The Best CNC Control what is it?

Category : Useful Stuff

If you are buying a new machine what is the best CNC control?

You might not have a choice of the control if it’s a Mazak or a Haas.

Given the choice what would you choose.

the best CNC control

Things to Consider (the best CNC control)

  1. Availability of Skill to use it.
  2. Batch size, one off or thousands of parts.
  3. Ease of editing.
  4. Do you want to program on the machine?
  5. Graphics.
  6. Program Restart.
  7. Compatibility with existing controls.
  8. Mobility of labour (who can use it?).
  9. Do you need bells and whistles?

Availability of Skill

Probably the most common CNC Control is Fanuc. Like it or love it, it’s the one we all know.

But is it the the best CNC control? Well, I’ll let you decide.

So when you are trying to get a setter operator or programmer.

If you have a Fanuc control you have plenty of fish in the sea. It’s more or less the industry standard.

So beware if you buy a new machine and the control uses bitcoin and nanotechnology you might be the only dude who knows how to program it.

Siemens controls are really creeping up in the background even Mazaks use them now. There is still a massive shortage of people with Siemens programming skills. Maybe you should talk to us.

How Many Parts Do You Make?

If you are in the business of making one offs or small batches of parts, then you may think it will be more profitable for you to program at the machine.

Mazatrol is excellent for this. When it comes to turning, from drawing to bubble wrap, it really takes some beating.

Hurco is also really good for one offs and small batches. Oh and both of these controls usually have an ISO option meaning you can run Fanuc type programs if you want to.

Oh and the new Hurcos are fully Fanuc compatible

Read the small print on your final machine spec and always check what options are on your machine control.

Fanuc controls are on thousands of machines and every one is different. Things like Manual Guide i are options and sometimes very expensive to install as an add on.

It’s like getting a car and finding you got the one that doesn’t do 0-60 in 5 seconds.

Don’t forget you can always get yourself a CAD CAM system for a very reasonable price these days. This will do everything these controls can do and an awful lot more.

the best CNC control

the best CNC control

Things like proper collision detection. It’s way cheaper and ethical than framing the apprentice and getting him another written warning.

You can get entry level CAD CAM systems for around £2500 pounds (that’s about $1000.000 since we decided to leave the EU). Oops, sorry.

Only joking.

Anyway when buying a new machine it’s not much money to sneak under the radar.

Editing

Do you need to do loads of editing? I have to say Haas controls are brilliant for editing (you even get an undo button along with loads of other clever shit).

The handwheel can wizz you through the program at breakneck speed unique to Haas I think.

Heidenhain has the ability to jump to sections of program really quickly. One of my favorite features Read this.

Yes and make sure your programs are easy to read. Loads of comments and spaced out. This makes them easier to navigate and edit. Read this.

Siemens controls are also very easy to edit COPY/ PASTE an absolute doddle and its really easy to move stuff around. (Siemens 840D Sinumerik)

On your Heidenhain control use this button maybe just to leave gaps and add the odd comment.the best CNC control

Use the colon (;)  to add a comment.

the best CNC control

New Fanuc controls are much better than the old ones for editing. You needed a PHD in calligraphy just to work out how to copy and paste.

Fanuc Tips

If you have Manual Guide then use it to edit. There’s loads more functionality. You even get an undo button.

Even if you don’t use it to program swap over to edit, please.

Check out PL. EDTthe best CNC control

This button lets you edit two or more pages at once so it’s real easy to copy n paste from one program to the other

the best CNC control

Don’t forget to pressthe best CNC control

when your done or you will be punished by being locked into that screen until home time.

Oh and don’t forget the calculator button on Fanuc too.

the best CNC control

Read this

Mazak Tip

When running ISO programs on a Mazak control there’s a real nifty edit function. You know that feeling when you think “oh shit I know I should have changed that tool number”.

Well you can stop the program alter it and just carry on. You can’t alter anything before your current position but you can alter anything after. Like that looming feedrate you know you meant to alter.

(WARNING ONLY WORKS IN ISO)

Programming On The Machine

Just one thing to say about this.

It’s expensive.

It’s great for bored operators, they love it. Yes “that’s what background edit is for, you dick” I hear you say. (You really should learn to be more articulate).

