parallelism variations from that span across the vise and the thickness of the plate. I would have clamped it straight to the table using Mitee Bites. lastly, when you are new to something like this you should never be running the mill at 100% rapids. and when that spindles turning you really need to keep those doors closed and your digits out of the machine. Even experienced guys will slow the rapids to make sure the tool is coming down where it needs to and going to the proper depth. its an unproven program therefore it should be treated like one!! just basic safety esspecially if your alone in the shop. I have chips in the glass on a couple machines from endmills that break. you have no control on where that going and its moving fast.
@@Cthowell91 Even from the limited tuition and exposure that he has had, I'm surprised that the judicious use of the rapids override as well as the safety need to keep them doors shut for high rpm drills and end mills have not been 'drilled into him'.
Its a huge learning curve to get a cnc working in your head when all of what you've done for years is by measuring with precision tools. Slow and steady Adam you'll get there from down under.
Great job on that part, I used to work for a CNC manufacturer helping clients ~15 years ago and a lot of talented manual machinists get frustrated breaking their tools or potentially harming their equipment... something they've spent their whole lives learning NOT to do! Keep at it, I'm glad you're willing to try and learn a valuable new skill for your shop :)
Yes Adam, you absolutely can use the mill for hand op's. I would recommend however you use it in feed mode rather than the pendant. It work smoother and easier on your end mills. Great video, btw
Hand-wheeling a cutter through the material just to square it up is going to be just as fast as writing out a few lines of G1 commands. Something like that comes down to what seems easier to you and also depends on how many cuts you need to take. For your feedrate, check out the video from Haas called, "Your feedrate is wrong" or something like that. Mark does a good job explaining why your feedrate may seem great in one application and not in another.
Yeah, the only improvement would be if you are able to set a feed rate and hold down a feed button. It can be a little more nervy on the first go though.
To make cuts in the mill like the first ones you showed in the video, go to MDI (Manual Data Input) and enter the G-Code to put the machine into Incremental Mode (G91), or zero the axis you want to move in, start the spindle at the RPM desired. M3 is clockwise rotation, generally used for most tools, or M4 which is counter-clockwise rotation, and the desired RPM with S and the RPM, then tell it to move in the X, Y, or Z axis using a G01 and command the axis and distance, Note that the G01 is G Zero One, not the letter "O", followed by the axis to move, the distance and the feedrate using F and the desired feed rate. This would look like G94 M3 S1500 and the movement, G01 Y -6.00 F5.0 , Then to stop the spindle, M5 (you may have a button on your controller to start and stop the spindle making the M commands unnecessary. In the video, you make another cut. If you want to do that you would keep the spindle running, then move the X axis for your next depth of cut, ie G01 X -0.030 (the feedrate is modal and stays the same until changed making the addition of the F word unnecessary now), On most controllers, you can click on the MDI Input line and arrow up to retrieve the past commands. then arrow up to the Y movement line, select it and edit the Y distance to a positive distance to move back across the part cutting 0.030" on the way (This looks like G01 Y-6.00 ) Then rinse and repeat. When you've finished cutting stop the spindle with M5 . I encourage new operators to do this because even though it sounds like a lot, it becomes second nature very quickly and it's a good way to start thinking in G-Code for troubleshooting your programs later on.
Congrats! You've taken your first steps into a larger world. Once you go CNC, you never go back. Everyone breaks small cutting tools from time to time. Just stay away from crashes between fixtures/vices and the spindle/holders and you will be fine. Override knob and feed hold are your best friends while proving out programs. Keep going!
Couple tips from me for what it's worth. First, I think the bolts were undersize because you checked it after it did a roughing pass but before the finishing pass. Second, and this is more personal preference I guess, but I would just take the time (especially while you're learning) to reprogram the chamfer cycle. From what I understand was you just reran the same code from the first OP, and all it takes is a phone call or other distraction to accidently chamfer the non-existent counterbores on the backside. Keep it up. It's been fun to see you get in to CNC machining, and it'll really open up opportunities for you I think. Oh, and I handwheel stuff like that all the time. Haas has a thing called jog lock that makes it so you don't have to keep cranking on the wheel, but same thing.
Just splitting the chamfering on the first op into two blocks (edge on lets say block 14 and counterbores on block 15) would be my way to do it... Then on the backside you just dont call block 15 and done.
Your intuition serves you well. Starting the middle of something is generally a bad idea. You've started at the beginning, and you're adding one layer on top of another, like laying bricks. Build it strong, without a bunch of gaps and such. Practice is a Good Thing; that's how you get to Carnegie Hall! And it doesn't seem like you're worrying *too* much about what people might think. Just do your thing, not their thing!
Basic steps on CNC must be rewarding. Even the mistakes. Keep going. Understanding the machining from manual background is helping in the learning process. Keep following the CNC program as it runs. If there's something new that you're trying, set your height way above the part and machine the air to confirm that the toolpath is as expected.
Adam, write yourself up a big cheat-sheet to stick on the machine while youre learning all the different G/F-Codes specific to your machine. Check online and see if someone hasnt already posted one.
I use my Milltronics manually all the time for edgemilling or facemilling. In the jog page you can control the federate using the federate override knob. Then you can hold the jog key and it will jog at that federate. There is a feature in the jog page called jog “distance”. You can enter a distance to jog so you don’t have to hold down the jog keys. Mess around with the jog page, I think you’ll be amazed how useful it is!
Adam, I am a career cnc machinist and own a shop. I always jog the machine with the spindle on just to kiss the side as you did. The only thing I do differently is on my machines (fanuc control) there is a button you can hold down to jog where the machine moves smoothly. Almost like a "power feed" on a bridgeport. Then you don't have the jerky motion in the finish and you also don't have to sit there and crank. lol. But lots of us CNC guys do operations in the same type of fashion! Good job!
Good to see you learning on the CNC mill. The reason the counter bored hole was small when you checked it first was because it had only done the roughing pass. When you ran the program again it roughed all 4 holes & then did a the finishing pass on all 4 holes.
What actually happened was the tool was most likely deflecting because of the high feed rate. What you thought was a finish pass the 2nd time around was the endmill boring out the 1/2" drilled holes slightly bigger it wasn't a finish pass on the counterbore. You can tell this by looking at how deep the endmill goes the 2nd time around its considerably deeper then when it was doing the counterbore. He drilled the holes with a 1/2" drill which obviously isn't big enough for the 1/2"-13 threaded bolt to pass through.
I do that all the time! It gets the job done and can be faster than creating a program and setting zeros. One thing, it looks like the hand wheel is setup backwards, turning the wheel positive makes the machine go negative. Not a big deal but something to be aware of if you operate a different machine.
