Newbie- MASTERCAM TRAINING

[solakali]

Hi Im new to the CNC world and Im interested in getting into this trade.

I would like to learn Master Cam, but have no clue where to start.

I'll be training myself so are there any books, programs, tutorials, tips, advice, etc. you guys can let me know about..

Basically can you guys help point me in the right direction and help guide me through learning from scratch?

Ur help is greatly appreciated,
Thanks in advance.

[Mike Mattera]

Go to www.tipsformanufacturing.com - then go to products - and register the the free videos. You may also want to browse thru the training CD's we have.

Mike Mattera

[Mike Stevenson]

solakali,

http://www.emastercam.com/ has a wealth of information.

[Darkman]

Learning by yourself may not be the fastest way to go. I recently moved to a new company and brought MC7 along. With in 3 weeks the guys I was showing had absorbed everything I learned and are showing me things. Somethings really came easy to figure out, others took A LONG time to figure out. It took me years to learn/struggle and figure out what I could have learned in months with the right tutor or class.

I suggest taking a begining course in cad/cam first. That is was my main obstacle until I came to work with a bunch of auto-cad/ inventor guys. Creating toolpaths and posting code is only a small portion of mastercam. Although learning from the school of hard knocks has something to be said. I managed to figure it out, over time.

[solakali]

Thanks guys,

I have a relative who is a CNC machinist. He was telling about the field and how he trained himself with books and stuff.

The problem is he lives in another state and there's a bit of a culture barrier so its hard for me to understand everything he says. lol. He advised that I take a course for it too, but right now its not possible for me.

I agree that hands on training is the best route.

But are there any good books that are good for teaching the basics? What books have you guys used to get you acquainted with MasterCam and CNC machinist?

[elnerdo]

Like you, I'm trying to learn Mastercam. I've purchased "Learning Mastercam Mill" a while back and it really didn't fit my style. Too pedantic, and too many chapters on MasterCAM as a CAD program.

The video's I've seen online have really been helpful so I'm leaning towards that route as opposed to the book method. At least initially. When you're on the steep portion of the learning curve, its just faster, for me at least.

[Mike Stevenson]

Originally Posted by elnerdo MasterCAM as a CAD program.

That's an Oxymoron right?

[cob]

hellow fellows,
you might want to try this web site(deanzacnc.com) and also
(http://eapprentice.net/lessons.html) they are pretty cool and. and
the teacher is very helpfull, he also has a forum you can goin.
enjoy.

[Jim Jarvis]

I'm presently taking official Mastercam VAR training. I'm very lucky that I work for a company that can afford it because the training book that we are useing for official Mastercam VAR training as well as the very knowledgeable instructor provided information is NOT AVAILABLE if you don't use official Mastercam VAR training.

A lot of work needs to be done to correct this situation and I feel for those who can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars per day to get the proper training as I was in that situation for many years.

Good luck finding an independent book or video that properly cover subjects like the Mastercam Toolpath Editor or Machine and Control definition, etc.

[tobyaxis]

Originally Posted by solakali Hi Im new to the CNC world and Im interested in getting into this trade. I would like to learn Master Cam, but have no clue where to start. I'll be training myself so are there any books, programs, tutorials, tips, advice, etc. you guys can let me know about.. Basically can you guys help point me in the right direction and help guide me through learning from scratch? Ur help is greatly appreciated, Thanks in advance.

Here are some books
http://www.techedu.com/Mastercam_Books_X.asp
Here are some videos
http://www.tipsforcadcam.com/category/342301

Be patient and spend as much time as you can learning. As you get better things get easier

Cheers!!!!!

[maxine]

solakali,

I was at the same spot as you about 6 months ago. Wondering how to learn and definitley not able to afford the official classes offered by the resellers. A local company is letting me use a MCam X seat on the weekends to try to learn so I can build the skills to get a job. I have tried many of the training materials mentioned above and can give you some comments about my experiences.

I bought the Tips For Manufacturing X Start Up and Surfacing CD's from the TFM web site. They are pretty good. If I had it to do over again I would just get the Surfacing CD. One thing that messed me up with the surfacing CD was that I was working through example parts practicing each toolpath etc as I went through the lessons one at a time. That has been a good learning technique for me in the past because actually practicing the lesson by making a part seems to help cement the concepts into my head. But I ran into a lot of problems doing that because I'd hit a wall trying to figure out how to do something that wasn't in the lesson that I was on and then be stuck. Finally I figured out that I needed to watch every lesson on the CD all the way through one time to get a feel for where all the info was located. Then I went back and started over making trial parts one lesson at a time and if I hit trouble I at least had an idea where to look ahead on the CD to find answers. That has worked pretty well for me. Even doing that I never have been able to get good surface finishes with the surface finish passes. The downside of the CD's is there is a bit of detail missing and no one to ask for help when you get stuck. For now I just gave up on finish passes and I am using the roughing toolpaths with tighter tollerances with OK luck. I'll figure out what I am doing wrong on the finish passes eventually I am sure. If I want to get the job I will have to. What I REALLY like about the CD's is that I can go back anytime and review a section which has been really helpful. There are a lot of little things that it is nice to be able to go back and refresh. I pull out the surfacing CD often still when I am trying to program something.

After using the CD's for a while I subscribed to streamingteacher.com for a 3 month trial. Very expensive for me so it was a real stretch but the learning was going slower than I had hoped so I figured it was worth a try. Those lessons are pretty good too. They are structured with more step by step on screen detail than the CD's above which was helpful for me. The thing I really didn't like about the streaming video is that once the subscription runs out they are gone. No reference material to go back to to refresh a lesson or toolpath or trick. I just couldn't absorb everything in the 3 month subscription timeframe with weekend only access to Mcam but I also can't afford to pay $240 for another 3 months just to review something that I didn't get down the first time. If you go to that site and subscribe you can do the Art tutorial for free. Try a few of those lessons and you will see the level of detail in the lessons on that site. The step by step detail is the best part of those but like I said the lack of permanent reference matereial was abig downside for me.

The deanzacnc stuff (eapprentice.net/lessons.htm) was great for just getting started. It is really basic and helped me a lot just getting familiar with the program layout and basic techniques. I would definintley watch those lessons first if I were you. Do those before anything else and before spending any $$$.

I haven't tried the books for sale on emastercam.com. They are expensive too and I can only afford to do so much. Others who own them have told me that they are a bit tedious but good reference resources.

That's my experience so far. Hopefully that helps a little bit. Best of luck learning this stuff.

Maxi