Cnc mill endeavor

I'm jealous. I've never been around any machining but have always thought it'd be something I would enjoy. I hope it works out for you.
 
I am a CNC repair guy about 10 yrs now. Have worked on Mazak, Okuma, Mori Seiki, DMG, Gleason, Cincinnati, ABB, Giddins & Lewis, Daewoo, Monarch, Trump, Bridgeport, and ohhh at least 60 more makers. I have a small personal shop of antique machinery that I collect and use. My programming skill is beginner. Last company I work for years had a Bridgeport with ProtoTrak 2 axis control. The proto trak is great for beginners as it can be used as a DRO and CNC. It's basic conversational programming instead of the standard EIA/ISO (a.k.a. G code) I built all kind of manifolds, flanges, brackets, tools and more in my free time. I plan to ad a small CNC to my shop down the road. As all I have now is an older horizontal mill. Another step up for an actually machining center would be a Fadal. Box ways equals rigidity and you can find Fadals under 10K often. It's the rigger, service tech, parts bills you will have to worry about if you can't move it yourself and or fix it yourself. There is a lot to learn . From leveling and alignments, mechanical repair and lubrication, electronic troubleshooting, cutters and tooling costs...
 
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AHall said:
Thanks Ron, if I'm able to move forward with this id like to discuss it further.
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Give me a hollar if you end up getting a machine. I have a lot of drills and end mills you can have, and if you decide to start cutting Stainless, I can give you some recommendations for end mills, and inserts that work extremely well on it.
RonA
 
RonA said:
Give me a hollar if you end up getting a machine. I have a lot of drills and end mills you can have, and if you decide to start cutting Stainless, I can give you some recommendations for end mills, and inserts that work extremely well on it.

RonA
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Can you give a good recommendation on an end mill that would be good to mill down rocker pedestals on a 12v? I am basically teaching myself before I take a machining class at the local community college. Also is there any good info/ books on selecting tooling ect
 
superpsd said:
I am a CNC repair guy about 10 yrs now. Have worked on Mazak, Okuma, Mori Seiki, DMG, Gleason, Cincinnati, ABB, Giddins & Lewis, Daewoo, Monarch, Trump, Bridgeport, and ohhh at least 60 more makers. I have a small personal shop of antique machinery that I collect and use. My programming skill is beginner. Last company I work for years had a Bridgeport with ProtoTrak 2 axis control. The proto trak is great for beginners as it can be used as a DRO and CNC. It's basic conversational programming instead of the standard EIA/ISO (a.k.a. G code) I built all kind of manifolds, flanges, brackets, tools and more in my free time. I plan to ad a small CNC to my shop down the road. As all I have now is an older horizontal mill. Another step up for an actually machining center would be a Fadal. Box ways equals rigidity and you can find Fadals under 10K often. It's the rigger, service tech, parts bills you will have to worry about if you can't move it yourself and or fix it yourself. There is a lot to learn . From leveling and alignments, mechanical repair and lubrication, electronic troubleshooting, cutters and tooling costs...
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Yes for years I did a lot of work on different types of machines. My personal favorite for controls was the fanuc. Great diagnostics, great documentation and lots of versatility. This was in a manufacturing environment, so these machines saw types of abuse that most others didnt. I know I would be scared of the costs of replacement amps and servos. Didn't see much problem out of the processing boards.
 
97rada said:
Can you give a good recommendation on an end mill that would be good to mill down rocker pedestals on a 12v? I am basically teaching myself before I take a machining class at the local community college. Also is there any good info/ books on selecting tooling ect
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Pedestals are quite soft. Nothing any end mill can't handle.
 
RonA said:
Give me a hollar if you end up getting a machine. I have a lot of drills and end mills you can have, and if you decide to start cutting Stainless, I can give you some recommendations for end mills, and inserts that work extremely well on it.
RonA
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Thanks Ron. As always, I appreciate your continuous generosity.
 
alot of time g code and m code is machine specific. for example an m10 in my doosan puma lather is parts cather up. in my hardinge quest it is high pressure. machines come with m code and g code list and hundreds of pages of sample programing. find a machine that you are interested in and buy a used manual for it sit down relax and read and read and try and understand it. there is plenty of hack versions on software out there you can get for programing you will just need to adjust g and m code it will give you a tool path atleast. start with mild steal or 6061 both easy to cut and learn feeds and speeds.
 
We have been using vf2's at the college. It is the machine I was leaning toward when I started this nonsense.

Also we have been learning FeatureCam. Is there any reason to not pursue FeatureCam and Inventor? I haven't downloaded my own version, but the instructor told me it was free for 3 years I think.
 
AHall said:
We have been using vf2's at the college. It is the machine I was leaning toward when I started this nonsense.

Also we have been learning FeatureCam. Is there any reason to not pursue FeatureCam and Inventor? I haven't downloaded my own version, but the instructor told me it was free for 3 years I think.
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If your already learning FeatureCam I would stay with that. It is light years ahead of mastercam and last time I checked it was cheaper, but that was a few years ago. Mastercam has really been falling off the past few years in my opinion. But mastercam is a lot more popular and more widely used.

But the most important thing is to buy the software for the work you will be doing. If I was doing a lot of simple parts it would be Featurecam. If your doing molds and a lot of 3d machining then you need to look into software designed for that like Powermill
 
Anyone seen a Centroid? I remember the Haas machines at Hellmanns shop. I would love to learn how to do it.
 
Haas is a lower priced machine, it does get the work done.
We have replaced 3 spindles on three different machines.
 
I picked up a lathe at an auction from the local college that I attended earlier this year. Very excited to cut my teeth with the manual stuff.

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