This page will feature suggestions on what needs to be covered that currently isn’t be taught by most CAM book and video authors. In fact the only exceptions that I have seen are Mike Mattera, Jayson Kramer and Steve Arteman videos. The rest is worthless crap. Some of the worst CAM training I have seen is the Gibbscam documentation and the BobCRAP training videos. Both are examples of how not to teach CAM.
Here’s a hint on what my direction for this page will be:
The focus should be on teaching machining and programming real world part examples. You should not forget that a CAM system is just a tool to automate what’s in your machinists mind. Everything you teach should be about giving your reader or viewer more control over making better and quicker part programs. It’s my strong belief that this is the only approach that works to effectively teach CAM programming.
First Suggestion:
Teach how to program the depth of countersinks. You do this by showing how deep to program a 60-degree, an 82-degree, a 90-degree a 100-degree or a 120-degree countersink. List the multiplication factors for each .001 of programmed Z depth.
Example:
The multiplication factor for a 120-degree countersink is .288 and for each .001 of programmed Z depth the countersink will increase .0035.
Lets say we need to program a 120-degree countersink that needs to be .375 in diameter.
The calculation is as follows:
.288 x .375 = .108
-.108 is what you would program as the Z depth in your CAM program to get your .375 diameter 120-degree countersink.
What also should be mentioned is that the setup person needs to measure the countersink and raise the tool because the countersink doesn’t come to sharp point and the diameter of the flat has to be taken into account and the tool raised up.
Second Suggestion:
When programming small holes you often want your lead in-lead out to start in the middle of the hole. The formula to do this is:
Hole Diameter – Tool Diameter / 2
In Mastercam you would enter this number in the Lead In-Lead Out dialog box under Length Input.
Third Suggestion:
Teach how to figure out how far you need to go with a tap to get the full thread depth specified.
Example: You need a to tap a 6-32 thread in a 1/4 plate.
1 divided by 32 = .0313
Look at your tap and count the number of threads to get to the full thread diameter of the tap. In this example lets say it’s 6 threads.
6 times .0313 = .187
You must go .187 deeper than the thickness of your 1/4 plate.
Much more coming soon!