Mmm yes well that’s not without its problems as we all know.

This will obviously work for some organizations and not others. But, be sure to check carefully that production and quality are not adversely affected when you program at the machine.

Just saying.

Graphics

Well most machines have em. But usually they are a pile of shite.

Joking aside (and you know I love to joke) they are really useful for checking programs for errors but mostly not collisions.

So long as your not expecting to get the Jeremy Kyle Show with subtitles you’ll be just fine.

For typos and little coding errors they are brilliant and save loads of stress and panic when you decide to run your code for real.

Program Restart what’s the best CNC control?

Don’t get me started on this one. Well ok here goes.

Even the best CNC controls don’t always have good program restart.

Haas (Brilliant)

Fanuc mmmmmm (It’s an option) read this

Mazak not bad.

Heidenhain good.

Semens good on newer machines old controls with care.

Mixed Bag Usually Not That Good

Anyway it’s a bit of a mixed bag but on a machining centre where you almost definitely will need it. I suggest you check it out first.

Oh and if you already have it then learn to bloody use it.

Clones

 

You see it on LinkedIn all the time, such and such a company has just bought their 96th ????? machine.

Well there’s a reason for that, and I know our machine tool friends would like to think it’s loyalty to their amazing products but ……

Their are some very pragmatic reasons why you stick with the same boring old brand of machine tool.

If every machine has  a different control you won’t get much mobility of labor because every machinist will be scared of the dark evil beast next to him.

And when your trying to recruit… well the wish list will be like War and Peace

If you have bought loads of new machines from the same company when you call the service department you got way more clout (don’t tell anyone I said that).

Don’t forget you can run ISO programs on most Heidenhain controls with a few mods.

Haas, Fanuc, Mazak (ISO) and Yasnac are almost 100% compatible with one another.

So it’s worth looking at how compatible the new control is with your old stuff.

Bells and Whistles

Do you need all this crap?

Can it contact your misses and ask her to get the takeaway ordered and put some Vodka in the freezer?

Can it check your credit rating?

So if you are programming offline with a CAD CAM system what do you need?

I reckon you need good editing, good program restart, good graphics.

If you are programming everything using CAD CAM it’s more about hardware than software.

Don’t forget the hardware is the expensive bit (the metal) computers and software are cheap but if you want a machine that can drill and tap 500 holes in one side of a railway carriage then you need some big bucks.

Verdict So What’s the Best CNC Control?

Sorry there ain’t one. As usual it’s subjective.

The main points to consider if you want the best CNC control:

  • Do you need it to check your lottery numbers?
  • Batch quantities will it run for hours untouched?
  • Do you want to program on the machine and is it practical and cost effective to do so?
  • Can you find anyone to program set and operate it?
  • What skill sets do you already have? Maybe you need to stick with what you have?

Siemens 840D

Thanks

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this post or need CNC Counselling then contact me.

If you want to learn to program CNC Milling Machines

Look no further Contact CNC Training Centre


G94 and G95 Feed per Rev / Feed per Minute

Category : Fanuc Haas

G94 and G95 are two G codes that are often ignored on a CNC Lathe.

G94 is feed in mm per minute, as normally used on a CNC Milling machine.
G95 is feed in mm per revolution, as normally used on a CNC Lathe.

So if you program F.2 in G95 then for every revolution your tool would move 0.2mm

At 1000 RPM your tool would feed .2 x 1000 = 200mm/min

One of the many things that utterly pisses me off is when I see a line of gratuitous G Code at the beginning of a CNC Program.

Now I know you’re thinking “this miserable bastard is permanently pissed off” and this may be be true but. Allow me to explain.

The idea of these setup lines as I am told is to reset the control at the beginning of a program. I don’t have a problem with this at all.

It’s a bit like tattoos I suppose so long as the tattoo is on you and not on my scrotum sack I don’t have a problem at all.

I keep saying they’ll regret it when they’re older but my mother is 96 and covered in ink and doesn’t seem to give a shit about it, therefore I could be wrong.

My mother definitely doesn’t look her age

I used to work with a guy who had “True Love Julie” tattooed up his arm it was all fine till he caught her shagging the bloke servicing the boiler.