I love to use manual cutting with the programmable mill and avoid programming very simple cuts. This is exactly what I do. Its super easy, super fast. The DRO gives you all the set-up you need. You do a great job...keep it up. Thanks for your insights, skills, and experience. I've learned something in every video. Mike
If you want a smoother finish with the shell mill, you're best bet is to make two passes, the first one to rough most of the material, and a final surfacing pass (1 - 2 thou ought to get it) higher RPM, slow feed rate, basically polishing the surface
I have a heck of a lot of respect for your working to improve your skill set. CNC is an intimidating thing to learn! Your a great machinist and this will just be frosting on the cake!
For where you are at now, using the pendant is fine. But eventually you will be learning the basic G codes and entering something in the MDI page like G1 F20.0 Y2.0 which means (if absolute coordinates is set and assuming imperial), Move the Y axis at 20 IPM till Y is 2. Generally only use MDI on cuts (direction - in this case Y) WHERE I AM CERTAIN the cutting tool won't hit anything, so in your case the pendant would still be used for moving the X stepover (a wrong number sends you into the vise or worse). By using MDI for the cuts you get a uniform finish. I laughed hard at the snapped cutter, get used to it and be glad the carbide snaps before something more expensive does. We all have a bin of snapped cutters. You'll be fine if listen to your own good machining instincts. DO NOT LET the commenters get ya down, or talk you into something you do not feel right.
Adam, I've only been using my CNC mill for a couple of years now and am still learning just like you. I often mill simple things on the CNC mill without a program...I just call it jog milling. It's quicker than programming and much more accurate than on the Bridgeport.
I use "manual" jog all the time to clean up the saw cut edges on one side, then use a program to clean up the other side and bring it to the exact width. Also, as someone else mentioned, using the piranha jaws should only be for the first op when doing two side milling because of jaw lift. I discovered that the hard way.
Sold a LOT of air compressors in my days as a Sales Engineer for Fulton Supply here in Atlanta! Back in the mid '80s. Man the advances since then! Had to pick a compressor, then an air dryer (if needed), all kinds of different Filter/Regulator/Lubricators depending on what the customer wanted. Can't count how many filters I installed auto drains on. Or how many regulators I changed springs in to get the "Sweet Spot". Set point right in the middle so it's most accurate, same with calibrating gauges. 0-100psi gauge calibrated at 50psi. Now it all comes in one package! Reminds me I need to change the oil and intake filter on my ancient Craftsman 220V 30 gallon one! 🤔 Oh BTW, never use Teflon tape use PTFE Pipe Thread sealant. You'd be amazed that a tiny shred of tape will split a hydraulic pump in half (but maybe you've seen that before). 😁 And later I got into the Med Gas delivery business and those systems for breathing air were a whole different ball of wax! 😮
I'm not saying Adam did anything wrong but if it were me, I would have put the compressor on the mezzanine next to the receiver tank to free up shop floor space. I would also have some "cheat sheets" stuck on the mill close to the control panel to refer to until I was fully versed in the functions.
I had a cheat sheet notepad when learning to run a VMC, my TC (team coordinator) pulled it out of my hands and threw it onto a work table when I was learning to set up a job. He was big on muscle memory, I eventually quit working there.
Hey Adam, this was an awesome video. Thanks for taking me along on the journey. Your not afraid to go down new roads and learn new things. Your milltronics machine seems like an awesome piece of equipment. Your not afraid to show your mistakes either when learning how to us it. It will take some time for you to get the hang of it, but before long you will have it down, just like your manual machines. Keep up the great work, l sure appreciate your skills. I wish I had a fraction of your talent. Take care and I look forward to many more videos.
New shop equipment, nothing better then that, watching the cnc is incredible. Learning the cnc programming looks like a steep learning curve but I'd say get into the mainstream market.
I’m an HVAC tech by trade that now works with industrial electronics and motor controls, logic controller programming, and HMI programming. If I had to do it all over again, machining school (manual and CNC) would be my choice for education and career. It looks so satisfying! Good job, I’m happy for you Adam!
I have a suggestion, it's something I do all the time for my Mimaki printer at work. Put 2 dry erase boards on the CNC, one for constant settings like bit type/RPMs/feed rates/ etc., and one for settings like exiting a program/ basic loading/ manual feeding/ etc. I do this so I can keep track as I change materials and ink settings. My memory isn't quite as good as yours, so I need cheat codes 😁 magnetic dry erase boards are the best, you can magnet on sticky notes. When you get certain things that you need to use all the time, you can make a permanent label or sticker to go on there.
yes that is super common for what we work on as a job shop looking for quick setups/op0. usually however I tend to use the jog button on the CNC controller and I manually set the feed rate I want. gives a lot more control for accurate speeds and feeds
Breaking a small end mill in the early learning stages of CNC machine work. All part of the learning curve. Nice too see you back in the workshop. Take care stay safe Adam.
Nothing wrong with cleaning up an edge in handle jog. It's quick. I still do it after many years. If you just need a quick reference surface to datum/probe or butt up against a fixed jaw, it's fine.
It's your machine - anything you do with it is the right way to do a project with it, unless of course you push a tool beyond it's limits. Great video, keep up the good work.
I've been working with building automation control systems for 33 years. In the end all different software used are going to do exaclty same thing. The most important thing is you just have to know where to find what you need in different platforms. You are certainly getting there with Milltronics software. It takes time but that's how you eat an elephant. One bite at a time... 😎
As for me I work with unit that are computer controlled, the best way I found is to write the instructions down for the different process as you are Taught them. We set programmable safety Parameters by picking process window and drop down boxes and typing in the numbers in the appropriate spaces. All the information is in the procedure paperwork but it is up to us to input all the numbers into the unit before the job. The right numbers in the wrong drop down box could be catastrophic to the job, personal, and/or the equipment. There is no fast track to learning it just practice over and over. One day you will not need you notebook it all in your head like breathing. You have an excellent base knowledge but you need to put that into the computer and save it. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Adam, I know nothing about CNC but you're a brave guy posting these learning CNC videos up plus showing your errors feeding the couch experts that will show up in the comments . For someone who admits they are learning basically from scratch you are doing a Dam good job . I've been subscribed to your channel for 8 1/2 years ,the way you have developed your presenting/description skills of what you are doing is so bloody impressive . I'm not posting this on the hope of a reply from you ,I'm a genuine fan of you as a person and as a great teacher . Your new shop is awesome . Regards from the Scottish Highlands
If you know nothing of CNC, how do you know he's doing a damn good job?. He's done a few days course on CNC and a couple of days tuition on the macjhine. Apart from the Milltronics guy being a phone call away for advice, he''s largely on his own. If I were him, I'd read the comments from the so called couch experts with the mindset that they might be trying to be helpful. When he started machining, he had his dad there to give him the right jobs for his progression as well as the machinist employee Sonny , who Adam said was invaluable in his learning process and in the tips he learnt from him. That way, Adam became, from grass roots, what he is today. Imagine if Adam was given a lathe and a book' how to run a lathe' and told to just get on with it. He would have developed lots of ways of doing things and probably a few bad habits only to have to relearn a lot of them on becoming an employee in industry at Motion. I would implore Adam to hire , for a few months, say a recently retired CNC machinist who has been around the block and dream up as many 'training' projects as he can muster. At the end of which, he will be fully versed in the way the machines are used optimally in the industry, and from there can improve on them as required, as he sees fit.
