RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] What is everyone doing, building, wanting to learn?

>>What is going on with the rest of you? If you are trying to learn this
>>stuff, start asking some questions so we can have some discussion on topics
>>other than the esoteric. If you are a pro already please jump in and share
>>your knowledge. Tell the group what you are building, what you want to
>>build, what you have made that was a failure. Come on, there has to be more
>>happening out in our collective workshops than BSing about digitizers most
>>of us will never build and writing G-code parsers most of us will never
>>write. Don't mean to disparage these topics, but they are not high on my
>>list of exciting discussion topics. Let's hear about cutting some metal and
>>making chips or sparks (didn't want to forget the EDM part of our name).
>>
>>Tim
>>[Denver, CO]
>>On the quest to broaden our discussions

Hi all,

Tim, since you have asked it directly, I guess it is time to break the
silence. I am originally from MiddleEast but have moved to and have become a
Canadian Citizen since 10 years ago (But still trying to cope with a
government who follows Bank of Canada’s advise in keeping unemployment 8% and
higher for keeping inflation under control, and discrimination, rightwing
conservatives and narrow minded, redneck people.. .of course not all, but
enough so as not to being able to find a decent job in 5 years.....I have
heard them all, from "we keep your resume on file for 6 months", to, "sorry
sir, you are overqualified".....).

I first learnt and ran CNC lathe (Mazak, Mazatrol conversational language,
Programming and setup) while in Europe, in 1987 (Let me tell you, they are
more civilized). Since then I have tried to keep up with the changes and new
machines and newer toolings. I worked here too on oilfield related parts
(bushings and flanges,...) and even took two years of college in Mechanical
Engineering technology but that also was not enough to get established in the
workforce. I got my journeyman ticket few years back, that too did not........

So I decided to go back to school again, this time to get my bachelor degree
in Mechanical Engineering, I am taking all the science courses now, and later
C++ and the rest of it.

I have learnt a lot since joining to this group about 6 months ago, It is
obvious that folks here are very experienced and do have broad knowledge on
various topics, but my electrical background is very weak and at times can't
follow the threads on EMC's or step motors and similar things.

I have also noticed that some fellow machinists in the group are quite new to
the field of CNC, and my advise to them is to start by reading a couple of
good books on the subject to get a coordinated idea how the machine actually
works. It is well known in the industry that good (manual) machinists make a
good CNC operator and later on a setup person and programmer, and it is true.
A CNC machine is nothing more than a lathe with spindle and a turret on which
the tools are mounted. In the case of a lathe, it has got 2 axis, X and Z
(Well, in some machines it has got a third C axis with live tooling, doing
milling works as well), with X axis being for the diameter of the part and the
Z axis for longitudinal cuts. In the case of a machining center (CNC milling
machines) it has got from 3 up to 7 axis (as far as I know) and, of course,
CNC has got its advantages and disadvantages like every piece of
technology.(Right, they don't strike!).

I receive free magazines every months, like modern machine shop and cutting
tool engineering, and have seen many technical books over the years and would
like to recommand a couple of them here:

"Cutting tools" by: R. Edwards (Published in the UK), ISBN:0901716480
"Setup reduction through effective workholding", Edward G. Hoffman,
ISBN:0831130679
"CNC Machining handbook", James Madison, ISBN:0831130644



Regards,

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