CNC Milling advice

[mthomps]

I did all sorts of heat treating for 10 years. From stress relief to hot isostatic pressing. At the end of the day, the things I enjoyed about it were far outweight by the extreme swings in temperature, greasy dirt, and heavy lifting.(tuning a HIP is fun as hell though).

So i switched careers! I always had an interest in CNC but its hard to get in to withought school or prior experience. I found a company that will hire you, no .machining experience. Took a huge pay cut, lol. But i wanna do it

I'm just looking for recomended reading from the overall process. Something that explains but is also reference material.

Maybe I can ask some of you guys questions

 

[fastgtfairlane]

I also switched careers a year and a half ago. I had been doing hvac work for the last 11 years. One job I had was working at a community College as a tech. While there I had a call in the technology building in their machine shop. Seeing all of the cncs and manual machines gave me a boner. Sparked an interest in that field. Fast forward 2 years, that opportunity came available as an entry level machinist using manual lathe and bridgeport. The company manufactures and sells very high tech screw driving systems to factories all over the world. I also took a pay cut to start but it was still good enough to get by just had to adjust a few things. It has hands down been the absolute best job I've ever had. I would totally do this as a hobby if I had the space and equipment at home. 6 months into the job I got a dollar raise and at a year I got 2 more dollars. Now I make more than I was making as a hvac tech and I get to be in a conditioned, clean shop. I found many many very educational videos on YouTube that helped me learn some good techniques and different things.

 

[SteveC]

The company manufactures and sells very high tech screw driving systems

Not Jergens, by chance?

 

[fastgtfairlane]

Weber. German company

 

[OCD Solutions]

After 25+ years as an industrial electrician/instrument tech/PLC Programmer, I took a job with a German Automation group that builds robotic riveting machines for Aerospace and spent 4 years on the job learning CNC. I used the information to build my own Hobby CNC Mil and Lathe to better learn the basics. If you understand the Cartesian Coordinate system, CNC is dead simple. It's just speed and location after that.

 

[Vumad]

As a hobbyist, which doesn't help you much, I got Fusion 360 and a 3D printer and began making some basic stuff. From there I got a Grizzly CNC mill second hand and started using the same concepts from 3D printing with the CAM software in Fusion 360.

I realize you will likely need to learn faster with lower overhead than that, but as I am not switching careers but still want to do the job you are doing, it was the path that got me there. I think my total investment is around 5-6k with a new computer, new printer and a rare find on a good condition second hand CNC mill. The cheaper option with a similar pathway is CNC routers, such as the shapeoko XXL.

Oh yeah, I also asked @OCD Solutions questions until I thought he was going to choke me if he ever saw me in person again. Wealth of knowledge there.

 

[Jcary85]

I did all sorts of heat treating for 10 years. From stress relief to hot isostatic pressing. At the end of the day, the things I enjoyed about it were far outweight by the extreme swings in temperature, greasy dirt, and heavy lifting.(tuning a HIP is fun as hell though).

So i switched careers! I always had an interest in CNC but its hard to get in to withought school or prior experience. I found a company that will hire you, no .machining experience. Took a huge pay cut, lol. But i wanna do it

I'm just looking for recomended reading from the overall process. Something that explains but is also reference material.

Maybe I can ask some of you guys questions

What type of CNC work will you be doing and on what machines? I’m just a hobbyist but I find myself spending most of my time learning machine specific things for my Fadal. If you have no machining experience I’d suggest learning the basics of machining first. This old Tony on YouTube is good and there’s also “blondihacks” that’s very basic. Tons of good CNC content on YouTube also - lots of good videos from Tormach and titans of CNC. I’m not sure I agree with OCD that CNC is “easy.” It’s easy to make a part once you have some basics down. I think the trick to doing it for a living is figuring out the best way to make a quality part quickly while also balancing tool wear. I might take 6hrs to do a part because I’m not great at optimizing tool paths but an experienced person might be able to do that in 1hr. There are a lot of good CNC jobs out there once you get some experience. I think spacex is always hiring machinists but you need to have a pretty solid resume to go work there I’d imagine. Good luck!