I have had the feed zero problem as well lol. My boss recommended an app for my phone that is called FSWizard. I gives good starting speeds and feeds for milling with lots of adjustment options and accounts for material. You have to pay like 15$ for the pro version to get access to most materials but I think its worth it. Funnily enough I have never actually made a mill program on the internal software, we always use mastercam. I have done a decent amount of internal programming for lathes and repetition is definitely necessary. As the guys at my work say, you must be going to church frequently if your running with rapids that high on a program your unsure of lol. Good luck.
I would say stay away from using the jog to mill for now, because it is a missed opportunity to write a simple program and get that repetition for memory experience you were talking about.
I've been running CNC equipment for about 15 years I do very similar from time to time I prefer a jog lock to make a constant feed rate using % of feed up or down to adjust the feed rate but yeah similar 👍👍👍
I don't have a manual mill, so I use the CNC mill all the time for a simple manual milling. I actually execute simple G1 commands from the MDI entry window.
Same here. I have a CNC mill at home that I use both programmed and manually depending on what I am doing. Whichever way gets the job done is all good by me.
@@rustyanvil51 I can’t get my head around the computer stuff. It makes no sense to me. A friend gave me his still serviceable CNC plasma cutter table. After two weeks of frustration I packed it up and put it in storage.🤷
I too only had formal training as a manual machinist and learnt everything I know about CNC from ‘NYC CNC’ I never learnt G code and rely on fusion 360 CAM and simulations for all my programming. I definitely broke a few cutters being too aggressive when starting out. I always remember John Saunders advice “you’re better to start with a successful recipe” Translation: Don’t do anything aggressive, that can come later. A successful tool path with no broken tools is the best outcome when learning the ropes. You can’t go wrong with 0.001” per tooth feed, 15-20% of cutter Dia for step over and max Depth of cut 1xcutter Dia and adjust it from there. (For most common materials) Also tool deflection can definitely cause the holes to be undersized.
Nice work, Adam. It won't be long until you are as proficient on the CNC equipment as you are on the manual machines. You'll have the best of both worlds. Thanks for sharing.
It's kinda fun to watch you fumble with the CNC after years and years of watching you be in 100% control over everything.🙂 Shows how much all of us can still learn!
When manually squaring up your material, rather than cranking on the pendant hand wheel, often times you can set a jog rate, say 10 inches per minute. When that jog rate is set, you can hold down a feed button on the control and the machine will move at 10 inches per minute. From there you can use feed over ride to set say 200% meaning 20 inches per minute. By doing this you can get a consistent surface finish across your part, and have full control of your feed rate. It's exactly the same as setting a feed rate on your manual mill and engaging the feed. Hopefully your contact at Milltronics can help you find the right buttons to press to use the machine more like a manual mill for those simple operations. Cheers from Canada. 🍻
Let me add another thing that you may already know Adam, To fine tune cuts we usually just play with tool length or diameter to dial things in to work just right instead of going back and reprogramming. Nothing is gonna run right on the money usually due to tool deflection, etc. Good work Dude. "Party on Garth"
cool angle behind the vise at the end there. Felt the frustration when that endmill broke. Like you said though, once you get the muscle memory you'll look back at this video and laugh. Always appreciate you showing your mistakes, I've learned a lot from you that way. Thanks.
I recommend when you program you pull the tool at minimum 3 inches off the part while it's rapid travel to the next operation.....this will help you have time to feed hold if you see something wrong before you crash a tool....then you rapid the tool to half inch above the part then carry on as usual.... its just to let you catch something before it happens.
Tool noise on the counter boring is probably a chipped tool. The broken 1st tool probably left a little chunk of carbide in the hole. Check your 1/4" end mill for a chipped cutting edge.
The airtower is way quiter than my little ryobi tire inflator, that's for sure! What a beautiful machine. And thanks for showing us your learning curve on the CNC tools. To know that someone as skilled and experienced as you still needs to learn and will make mistakes while gaining an understanding a new machine is helpful for us mere mortals that make a lot of 'apprentice marks' on our hobby projects.
Hi Adam On your cnc milling machine you can have a angled shelf under the control panel with a ring binder book with all the settings for each item you want to make, each page is a printout of what you see on the screen but each key is marked with it's control use, so say your f keys auto set for a specified cut with depth and width all set. E. G. F1 = 10mm chamfer, od 30mm, depth 3mm F2 = 20mm chamfer, id 30mm, depth 5mm And so on for a part say for the main body of a carburettor and there is 9 different styles of this carburettor. All settings cannot be remembered as you may have some settings for levelling plates and so on. When I did security for cnc companies quite often most or all cnc machines had these ring binder books on a angled shelf under the control panel with the name of the company and part being made with identity number. This is so that the machining is more efficient than trying to set up the machine after each different part is to be machined. But I just want to say that great work on the setup of your new workshop and I also wait for your next instalment. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
10:40 yea we do that at work. Instead of using the handwheel I usually set the feed I want and jog across there so it isn't choppy from my hand wheeling varying in speed.
I've used the handwheel to manually feed. Also, prior to the Program End, if you need to completely stop. Push the Feed Hold, like you did, then try Spindle Stop, then Program Edit, Reset. May or may not help since that's my sequence for a 25 year old fanuc 18m control. But the Spindle Stop seems to be the key to the Reset button functioning to release the manual controls and handwheel, short of E Stop.
I do this to just square up an edge all the time. The Fadal makes it easy because if you head off in any direction by selecting an axis and then turn the jog wheel a few clicks, you can then press and hold the 'jog' button and it just keeps feeding in that direction at a nice even feed rate.
Yep, pretty much. I manually jog machines to do machining on a fairly regular basis. I also functionally do the same thing by manually entering single lines of code at the command line.
When setting up your tools, such as the 1/4" endmill, mic the new tool, and use a test indicator to check its run-out (turn the tool backwards) then enter the tool's effective diameter in the tool off-set data. Also try to use a short a tool as possible to minimize tool deflection. Also most CNC controls have a place to input for tool wear (often used to adjust thing like the counterbore diameter.) Lastly, do yourself a HUGE favor and give CNC Cookbook's G-Wizard Feed & Speed calculator a free 30 day trial. I've been a machinist since 1963; I own 2 machine shops; joined the CNC ranks in 1996, and went thru a similar learning curve as you are. Did OK - then I found G-wizard, and stopped breaking tools/scrapping parts, and began making better parts much faster. I don't work for G-wizard - just a longtime very satisfied GW subscriber :-)
be carefull with those serated jaws. they're great for roughing on the the first op, but if you flip them over for the second op that moving jaw lift will make both sides of your part not square. For second op it's best to flip it over onto parallels and knock the part with a deadblow to make sure it's flat.