I suggested the next time he got his body inked he should try using more generic terms like “I Really Love My Girlfriend”.

Maybe they could leave a gap for him to “felt tip pen” the name in and when he got fucked over again (which he did on a regular basis) he could just rub it out.

Setup Lines G94 and G95

What I hate is that when I ask the operator what the G Codes at the beginning of the program mean. He just says “fuck knows, but I know you must have them”

Anyway it’s a free country (well kind of) so feel free to put these codes in but please take the time to see what they all mean.

For example if you put G21 at the head of your program it means this program is in millimetres.

But….. if you only use millimetres in your programs then why bother. You only need it if you are using inches (G20) sometimes and need to swap over.

Fish Fingers

Likewise you could put G69 at the head of your program but if you never use coordinate rotation you might as well be telling the machine that you’ve got fish finger and chips for tea again. It’s just not interested.

I love healthy food and Jason Donovan

I get this every day since my wife bought a book called “50 new exciting ways to cook fish finger and chips”.

The green parsley leaf she says is my “Five a Day”

G94 and G95

On most CNC Lathes you will always be using G95 which is feed per revolution. On a CNC Milling Machine you will always be using G94 which is feed in mm per minute.

The lathe will default to G95 and the CNC Milling Machine will default to G94.

Soooo… About this Setup Line

If you never use feed in mm per minute (G94) on your CNC Lathe then personally I wouldn’t bother with it. You don’t need G94 or G95 at the head of your program.

Now if you have a bar feeder on your CNC Lathe you may need to feed the bar out with the spindle stopped.

Feed per revolution is feed per revolution therefore if you have no revolutions then you have no feed.

You must change to G94 so that you can program in mm per minute. Oh and when you are done don’t forget to switch back to G95 (feed per revolution).

Don’t forget these G Codes are modal which means they stay in the control until changed.

G95 Feed Per Revolution (CNC Milling)

Now most programmers don’t use this much on a CNC Milling machine. There are some really good uses for it.

Now I was useless at maths at school. Well thinking about it I was just useless at school although….

I did get a GRADE 1 swimming certificate which I’m still proud of to this day.

Achieving my GRADE 1 swimming certificate was a gruelling task. I remember I had to swim a full width of the swimming pool which I did (only touching the floor three times). Then I had to retrieve a massive,heavy, black rubber brick from nearly three feet of water.

I still have the certificate framed in my office to this day.

You young people now-a-days have it easy with your ipads and Ed Sheeran records.

Anyway most of the ideas I come up with are born out of shear laziness. Humans are useless at adding up in fact all simple arithmetic. So why bother…. fuck it.

Whenever there is an opportunity to do maths give up and let the computer do it. As much as I want to build your confidence as a training provider I can tell you that you are stupid, this in not for you.

Drilling On a CNC Milling Machine

Drilling is a good example. I remember years ago buying a drill and ringing up the tooling guy and asking what feed rate to use. He said “oh, about .15mm per rev”. I didn’t have the confidence to say “what the fuck does that mean” so pretended I knew what he meant.

In actual fact  I just pissed around with the drill until it looked like it was cutting OK.

Obviously you know what is meant by 0.15mm per revolution. It works like this, just incase you know a bloke that doesn’t understand it.

So it your speed is 2000 rpm.

Then your feed would be 2000 x 0.15 = 300

So you would program your drill as F300. that’s 300mm/min.

This is my dog “fuckwit”

Anyway I think you can see where this is leading. If you swap to G95 you could just program what the man said. Completely clueless as to what will happen.

Oh and usually they say stuff like “between 0.1 and 0.25 mm per rev”. Tooling guys are renowned for their ambiguity.

You could  play around with the feed without ever getting out your calculator (save it for your next trip to Lidl).

Tapping On a CNC Milling Machine

You have a choice G94 and G95.

Loads of people still work out the feed-rate when tapping, is this you?

T1 M6 (M6 x 1 TAP)

G90 G0 G54 X0 X0
G43 Z3. H1 M8

M29 S500
G84 G98 Z-20. R1. F500.
X50. Y50.
G80

In the above program it’s easy to calculate the speed by multiplying the speed by the pitch of the tap.

500 x 1.0 = 500.

It’s easy but there are two problems.

