Best online MasterCam course?

[VoKuS]

So what did you guys find to be the best online mastercam course from your own experiance...

Im just wondering, maby im missing out or something...

[DMF_TomB]

I have found learning mastercam by going to nightschool at a local college is best. I did have to talk to head instructor over the phone explaining that I was a manual machinist looking to update my skills and did not feel the need for taking all the basic machining courses and did not need a machining certificate.

By having a live instructor he shows all the students how to use Mastercam.
He also is there to answer questions that beginners would have trouble finding quick answers in the help documentation. Also if you have a "how would you do this" question he can demonstrate it.

Buying Mastercam books from eMastercam online is 2nd best way to learn. The books although not cheap are cheaper than paying for nightschool. I bought the Mastercam handbooks, mill tutorial, lathe tutorial books.

Not all the books come with the mastercam demo program. the demo works but will not save programs. but you can draw, post gcode. Usually the nightschool instructor can get you a demo cd if you do not have one. I learned mill first then later the lathe. The lathe is harder as you have to learn the default safety tool clearances and how to override them like when turning a concave part. Or using different approach angles. Or making a new lathe tool, that is setting it up in mastercam a tool you might be holding in your hand. Somethings like transferring gcode by rs-232 serial cable or floppy disk you may have to learn by doing. Often an older machine changes the uploaded gcode and you have to download it back to a laptop to see what it changed. That is not so much a mastercam problem more a using and maybe adjusting a post precessor for a specific machine. Some machines have some defaults in the controller than sometimes can be hard to understand. Again sometimes a live instructor and or experienced CNC machinist can answer in a few minutes and show how to do something that may cause a student to be stuck trying to figure out a solution for a long time.

Sometimes going to nightschool forces you to finish the course in a reasonable time. Other methods sometime people get bored and do not finish.
This is just my opinion.

[cadcam]

I would go here. http://www.eapprentice.net/

[fizzissist]

I've bought a number of books and found that each is good in its own way, and each is lacking. I'm disappointed that Mastercam doesn't offer a good, thorough manual that explains each function and details the result of each field in the toolpaths.

Been to 4 day training sessions, and they were great.....for the guys who were doing woodworking, or building a lesson plan, or whatever their own specialty. The instructor is going to try and make everyone in the class happy, or make everyone follow a specified lesson plan. The class ends up going just a little faster than the slowest student. Expensive lesson to be learned there.

I'm using streamingteacher right now, and so far it is pretty good. Expensive, but for what I want and the nature of questions I have, it seems like one of the best choices. I like being able to stop, start, and replay lessons for the duration of the subscription.

Again, I have to fault Mastercam for providing a program that costs as much as it does, does as much as it will, yet there's really so little documentation of value.

Am I the only person that HATES their help function? "To get to THIS button, simply press THAT button". Great. Where the hell is THAT button???

[gepperta]

I never cared too much for Steamingteacher. I found it clumsy and difficult to pause and go back and forth to Mastercam. The manuals at caminstructor.com have served my classes well. The lessons are easily machined out in the shop and the average guy does them quickly. The slow ones I make do the lessons repeatedly.

I have told every tutorial maker who will listen that what we need to know is why I want to do it that way and what Mastercam is doing in the background. They just simply tell you what to do most of the time and so you don't learn how to proceed on your own.

My mastercam rep is well aware of the crappiness of the help function in MC. I sometimes gain insight by clicking on the question mark in a dialogue box, but most of the time the explanation is clear as mud.

[fizzissist]

Originally Posted by gepperta ....I have told every tutorial maker who will listen that what we need to know is why I want to do it that way and what Mastercam is doing in the background. They just simply tell you what to do most of the time and so you don't learn how to proceed on your own. .....but most of the time the explanation is clear as mud.

Precisely. WHY am I doing this is far more valuable. Invariably I'm doing a part that isn't even close to any of the sample/learning parts, and I find myself blindly pushing buttons to see what happens. I also find that too often the problem goes back to the way I created the geometry...but how am I supposed to know that?

Don't care if the reason is some weird function of the source code for Mastercam itself....just tell me why I need to do it so I have insight for the next round of frustration.

Clear as mud is a euphemism for sure....How many times have I caught myself saying "Oh, that was helpful!" while restraining myself from throwing something at the monitor!

[Steve Arteman]

I have done custom videos for customers the reason is just as you are talking about to show them why and how they can design and program their part, this is a more expensive but very effective learning on your part. Plus the video is yours to use as long as you need to use it or trin other people without extra expense.
Steve Arteman
www.cad2cam.net