It's awesome that you are mastering the cnc, just keep outing hours into it and you will master that sucker soon enough, remember slow is smooth and smooth is fast
Yes you were definitely deflecting the tool. Also the squealing was most likely due to your tool holder being a long shank. I’ve been programming CNC for 30 years and always use as short a shank tool as you can get. Good job.
Adam. I noticed right away that IPM with that 1/4" end mill was running way to fast. That of course was the under size counter bore which you pointed out. Keep at it, it will get better I am sure.
@@Drottninggatan2017 Squeaking can occur if the cutter edge is slightly dull. Type of material he was cutting can have that effect. I do not recall in the video what the material he was using.
@@Drottninggatan2017 The very long tool holder did not help. Feeding too slow can also cause chatter/squeaking. Go to slow and it chatters - go too fast and it breaks. The trick is to find the sweet spot where it cuts nicely.
I’m excited to watch your learning experience with the CNC machines. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast - work it at your pace and bring us along for the ride!
Hi Adam The Kaeser Air Tower looks nice & neat sitting there & surprisingly quiet as well. The pump looks small, but must act like a Super Charger set of drives Your CNC once you get used to it is going to save a lot of time. Once set you can do something else while It's doing It's Thing lol.Great Video, well done
I use my CNC mill as a manual very often. It has 3 handwheels and I can knock out one-offs on it faster than I could on a manual by using a mix of handwheels and MDI.
Hey Adam I’m enjoying watching you learn how to operate a CNC. I think its interesting to see how someone with your experience running manual machines and processes will adapt to learning CNC and how you will utilize these new abilities in your shop. Props to you man!
Adam, when you get chatter like that, increase the chip load. Either more feed or lower RPM. I usually add feed with overide and see what is good, then go back and change the program once its happy.
Nothing wrong with doing some manual machining on that mill to square things up, we do it quite often in our shop. If it's a lot of parts then yes I would write a quick program to take care of it. I think there could have been a finish pass that had not completed causing the diameter to be 30 thou small, as well as possible tool deflection with that little endmill running too aggressive. Nice to see you getting more comfortable with the CNC stuff. Gas On It. Larry R.
Yup, I do use a 4-axis CNC Mazak mill as manual a LOT. No point in programming a single pass as for stock square-ing. Same goes for some of the holes - I just check the coordinates and dive manually.
In regards to the hole not coming out to the right size for the fixture plate, the issue was most likely tool deflection. Given that the broke doing 65 IPM on a .25 end mill, it was probably deflected inward. For stopping the program then moving the tool up, you need to do F9/halt on the home screen that will allow you to access the movement functions on the controller. Be careful using halt then resume, as the program may behave unexpectedly, at least that was how it was with old Milltronics controllers.
Out of experience [and older machinists advice] I never rapid closer than 50mm [~2 inch] from the workpiece, but use feed, quite high, initially, then progressively slower, as I can control it from the dial. Once I see everything's well, I turn the feed back to 100% and let it do its thing.
Hi Adam, yes you can do quick and dirty jobs on the CNC by hand, but why “you shouldn’t” is because you are learning. You should take every opportunity to program the machine it will make you more confident and familiarize you with the various pages on the controller and functions. Also, you have a very bad habit from this video of starting the chamfer cut over the vise, the movable one in this video. If anything goes wrong you will crash right into the vise jaw. Ruining the cutter for sure, give the vise a character mark and possibly damages the spindle. Best to start out to the side on the “X” axis and come into the part while you are over space. Would also suggest slowing down the rapids, it’s not a production job, and there is no rush to crash the new machine. Don’t worry about us you can speed up the vid in post-production. Enjoy watching you learn, thank you for the content.
So glad to see you "playing" with your new "toys"
You are an incredible teacher and love to see how you learn and most importantly share how YOU learn from your mistakes. Many people don't ask for help and just sit on the struggle bus and get frustrated. Reaching out to those who know "things" and making one's self better is awesome.
Found you on the Tubes 3+ years ago and have loved your journey.
You are an inspiration and a leader in your field.
Keep it going!
Loving your machining content as usual Adam especially the cnc work since im a cnc machinist myself. Being relatively new to cnc work I can't stress this enough about how careful you need to be about opening the doors while the machine is in operation especially on an unproven program. Always slow your rapids down when tools are approaching the job and if you absolutely have to open the door to adjust coolant lines make sure you cycle stop first because if you accidentally programmed something wrong or didn't set a tool length correct or forgot to do something and it smashes into the part while your in there fiddling with something it can go bad in the blink of an eye. Obviously once you have proven a program let it go by all means. I've been doing cnc for 23 years and I still don't walk away from a machine while running the first part even on programs I programmed and have run 1000's of times. Believe me when I say it will sooner or later bite you in the ass and we all wan't you to be safe.
i am surprised that he can open the door while the machine is running... doesn't that invalidate any health insurance?
@@supremecommander2398 I would have thought the doors would automatically lock while the machine is running. Maybe a safety interlock with blinking light?
Adam, There is nothing wrong with using the MPG handwheel for edging parts like that. There may be a function in where you can just hold a feed button (my fadal has a JOG key) and the mill will walk across the part at a feed rate that is preset by feed override. It's a lot easier than cranking.
The bore is undersized because (like any machine operation) there is tool pressure to account for, as well as the climb cutting vs conventional cutting pressure. Additionally you need to remember that the machine is not actually moving in a circle while it cuts, it moves in incremental XY directions, the accuracy is determined by the resolution of the CNC/machine hardware. If you are writing the program you have to make sure that the "D" (diameter) value for the tool offset is reflected properly. The actual tool diameter and what the machine thinks the tool diameter is are not always the same. Use this to your advantage, use the diameter (D value) to allow you to creep up on size. A larger "D" value will cut a smaller diameter counterbore, a small "D" value will cut a larger counterbore. The cutter compensation the program uses can make life a lot easier. HAAS has an excellent workbook for mill and lathe applications, you may want to look into it. Cutter compensation is a huge benefit, also write and save generic programs for facing, squaring, pocketing, etc. You can simply change a few values in the program and be cutting in a matter of minutes.
Adam when the bit squeals the speed of the feed is slightly faster then the bits rotation. ------>For anyone? The different's from a manual mill from an auto mill. Is every thing you did with your hands manually. You now have to program every signal step you would by hand in the auto mill to do for you. A total hands free operation. It's so hard to wrap your head around it when YOU have been doing it for so long by hand. Don't knock AB for stepping into the 22nd century. A complete total 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍's up Adam for stepping out of your comfort zone learning something new.
yes your correct. it kills the tools just like feeding 65 IPM. when you start trying to hold tight tolerances, the little things like tool stickout and part rigidity will greatly effect the overall outcome. I would also venture to say that the plate is going to show some flatness and parallelism variations from that span across the vise and the thickness of the plate.