 

[Big Kahuna]

After 25+ years as an industrial electrician/instrument tech/PLC Programmer, I took a job with a German Automation group that builds robotic riveting machines for Aerospace and spent 4 years on the job learning CNC. I used the information to build my own Hobby CNC Mil and Lathe to better learn the basics. If you understand the Cartesian Coordinate system, CNC is dead simple. It's just speed and location after that.

Wait, you changed jobs again?

 

[OCD Solutions]

lol, easy is a relative term. Compared to some of the other things I’ve programmed over the years, I find CNC more tedious than complicated.

BK, my brief stint in Aerospace is over and I actually celebrated seven years with my current company just yesterday.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

As a hobbyist, which doesn't help you much, I got Fusion 360 and a 3D printer and began making some basic stuff. From there I got a Grizzly CNC mill second hand and started using the same concepts from 3D printing with the CAM software in Fusion 360.

I realize you will likely need to learn faster with lower overhead than that, but as I am not switching careers but still want to do the job you are doing, it was the path that got me there. I think my total investment is around 5-6k with a new computer, new printer and a rare find on a good condition second hand CNC mill. The cheaper option with a similar pathway is CNC routers, such as the shapeoko XXL.

Oh yeah, I also asked @OCD Solutions questions until I thought he was going to choke me if he ever saw me in person again. Wealth of knowledge there.

My son took a similar path , he is a high school math teacher , he got a technical program going at his school and they started with 3D printing and are now moving on to CNC machining , he may be working at a local factory this Summer running a CNC machine for them.

He also started an E-sports team and they are number two in the state so he was also offered a spot at a local college to set up an E-sports team this Summer , I hope he does the CNC gig , daddy needs some new parts..

 

[Big Kahuna]

lol, easy is a relative term. Compared to some of the other things I’ve programmed over the years, I find CNC more tedious than complicated.

BK, my brief stint in Aerospace is over and I actually celebrated seven years with my current company just yesterday.

I thought you had changed jobs again!

 

[OCD Solutions]

Nope. Gonna run this gig a few more years and then retire to the OCD Garage to play with all my CNC toys.

 

[Vumad]

Nope. Gonna run this gig a few more years and then retire to the OCD Garage to play with all my CNC toys.

View attachment 446305

Want to send me the plans for that enclosure?

 

[MADMAT]

This thread is good reading for those of us changing! Motivator!

Feels good seeing others doing it!

 

[MADMAT]

I went to a few info tours at some tech schools....


MEMS is friggin cooool! Robotics....cyber forensics....CNC......Merc/Evinrude/Volvo/Yamaha/Suzuki/Honda marine....

 

[OCD Solutions]

Want to send me the plans for that enclosure?

What plans? I did some rough measurements, made a few sketches and then just threw it together.

 

[fastgtfairlane]

Took a few pictures of our new shop we just moved into. Got @Ducky of Jones Custom Concrete Do the floors. This is just the machine shop section. It's an old Nascar race shop.

 

[mthomps]

What type of CNC work will you be doing and on what machines?

I'm doing...well training to do millimg work on Haas machines. So far I'm 2 weeks on the job and all I can really do unsupervised is fixture loading, swapping, and taking the basic measurements. Thing like true position measurements with a height gauge are a struggle and usually need help with.

The parts I make are all aerospace and mostly for the fuel systems of jet engines. (I can't seem to get away from the aerospace industry lol). Before this it was airfoils

I'm learning everything all at once; checking tools, making offset adjustments, being trained on the sounds of the machine and listening to a tool going bad, etc

I'm no where near learning set ups yet, but they say I'm doing well. Having solid fundamentals with basic mechanical ability is helping a lot. I'm really enjoying this though and I'm glad i took this on.

 

[fastgtfairlane]

One day it'll just click for you. Although the cncs are much more complex to program. Tool wear and the sounds the machine makes are very important. You're working with incredibly tight tolerances with what you're making I'm sure. I'm soo glad I got a job doing machining. It's awesome for anything really. I've made countless parts for my rc planes at work. Haven't really had to make any jetski parts except for an impeller removal tool. I just made these beefier struts for my su35. The plane is discontinued so finding parts can be difficult to locate. Had a hard emergency landing after losing power that bent both main struts on each side. Used some scrap aluminum and machined some beefier struts.