Best place for a Newbie to ask questions about CNC milling

[Planobilly]

Hi,

I am very new to CNC. I have two machines I am trying to learn to operate. I want to develop a standard safe process to cut every part and all necessary setups.
One, a Sherline mini mill with 9" of X travel running Mach3. ( The Sherline has no home switch and many other limitations.
Two, a Eagle mill with 54" of X travel running Fagor control software. ( The Eagle has most everything except an encoder on the spindle, manual spindle speed control)

Being new, where do I go to ask basic questions?

Thanks,

Billy

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[Jim Dawson]

There is a benchtop machine forum for your Sherline questions. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/benchtop-machines/

There is nothing really specific to Eagle or best practices.

I do suggest that your Eagle has a 10x54 table with about a 13x32 work envelope. I have one just like it Is yours a 2 or 3 axis? Mine started out as a 2 axis.

Standard safe practices? Keep your fingers away from the spinny things. Know exactly where the E stop button is. Make sure you know exactly where the table is going to go when you push the GO button, and make sure the tool isn't going to smack a clamp on a move. Air cutting is your friend when testing new programs.

[Planobilly]

Thanks Jim,

I am not having too many issues with the Sherline and the Mach3 software. The Eagle machine does not actually belong to me. Long story...lol

I am trying to define a "standard repeatable process" startup to finish for most any machine. I want to do this for both the G Code and other setup procedures.

I just started trying to learn the Eagle with the Fagor control system. It appears that the Fagor control is designed to be able for someone to operate the machine without much knowledge of G Code. It is basically a limited CAD/CAM system with canned programs for typical machining use. Conversational programming as Fagor calls it. Ther is a ISO function that allows for traditional G Code entry.

I want to develop a very good understand of manual programming before I get into using CAD/CAM software. At this point I have no desire to cut complex parts. linear moves, arcs, drilling and taping....standard stuff.

My most basic task at the moment is to develop a very good understanding of the relationship between the various reference positions such as home, part zero, tool change. How to be sure I will get over any fixture such as a vice or other fixture. Crashing the machine, breaking tools, hurting myself, ect, is just totally unexceptionable!!!

To some extent all this relates to Z axis control and keeping the cutter head out of the way with XY moves. Of course there is the issue of inadvertently leaving out the period...Z-002 or Z-.002...lol It would be ever so cool to have a computer that could read my mind...lol

With no one around to show me stuff all this has been a bit of a mountain to climb!!...lol I will give the excuse of "old age" (71) as the reason for my trouble to understand...better than admitting I am just dumb...lol

Thanks,

Billy

[Jim Dawson]

Well Billy, you are getting a bit later start than I did. About 5 years ago I couldn't even spell CNC, I'll be 69 in a month so I understand where you're coming from. I had my Eagle for a year before I ever powered up the servos, just used it as a manual mill with a really fancy DRO It didn't take me too long to figure out that the original Anilam control sucked and I upgraded that.

If you have a some manual machining background then work zeros are just reference points just like you would use in manual operations. I always run my machines from work zeros. I have never used machine home position as a reference to a work coordinate, in fact, my mill has no home position switches. It does however have a settable ''parking'' or tool change position that is relative to the work zero. Your Fagor control may not allow this, never used a Fagor control. The exception to home switches is on the Z axis when you are using tool height offsets, in that case you need a fixed reference point.

It doesn't matter what control you are using, a missed decimal point will always cause havoc. But that is why you air cut a new program before you try to make chips. Just drop the knee down farther than your greatest Z move, plus any clearance needed for clamps or other obstructions. Takes a little more time, but saves tooling.

I normally set my Z position from +0.5 to +1.5 when the Z is in its fully retracted position. That way Z0 is below the fully retracted position and I have plenty of room to retract for clearance and the clearance values are always positive numbers. I always set Z0 at the top of the work, that way when cutting, the Z numbers are always negative, keeps me from getting confused.

You always want to program in a Z clear position before you issue the XY rapid move. Let's assume that your part top is Z0, so the G code for a rapid move might look like this:

G0 Z0.5
G0 X0.0 Y0.0

That insures that the Z has retracted to 0.5 above the part before the X & Y move.

[Planobilly]

Thanks Jim,

All this is coming together in my head. The period mistake happened on the little Sherline machine. I had been running a program and later decided to increase the depth of the cut. Fortunately this happened on a soft piece of plastic and did not damage anything. It got my attention...lol

I don't often make a G Code mistake. G Code is pretty logical to me for some reason. Offset issues are still a bit perplexing at times. There is always a learning period with any new endeavor. I remember the first twin engine aircraft I flew. There was a bewildering array of switches and controls!! Well...ten thousand hours later and I have not killed myself yet...lol I will learn the CNC world also. I am just not at the point I have a complete picture firmly established in my mind.

Thanks,

Billy

[Jim Dawson]

I'll be happy to try to help you through it.

I remember my first flight in twin, Cessna 310. I landed a bit long and came really close to the fence at the end of the runway before I got it stopped, well past the threshold. The instructor should have had me do a go around. I haven't been in the cockpit in about 30 years now, you have a lot more hours than I do. Haven't been active since I sold my plane.

[Planobilly]

I'll be happy to try to help you through it.

I remember my first flight in twin, Cessna 310. I landed a bit long and came really close to the fence at the end of the runway before I got it stopped, well past the threshold. The instructor should have had me do a go around. I haven't been in the cockpit in about 30 years now, you have a lot more hours than I do. Haven't been active since I sold my plane.

Hi Jim,

The 310 is one of my favorite airplanes. I always felt comfortable in them. Always felt like Sky King when flying them...lol I have no idea how many hours I have flown them. Flew to work most every day in that airplane for a couple of years. I had 1956 straight tail and later on a D model. Both fun airplanes. My god, I am getting old! Sky King first came on the radio in 1946.

The E mill is a pretty nice tool. I am not real crazy about the Fagor control. To many screens and buttons to push. I figured out how to operate it manually. There are a lot of videos and instructions but they don't exactly match my Fagor controller. I find writing code on the control unhandy so I just write it on my laptop and use the USB port to load it. Using all the canned cycles and entering dimensions instead of G Code is more trouble than just writing the code. Too tell the truth, I don't have enough experience with the control yet to like or dislike it. We'll see how it goes.

I have been busy building some heavy duty work stands and working on the lathe. I only messed around with the Fagor control for a short period today. I need to spend some time with the manual....always a 40 pound book to read...lol

Thanks for the offer to help. I am sure I will need to take you up on that.

Thanks,

Billy