I would have clamped it straight to the table using Mitee Bites.
lastly, when you are new to something like this you should never be running the mill at 100% rapids. and when that spindles turning you really need to keep those doors closed and your digits out of the machine. Even experienced guys will slow the rapids to make sure the tool is coming down where it needs to and going to the proper depth. its an unproven program therefore it should be treated like one!! just basic safety esspecially if your alone in the shop. I have chips in the glass on a couple machines from endmills that break. you have no control on where that going and its moving fast.
@@Cthowell91 Even from the limited tuition and exposure that he has had, I'm surprised that the judicious use of the rapids override as well as the safety need to keep them doors shut for high rpm drills and end mills have not been 'drilled into him'.
Its a huge learning curve to get a cnc working in your head when all of what you've done for years is by measuring with precision tools. Slow and steady Adam you'll get there from down under.
Great job on that part, I used to work for a CNC manufacturer helping clients ~15 years ago and a lot of talented manual machinists get frustrated breaking their tools or potentially harming their equipment... something they've spent their whole lives learning NOT to do! Keep at it, I'm glad you're willing to try and learn a valuable new skill for your shop :)
Yes Adam, you absolutely can use the mill for hand op's. I would recommend however you use it in feed mode rather than the pendant. It work smoother and easier on your end mills. Great video, btw
Hand-wheeling a cutter through the material just to square it up is going to be just as fast as writing out a few lines of G1 commands. Something like that comes down to what seems easier to you and also depends on how many cuts you need to take. For your feedrate, check out the video from Haas called, "Your feedrate is wrong" or something like that. Mark does a good job explaining why your feedrate may seem great in one application and not in another.
Yeah, the only improvement would be if you are able to set a feed rate and hold down a feed button.
It can be a little more nervy on the first go though.
Most machines have a jog lock so it feeds automatically. You set the feed rate by turning the overrides down
Brother, my hat is off to you to put yourself out there to learn new things and place it on TH-cam...much respect from this corner!
To make cuts in the mill like the first ones you showed in the video, go to MDI (Manual Data Input) and enter the G-Code to put the machine into Incremental Mode (G91), or zero the axis you want to move in, start the spindle at the RPM desired. M3 is clockwise rotation, generally used for most tools, or M4 which is counter-clockwise rotation, and the desired RPM with S and the RPM, then tell it to move in the X, Y, or Z axis using a G01 and command the axis and distance, Note that the G01 is G Zero One, not the letter "O", followed by the axis to move, the distance and the feedrate using F and the desired feed rate.
This would look like G94 M3 S1500 and the movement, G01 Y -6.00 F5.0 , Then to stop the spindle, M5 (you may have a button on your controller to start and stop the spindle making the M commands unnecessary. In the video, you make another cut. If you want to do that you would keep the spindle running, then move the X axis for your next depth of cut, ie G01 X -0.030 (the feedrate is modal and stays the same until changed making the addition of the F word unnecessary now), On most controllers, you can click on the MDI Input line and arrow up to retrieve the past commands. then arrow up to the Y movement line, select it and edit the Y distance to a positive distance to move back across the part cutting 0.030" on the way (This looks like G01 Y-6.00 ) Then rinse and repeat. When you've finished cutting stop the spindle with M5 .
I encourage new operators to do this because even though it sounds like a lot, it becomes second nature very quickly and it's a good way to start thinking in G-Code for troubleshooting your programs later on.
Congrats! You've taken your first steps into a larger world.
Once you go CNC, you never go back. Everyone breaks small cutting tools from time to time. Just stay away from crashes between fixtures/vices and the spindle/holders and you will be fine. Override knob and feed hold are your best friends while proving out programs.
Keep going!
Couple tips from me for what it's worth.
First, I think the bolts were undersize because you checked it after it did a roughing pass but before the finishing pass.
Second, and this is more personal preference I guess, but I would just take the time (especially while you're learning) to reprogram the chamfer cycle. From what I understand was you just reran the same code from the first OP, and all it takes is a phone call or other distraction to accidently chamfer the non-existent counterbores on the backside.
Keep it up. It's been fun to see you get in to CNC machining, and it'll really open up opportunities for you I think. Oh, and I handwheel stuff like that all the time. Haas has a thing called jog lock that makes it so you don't have to keep cranking on the wheel, but same thing.
Just splitting the chamfering on the first op into two blocks (edge on lets say block 14 and counterbores on block 15) would be my way to do it... Then on the backside you just dont call block 15 and done.
Spot on for the hole sizing.
Your intuition serves you well. Starting the middle of something is generally a bad idea. You've started at the beginning, and you're adding one layer on top of another, like laying bricks. Build it strong, without a bunch of gaps and such. Practice is a Good Thing; that's how you get to Carnegie Hall! And it doesn't seem like you're worrying *too* much about what people might think. Just do your thing, not their thing!
In my experience you can reduce vibration by always using the shortest possible tool holders
great channel Adam keep up the good work!
Basic steps on CNC must be rewarding. Even the mistakes.
Keep going. Understanding the machining from manual background is helping in the learning process. Keep following the CNC program as it runs.
If there's something new that you're trying, set your height way above the part and machine the air to confirm that the toolpath is as expected.
Adam, write yourself up a big cheat-sheet to stick on the machine while youre learning all the different G/F-Codes specific to your machine. Check online and see if someone hasnt already posted one.
I use my Milltronics manually all the time for edgemilling or facemilling. In the jog page you can control the federate using the federate override knob. Then you can hold the jog key and it will jog at that federate. There is a feature in the jog page called jog “distance”. You can enter a distance to jog so you don’t have to hold down the jog keys. Mess around with the jog page, I think you’ll be amazed how useful it is!
Adam,
I am a career cnc machinist and own a shop. I always jog the machine with the spindle on just to kiss the side as you did. The only thing I do differently is on my machines (fanuc control) there is a button you can hold down to jog where the machine moves smoothly. Almost like a "power feed" on a bridgeport. Then you don't have the jerky motion in the finish and you also don't have to sit there and crank. lol. But lots of us CNC guys do operations in the same type of fashion!
Good job!
Good to see you learning on the CNC mill.
The reason the counter bored hole was small when you checked it first was because it had only done the roughing pass. When you ran the program again it roughed all 4 holes & then did a the finishing pass on all 4 holes.
