To hand Code? or to CAD Code?

[tobyaxis]

Seems that most of us need both Hand and CAM.

Keep the posts comming!!!!!!

[chop]

I have been working in the tool and die trade for about 7 years and have been programming and setting up cnc equipment for about 6 years. I started out hand writing everything and I saw the bottleneck that created in the shop. When the shop finally progressed into cam programs I also saw the limitations they have.

I have been working in a job shop for the past 2 years. We have a mix of milltronics and fanuc controls. About 20 machines in all. I find that I will rely more on cam software for single parts or short run projects. For longer production programs I may cam a program and then hand edit it to get what I want.

For our turning centers however I have found that using the cam software to generate say a finish turning pass and copy that into my handwritten stock removal cycle program is the most efficient way to program. I also found that I was able to take a barfed part that took 40 seconds to run and edit the program to get the cycle down to 17 seconds per part.

Computers are great for doing all of the tasks that we as programmers look at as being tedious or repetetive. But thats all they can do. We still have to be there to pick up where the computer leaves off.

[pjmorand]

Atomizer.
Try this website
Center for CNC Education
www.home.columbus.rr.com/hputz/
This guy is old school all the way!
You can buy his videos or what I did was rent them from SmartFlix online
Hope this helps!

Paul

[Paul_S]

In the past I have used CAM to write each tool path. And the final edit was by hand. Such porgrams were pretty much error free. Today, I write a operation list (Fixture offset numbers and tool numbers), then the setup instructions needed to do those operations. Then the tool list. Then I write the program by hand. And, yes, I use CAM as needed. (For spot drilling, drilling, reaming, boring and the like, takes no more time to code by hand than to use CAM and post and edit. Also includes squaring up, face milling, sloting and most straight cuts and corner radii all by hand. [Vector calculations using a calculator.])

A skilled operator who can set a tool, can setup one of my programs.

The main problem with hand edited programs are the typos. Which using CAM and cut and past usually fixes 99.9% this.

[Frankenfab]

Another good use for the editor in the software is converting programs from one control to another, for example from Fanuc to Okuma or HAAS with thru spindle coolant codes. I use the 'replace all" option to change all G43's to G56's in one click, and all G91G28Z0's to Z50's, etc.--to go from Fanuc to Okuma.

[Heiko272]

I do mostly hand coding, since most my programs are for high-volume production environments, emphasis always on minimizing cycle time. For complicated geometries, CAM is nice. However, I feel it is essential that anyone programming a CNC understands what the code will make the machine do. Things like G64/G61 can really have an impact on your part quality if you use them in the wrong place.

[DanSinOhio]

My problem is similar but in a different direction. I prefer my CAD/CAM for speed. I still do hand programming because we have some very old machines that will only accept hand text input. I would hate to have to hand write some of our more complex parts. By comparison to mold work ours is nothing, maybe 2M, but we still have machines with only 65K memory. We have hand-me-down computers on the shop floor that I am supposed to trust forn DNC. We do find a way to make it work though.

[christinandavid]

The most important issue when deciding between online/offline programming: - the complexity of the part (essentially - is it 2D or 3D). Also important is the initial state of the material eg a uniform billet vs a variable casting. Cutting conditions in a computerised environment are always optimal...

As 3D components are normally machined from a nice piece of solid, that is the perfect job for CAD/CAM.

The power of the control you plan to use is also a major factor - if the control has the cycles, use them. Whoever has to run the machine will be thankful when modifications are required. The importance of this increases with expected quantity/production runs required.

Offline programmers must be versed in the language of the control they are posting to, and prepared to prove out their programs at the machine before releasing them to other operators. Being given a billion line program and being told to 'be careful, do whatever you need to do to make it work' does not instil confidence.

A job may require a strategy not provided by the control - this is where programming experience is invaluable. Plunge milling a face, for example, is not difficult to program - and if it is done parametrically the same strategy can be applied on various features/parts by merely redefining the required arguments. No CAM required thank you very much.

It can be quite satisfying to combine the features available at the control to produce complex motions, then flick over to the program screen and watch it pump out 200,000 lines of G-code for you, while you think to yourself "hey, I wrote that".

G-Codes ARE the most basic level of Computer Aided Machining. As controls get smarter, offline 'programmers' will find themselves out of a job, as all that will be required is to show the machine the drawing and IT will tell YOU how it's going to make the part. Scary thought eh?

And as soon as replicators are invented, we'll all be out of a job....

DP

[Monkey_Nuts]

many a time I've posted stuff from CAM software and edited it by hand rather than redoing the toolpaths!

[Kevin Taylor]

I do a lot of hand with the cadcam used for tough profiles and the like I'v not been satisfied with it's preformance and thing's that it won't do it is suposed to mostly post processer glitches" BobCad ". I will have to start over tomarrow on a short program I was working on tonight forty lines when I was ready to quite for the night I X the text expecting to get the prompt to name it like the drawing does but Noooooo!!! So I will start over in the morning . I need to see If I can do the one click change that would help moving programs from old control's to other ones . I haven't sucessfuly used the back ploting function yet but would love to. Kevin