  1. Not all taps are 1mm pitch.
  2. What if you need to change the speed?

So the calculation is not always that simple.

If you change the speed and forget to change the feed you are fucked. Well you’re not but the tap almost definitely will be.

Try This

 

T1 M6 (M6 x 1 TAP) 

G90 G0 G54 X0 X0
G95 (FEED PER REV)
G43 Z3. H1 M8

M29 S500
G84 G98 Z-20. R1. F1.
X50. Y50.
G80 G94 (FEED IN MM/MIN)

Now it’s really easy the feed-rate is the pitch of the tap. Oh and when you change the speed just do it.

No one gets hurt and no taps are harmed in the process.

G95, what you “young people” would call a no-brainer.

 

 Best Website with Crack Program:


Full Circle Macro Program on a Fanuc Type Control

Category : Fanuc Haas

Full Circle Macro

When we program G2 and G3 on a Fanuc type control an end point is required and a radius.

Full Circle

The control can then miraculously fit in the circular move. Sometimes on training course my students have read stuff on the Internet about I J and K.

My stock answer is unless you are working on a really old machine and I mean dog shit old you wont need it.

Towards the end of the programming course I admit to lying and drop the bombshell that maybe they do need to know just a little bit about I J and K.

Full Circle

Look at this article if you want to know what it is right now.

Anyway you can actually live your whole life and never worry your pretty little head with such crap as I J and K.

My mother is 96 and if you ask her about I J and K values she would not have a clue what you are on about.

What about a full circle? your smart arsed friend will ask.

Easy you program it in two halves.

Actually I think it is a bit of a cop out because there is a very easy way. I’m not explaining it again cos its in this article. Oh and it’s piss easy.

Piss can be used in many contexts.

In England if your mate is pissed it means he is intoxicated. In America I believe it means he is unhappy.

To say “I can piss it” means I can do it without any effort.

“Piss easy” means easy like taking a piss (urinating for the posh engineers)

“Piss fit” means a loose fit (Engineering technical term).

“It pisses in” means it goes in with ease

“Piss off” means go away.

“On the piss” means out drinking with friends.

Can also be called “out on the piss”

Anyway this program is a macro you can use to easily program a circle of any size in cutter compensation.

Full Circle

 

In the above main program the tool radius is stated as D17 and #1 is the required radius. #2 is the depth.

Now take a look in the subprogram.

Full Circle

Full Circle Macro

Firstly it swaps to incremental so you you can dig this hole wherever you want in your garden just say where.

It feeds to the Z depth you told it in #2.

Then it applies cutter compensation (you gave it the D offset in the main program).

Then the G3 tells it to mill a full counter clockwise circle .

Hey don’t forget the G1 on this line G1 G40 X-#1. You will get a nasty little alarm if you don’t you naughty boy.

This just cancels the compensation and goes back to the middle.

Then the G90 to swap you back to absolute (keep the place tidy your mom doesn’t work here)

Her is a nice video of the whole thing. Don’t you just love Vericut.

Watch the program step through to give you a full explanation of what’s going on.

Full Circle Macro

Hope you like my Macro. If you use it then keep updating it and making it better. Send me a copy when you perfect it.

A Note

In macro programs it’s the stuff you leave out that counts. What I mean by that is that the more you leave out of the macro program the more you can control externally.

If the feed-rate and D offset were in the macro program you would be stuck with them whenever you use this macro. Think about it.

It’s like my mother in-law without a divorce Im just stuck with her.

Here is how macro type programming is done on a Siemens control

If you want to learn about rads and chamfers on a Sinumeric Siemens 840D read this

Thanks

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this post or need CNC Counselling then contact me.

If you want to learn to program CNC Milling Machines

Look no further Contact CNC Training Centre

 


Program Restart Fanuc Not Scary At All

Category : Fanuc

Program Restart historically people tend to avoid Program Restart on a Fanuc control. It is an option so again don’t get too excited as you may not have it.

Program Restart

I remember using it years ago on 6MB controls circa 1982 and it was like performing black magic. What a rigmarole and it took me ages to figure out how it worked.

Oh yea and you could only perform it when there was a full moon or an R in the month.

Anyway recently I came across it on a new Hartford Machine I was training on and couldn’t resist getting it going.