What actually happened was the tool was most likely deflecting because of the high feed rate. What you thought was a finish pass the 2nd time around was the endmill boring out the 1/2" drilled holes slightly bigger it wasn't a finish pass on the counterbore. You can tell this by looking at how deep the endmill goes the 2nd time around its considerably deeper then when it was doing the counterbore. He drilled the holes with a 1/2" drill which obviously isn't big enough for the 1/2"-13 threaded bolt to pass through.
I watched again & you are correct.
I do that all the time! It gets the job done and can be faster than creating a program and setting zeros. One thing, it looks like the hand wheel is setup backwards, turning the wheel positive makes the machine go negative. Not a big deal but something to be aware of if you operate a different machine.
I love to use manual cutting with the programmable mill and avoid programming very simple cuts.
This is exactly what I do. Its super easy, super fast. The DRO gives you all the set-up you need.
You do a great job...keep it up. Thanks for your insights, skills, and experience. I've learned something in every video.
Mike
If you want a smoother finish with the shell mill, you're best bet is to make two passes, the first one to rough most of the material, and a final surfacing pass (1 - 2 thou ought to get it) higher RPM, slow feed rate, basically polishing the surface
I have a heck of a lot of respect for your working to improve your skill set. CNC is an intimidating thing to learn! Your a great machinist and this will just be frosting on the cake!
For where you are at now, using the pendant is fine. But eventually you will be learning the basic G codes and entering something in the MDI page like G1 F20.0 Y2.0 which means (if absolute coordinates is set and assuming imperial), Move the Y axis at 20 IPM till Y is 2.
Generally only use MDI on cuts (direction - in this case Y) WHERE I AM CERTAIN the cutting tool won't hit anything, so in your case the pendant would still be used for moving the X stepover (a wrong number sends you into the vise or worse).
By using MDI for the cuts you get a uniform finish.
I laughed hard at the snapped cutter, get used to it and be glad the carbide snaps before something more expensive does. We all have a bin of snapped cutters.
You'll be fine if listen to your own good machining instincts. DO NOT LET the commenters get ya down, or talk you into something you do not feel right.
Adam, I've only been using my CNC mill for a couple of years now and am still learning just like you. I often mill simple things on the CNC mill without a program...I just call it jog milling. It's quicker than programming and much more accurate than on the Bridgeport.
I use "manual" jog all the time to clean up the saw cut edges on one side, then use a program to clean up the other side and bring it to the exact width. Also, as someone else mentioned, using the piranha jaws should only be for the first op when doing two side milling because of jaw lift. I discovered that the hard way.
Sold a LOT of air compressors in my days as a Sales Engineer for Fulton Supply here in Atlanta! Back in the mid '80s. Man the advances since then! Had to pick a compressor, then an air dryer (if needed), all kinds of different Filter/Regulator/Lubricators depending on what the customer wanted. Can't count how many filters I installed auto drains on. Or how many regulators I changed springs in to get the "Sweet Spot". Set point right in the middle so it's most accurate, same with calibrating gauges. 0-100psi gauge calibrated at 50psi. Now it all comes in one package!
Reminds me I need to change the oil and intake filter on my ancient Craftsman 220V 30 gallon one! 🤔
Oh BTW, never use Teflon tape use PTFE Pipe Thread sealant. You'd be amazed that a tiny shred of tape will split a hydraulic pump in half (but maybe you've seen that before). 😁
And later I got into the Med Gas delivery business and those systems for breathing air were a whole different ball of wax! 😮
I'm not saying Adam did anything wrong but if it were me, I would have put the compressor on the mezzanine next to the receiver tank to free up shop floor space. I would also have some "cheat sheets" stuck on the mill close to the control panel to refer to until I was fully versed in the functions.
I had a cheat sheet notepad when learning to run a VMC, my TC (team coordinator) pulled it out of my hands and threw it onto a
work table when I was learning to set up a job. He was big on muscle memory, I eventually quit working there.
Product placement bud
I love CNC - there's no more efficient way to break tools.
Hey Adam, this was an awesome video. Thanks for taking me along on the journey. Your not afraid to go down new roads and learn new things. Your milltronics machine seems like an awesome piece of equipment. Your not afraid to show your mistakes either when learning how to us it. It will take some time for you to get the hang of it, but before long you will have it down, just like your manual machines. Keep up the great work, l sure appreciate your skills. I wish I had a fraction of your talent. Take care and I look forward to many more videos.
New shop equipment, nothing better then that, watching the cnc is incredible. Learning the cnc programming looks like a steep learning curve but I'd say get into the mainstream market.
Did you know, that Kaeser also supports ventilation and cooling electronic weapon systems of US Navy warships? Good choice, Adam 👍🏿
Neat, love a good fun fact
I’m an HVAC tech by trade that now works with industrial electronics and motor controls, logic controller programming, and HMI programming. If I had to do it all over again, machining school (manual and CNC) would be my choice for education and career. It looks so satisfying! Good job, I’m happy for you Adam!
I have a suggestion, it's something I do all the time for my Mimaki printer at work. Put 2 dry erase boards on the CNC, one for constant settings like bit type/RPMs/feed rates/ etc., and one for settings like exiting a program/ basic loading/ manual feeding/ etc. I do this so I can keep track as I change materials and ink settings. My memory isn't quite as good as yours, so I need cheat codes 😁 magnetic dry erase boards are the best, you can magnet on sticky notes.
When you get certain things that you need to use all the time, you can make a permanent label or sticker to go on there.
I appreciate you are showing learning process and not hiding mistakes.
Thank you, Adam.
yes that is super common for what we work on as a job shop looking for quick setups/op0. usually however I tend to use the jog button on the CNC controller and I manually set the feed rate I want. gives a lot more control for accurate speeds and feeds
Breaking a small end mill in the early learning stages of CNC machine work. All part of the learning curve. Nice too see you back in the workshop. Take care stay safe Adam.
Nothing wrong with cleaning up an edge in handle jog. It's quick. I still do it after many years. If you just need a quick reference surface to datum/probe or butt up against a fixed jaw, it's fine.
It's your machine - anything you do with it is the right way to do a project with it, unless of course you push a tool beyond it's limits. Great video, keep up the good work.
I’m always putting my cnc in Bridgeport mode.
I've been working with building automation control systems for 33 years. In the end all different software used are going to do exaclty same thing. The most important thing is you just have to know where to find what you need in different platforms.
You are certainly getting there with Milltronics software. It takes time but that's how you eat an elephant. One bite at a time... 😎
As for me I work with unit that are computer controlled, the best way I found is to write the instructions down for the different process as you are Taught them. We set programmable safety Parameters by picking process window and drop down boxes and typing in the numbers in the appropriate spaces. All the information is in the procedure paperwork but it is up to us to input all the numbers into the unit before the job. The right numbers in the wrong drop down box could be catastrophic to the job, personal, and/or the equipment. There is no fast track to learning it just practice over and over. One day you will not need you notebook it all in your head like breathing. You have an excellent base knowledge but you need to put that into the computer and save it. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Adam, I know nothing about CNC but you're a brave guy posting these learning CNC videos up plus showing your errors feeding the couch experts that will show up in the comments . For someone who admits they are learning basically from scratch you are doing a Dam good job . I've been subscribed to your channel for 8 1/2 years ,the way you have developed your presenting/description skills of what you are doing is so bloody impressive . I'm not posting this on the hope of a reply from you ,I'm a genuine fan of you as a person and as a great teacher . Your new shop is awesome .
Regards from the Scottish Highlands
If you know nothing of CNC, how do you know he's doing a damn good job?. He's done a few days course on CNC and a couple of days tuition on the macjhine. Apart from the Milltronics guy being a phone call away for advice, he''s largely on his own. If I were him, I'd read the comments from the so called couch experts with the mindset that they might be trying to be helpful. When he started machining, he had his dad there to give him the right jobs for his progression as well as the machinist employee Sonny , who Adam said was invaluable in his learning process and in the tips he learnt from him. That way, Adam became, from grass roots, what he is today. Imagine if Adam was given a lathe and a book' how to run a lathe' and told to just get on with it. He would have developed lots of ways of doing things and probably a few bad habits only to have to relearn a lot of them on becoming an employee in industry at Motion. I would implore Adam to hire , for a few months, say a recently retired CNC machinist who has been around the block and dream up as many 'training' projects as he can muster. At the end of which, he will be fully versed in the way the machines are used optimally in the industry, and from there can improve on them as required, as he sees fit.
@@richardjones7249 read my post properly before you comment yeh
I have had the feed zero problem as well lol. My boss recommended an app for my phone that is called FSWizard. I gives good starting speeds and feeds for milling with lots of adjustment options and accounts for material. You have to pay like 15$ for the pro version to get access to most materials but I think its worth it. Funnily enough I have never actually made a mill program on the internal software, we always use mastercam. I have done a decent amount of internal programming for lathes and repetition is definitely necessary. As the guys at my work say, you must be going to church frequently if your running with rapids that high on a program your unsure of lol. Good luck.
I would say stay away from using the jog to mill for now, because it is a missed opportunity to write a simple program and get that repetition for memory experience you were talking about.
I've been running CNC equipment for about 15 years I do very similar from time to time I prefer a jog lock to make a constant feed rate using % of feed up or down to adjust the feed rate but yeah similar 👍👍👍
I worked for a company that sold Kaeser compressor. They are the top of the line units. Just keep up with the maintenance that’s required.
I don't have a manual mill, so I use the CNC mill all the time for a simple manual milling. I actually execute simple G1 commands from the MDI entry window.
Same here. I have a CNC mill at home that I use both programmed and manually depending on what I am doing. Whichever way gets the job done is all good by me.
@@rustyanvil51
I don’t have a CNC Mill so I use my manual Mill to do complicated machining.
@@davidcat1455 Nice, So did I for many years. The CNC is quite a recent thing for me.
@@rustyanvil51
I can’t get my head around the computer stuff. It makes no sense to me. A friend gave me his still serviceable CNC plasma cutter table. After two weeks of frustration I packed it up and put it in storage.🤷
I too only had formal training as a manual machinist and learnt everything I know about CNC from ‘NYC CNC’ I never learnt G code and rely on fusion 360 CAM and simulations for all my programming. I definitely broke a few cutters being too aggressive when starting out.
I always remember John Saunders advice “you’re better to start with a successful recipe”
Translation: Don’t do anything aggressive, that can come later. A successful tool path with no broken tools is the best outcome when learning the ropes.
You can’t go wrong with 0.001” per tooth feed, 15-20% of cutter Dia for step over and max Depth of cut 1xcutter Dia and adjust it from there. (For most common materials)
Also tool deflection can definitely cause the holes to be undersized.
Nice work, Adam. It won't be long until you are as proficient on the CNC equipment as you are on the manual machines. You'll have the best of both worlds. Thanks for sharing.
It’s always exciting when you make chips on your own programs, nice work! Machining is instant gratification when you see the results on a new part
On the milltronics, hold the feedhold button down for a few seconds to reset the program. No need for the estop. 😁
This is exactly how I started with a CNC and like you, I prefer the manual machines.
It's kinda fun to watch you fumble with the CNC after years and years of watching you be in 100% control over everything.🙂 Shows how much all of us can still learn!
One big difference you will experience changing to cnc is powered z feed. Helical cutting is superb for counterbores/increasing diameter.
When manually squaring up your material, rather than cranking on the pendant hand wheel, often times you can set a jog rate, say 10 inches per minute. When that jog rate is set, you can hold down a feed button on the control and the machine will move at 10 inches per minute. From there you can use feed over ride to set say 200% meaning 20 inches per minute. By doing this you can get a consistent surface finish across your part, and have full control of your feed rate. It's exactly the same as setting a feed rate on your manual mill and engaging the feed. Hopefully your contact at Milltronics can help you find the right buttons to press to use the machine more like a manual mill for those simple operations. Cheers from Canada. 🍻
Let me add another thing that you may already know Adam, To fine tune cuts we usually just play with tool length or diameter to dial things in to work just right instead of going back and reprogramming. Nothing is gonna run right on the money usually due to tool deflection, etc. Good work Dude. "Party on Garth"
cool angle behind the vise at the end there. Felt the frustration when that endmill broke. Like you said though, once you get the muscle memory you'll look back at this video and laugh. Always appreciate you showing your mistakes, I've learned a lot from you that way. Thanks.
I square up parts manually like that almost everyday. super convenient!
I recommend when you program you pull the tool at minimum 3 inches off the part while it's rapid travel to the next operation.....this will help you have time to feed hold if you see something wrong before you crash a tool....then you rapid the tool to half inch above the part then carry on as usual.... its just to let you catch something before it happens.
Tool noise on the counter boring is probably a chipped tool. The broken 1st tool probably left a little chunk of carbide in the hole. Check your 1/4" end mill for a chipped cutting edge.
YOU HAVE A FIRST CLASS OPERATION; GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY!
The airtower is way quiter than my little ryobi tire inflator, that's for sure! What a beautiful machine. And thanks for showing us your learning curve on the CNC tools. To know that someone as skilled and experienced as you still needs to learn and will make mistakes while gaining an understanding a new machine is helpful for us mere mortals that make a lot of 'apprentice marks' on our hobby projects.
Hi Adam
On your cnc milling machine you can have a angled shelf under the control panel with a ring binder book with all the settings for each item you want to make, each page is a printout of what you see on the screen but each key is marked with it's control use, so say your f keys auto set for a specified cut with depth and width all set.
E. G.
F1 = 10mm chamfer, od 30mm, depth 3mm
F2 = 20mm chamfer, id 30mm, depth 5mm
And so on for a part say for the main body of a carburettor and there is 9 different styles of this carburettor.