Program RestartSo now I am going to share Program Restart with you.

Now I am always banging on about not putting too many N numbers in your programs (they can make you hyperactive).

Anyway you need an N number in order to perform a program restart on a Fanuc control.

Now if you had a load of holes to drill and tap you might want to number them all just in case you need start half way through having broken a drill or tap.

In this program I used an N number for each hole.

Alternatively you could wait till you need to do a program restart and just add an N number where you want to restart the program. In this case it’s N1234

Word of Caution Program Restart

Most tool changers use a 9000 series program for the tool change. There may be N Numbers in here. So if you end up stopped in this program it will normally be a low N number. Therefore I tend to use 100 series numbers N100 onwards.

Here’s What You do for a Program Restart

  1. Reset the program at the head you can use REWIND if you want.
  2. Turn on Program Restart this will be a switch or a soft key depending on the machine control.
  3. Input the N number you wish to start at eg N100.
  4. Press Q-TYPE the machine will jump to this line and the following screen will show.Program Restart
  5. Your sequence number is searched for and this screen will show you where your machine is going Program Restart  and the Program Restart
  6. Turn off Program Restart. (Distance to go will flash)
  7. Go to MDI and get the correct tool then start the spindle at the correct speed. Issue M8 if you need coolant on. (The tool number and recent M codes are all shown on the screen above)
  8. Go back to AUTO or MEMORY mode.
  9. With the machine in SINGLE BLOCK each time you press cycle start the axis will move to position in the order shown on the screen. Use feed controller to position axis.

Program Restart

10. You are allowed to manually move the axis before continuing if a collision is suspected.

11. Once each axis is in its final position the program runs normally from this point.

Advice (Program Restart)

If you got it use it.

Oh and keep using it.

It will become simple.

Confession

I’d forgotten about this and it’s definitely not as scary as I remembered. Maybe I got smarter in my old age.

It is a very underused function if I had a machine with it on it would definitely be in my digital toolbox.

You Can really Impress the Boss With this One

Fetch him over for a demo but make sure you know what you are doing first just in case you fuck it up.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this post or need CNC Counselling then contact me.

If you want to learn to program CNC Milling Machines

Look no further Contact CNC Training Centre

 

 


How G28 Works. Why two pushes of CYCLE START?

How G28 Works

Every wondered why G28 takes two presses of the CYCLE START Button when you are in single block.

How G28 Works

Be amazed you are about to find out.

One of my pet hates, and at my age you have thousands, is when people say

“Oh I don’t know we’ve always done it”

I just think, well you are stood at this machine for eight hours a day why not find out what’s going on.

How G28 Works

How G28 Works

G28 tells the machine to return to its home position. This is usually a convenient point for a tool change.

The command on a machining centre looks a bit strange.

G28 G91 X0 Y0 Z0

Why G91?

Well G28 means return to your home position via an intermediate point.

So if you programmed G28 X0 Y0 Z0 then your machine would rapid down to the workpiece (probably crash) and then go to it’s home position.

What G28 G91 X0 Y0 Z0 tells the machine is this……

  • The reference point is incrementally zero from where you are.
  • So the machine does not move.
  • Then it goes to it’s home position.
  • Hence the two presses of cycle start.

On a CNC Lathe we use U and W for incremental. Read this post if you don’t know.

So if you programmed G28 U0 W0 your X and Z axis would return to their home position. This being because the reference point is incremental.

If you programmed G28 X0 Z0 you would probably get a collision like below.

Well at least it went home.

First move is to X0 Z0 which is the front of the part. (This is your reference point.)

The machine would then move back to zero return.

G28 is fine on a CNC Lathe but on a CNC Machining Centre you must remember to change back to G90 (Absolute).

My preference is to use G53 to get back to your home position.

Read this article if you never heard of G53.

Please note some older machines don’t have G53. Oh and it is classed as an option!

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this post or need CNC Training then contact us.

Contact CNC Training Centre

Don’t forget to watch my Tutorial Videos

We offer training on all types of CNC Machines and controls check em out.

Or fill out the contact form below

 

 

 

 


Careers in CNC

View all current vacancies in CNC

Click here

Call David: 07834 858 407