All settings cannot be remembered as you may have some settings for levelling plates and so on.
When I did security for cnc companies quite often most or all cnc machines had these ring binder books on a angled shelf under the control panel with the name of the company and part being made with identity number.
This is so that the machining is more efficient than trying to set up the machine after each different part is to be machined.
But I just want to say that great work on the setup of your new workshop and I also wait for your next instalment. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
10:40 yea we do that at work. Instead of using the handwheel I usually set the feed I want and jog across there so it isn't choppy from my hand wheeling varying in speed.
Adam, it's great to see that you are determined to stick to it with learning the CNC machines. Good on you, brother!
Gooood afternoon from central Florida! Hope everyone has a great day!
Always good to learn new things. Well done Adom. i think i was as excited as you were when it worked :)
Dave from Australia
I've used the handwheel to manually feed.
Also, prior to the Program End, if you need to completely stop. Push the Feed Hold, like you did, then try Spindle Stop, then Program Edit, Reset. May or may not help since that's my sequence for a 25 year old fanuc 18m control. But the Spindle Stop seems to be the key to the Reset button functioning to release the manual controls and handwheel, short of E Stop.
I do this to just square up an edge all the time. The Fadal makes it easy because if you head off in any direction by selecting an axis and then turn the jog wheel a few clicks, you can then press and hold the 'jog' button and it just keeps feeding in that direction at a nice even feed rate.
Yep, pretty much. I manually jog machines to do machining on a fairly regular basis. I also functionally do the same thing by manually entering single lines of code at the command line.
We run 3 Kaeser compressors and 2 driers at my shop. Great equipment.
You need to make yourself a cheat sheet of sorts that hang on the machine itself that has a list of all the F key functions.
I was always told write it down for 20/20 memory.
When setting up your tools, such as the 1/4" endmill, mic the new tool, and use a test indicator to check its run-out (turn the tool backwards) then enter the tool's effective diameter in the tool off-set data. Also try to use a short a tool as possible to minimize tool deflection. Also most CNC controls have a place to input for tool wear (often used to adjust thing like the counterbore diameter.) Lastly, do yourself a HUGE favor and give CNC Cookbook's G-Wizard Feed & Speed calculator a free 30 day trial. I've been a machinist since 1963; I own 2 machine shops; joined the CNC ranks in 1996, and went thru a similar learning curve as you are. Did OK - then I found G-wizard, and stopped breaking tools/scrapping parts, and began making better parts much faster. I don't work for G-wizard - just a longtime very satisfied GW subscriber :-)
Glad to see the new machines in use and will enjoy watching you learn how to use them. Thanks for sharing all of it.
It looks like you are enjoying learning on your CNC mill. Thanks for taking us along for the ride!
be carefull with those serated jaws. they're great for roughing on the the first op, but if you flip them over for the second op that moving jaw lift will make both sides of your part not square. For second op it's best to flip it over onto parallels and knock the part with a deadblow to make sure it's flat.
in MDI mode: put the feed (Fxxx) you want to jog...if you push then in the jog screen x/y/z it will move at that speed. (at least in other ctrl's) :)
It's awesome that you are mastering the cnc, just keep outing hours into it and you will master that sucker soon enough, remember slow is smooth and smooth is fast
Great video Adam I’m hoping to learn right along with you I really appreciate you showing the learning process
Yes you were definitely deflecting the tool. Also the squealing was most likely due to your tool holder being a long shank. I’ve been programming CNC for 30 years and always use as short a shank tool as you can get. Good job.
Adam. I noticed right away that IPM with that 1/4" end mill was running way to fast. That of course was the under size counter bore which you pointed out. Keep at it, it will get better I am sure.
What about the squeaking?
@@Drottninggatan2017 Squeaking can occur if the cutter edge is slightly dull. Type of material he was cutting can have that effect. I do not recall in the video what the material he was using.
@@Drottninggatan2017 The very long tool holder did not help. Feeding too slow can also cause chatter/squeaking. Go to slow and it chatters - go too fast and it breaks. The trick is to find the sweet spot where it cuts nicely.
I’m excited to watch your learning experience with the CNC machines. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast - work it at your pace and bring us along for the ride!
Hi Adam The Kaeser Air Tower looks nice & neat sitting there & surprisingly quiet as well. The pump looks small, but must act like a Super Charger set of drives
Your CNC once you get used to it is going to save a lot of time. Once set you can do something else while It's doing It's Thing lol.Great Video, well done
Really good to see you beginning to master the CNC operations. A very different way of thinking.
I use my CNC mill as a manual very often. It has 3 handwheels and I can knock out one-offs on it faster than I could on a manual by using a mix of handwheels and MDI.
Hey Adam I’m enjoying watching you learn how to operate a CNC. I think its interesting to see how someone with your experience running manual machines and processes will adapt to learning CNC and how you will utilize these new abilities in your shop. Props to you man!
Can't wait to see Abom in Fusion 360 ... it'll be a moment to remember!
Adam, when you get chatter like that, increase the chip load. Either more feed or lower RPM. I usually add feed with overide and see what is good, then go back and change the program once its happy.
So great to see you so excited about for the new compressor. Nothing like seeing someone's excitement with new equipment.
Always a learning curve with new equipment! Thanks for all you do!
Nothing wrong with doing some manual machining on that mill to square things up, we do it quite often in our shop. If it's a lot of parts then yes I would write a quick program to take care of it. I think there could have been a finish pass that had not completed causing the diameter to be 30 thou small, as well as possible tool deflection with that little endmill running too aggressive. Nice to see you getting more comfortable with the CNC stuff. Gas On It. Larry R.
Very cool to see you go down this journey of learning CNC, Adam. Never fear failure, only fear never trying. 😉✌
i got a tower in my shop aswell.. very happy with it and it got over 50k hours on it and still going strong.
Adam needs to put a 6" handwheel on that pendant to make it feel more like the Do-All.
Yup, I do use a 4-axis CNC Mazak mill as manual a LOT. No point in programming a single pass as for stock square-ing. Same goes for some of the holes - I just check the coordinates and dive manually.
In regards to the hole not coming out to the right size for the fixture plate, the issue was most likely tool deflection. Given that the broke doing 65 IPM on a .25 end mill, it was probably deflected inward. For stopping the program then moving the tool up, you need to do F9/halt on the home screen that will allow you to access the movement functions on the controller. Be careful using halt then resume, as the program may behave unexpectedly, at least that was how it was with old Milltronics controllers.
Out of experience [and older machinists advice] I never rapid closer than 50mm [~2 inch] from the workpiece, but use feed, quite high, initially, then progressively slower, as I can control it from the dial. Once I see everything's well, I turn the feed back to 100% and let it do its thing.
I’m glad you’re growing and being successful but I sure miss seeing you run them old machines.
He did manual stuff, like, last week.