[Vampyre275]

Ladies and Gents,

Facing Redundancy from the British Army and looking for a suitable job - CNC looks like the area for me however, I am in the dark with where to start to enter in to your industry.

A bit about me - I have served 12 years as an Aircraft Technican (Mechanical) and have a BTEC in Aerospace Engineering and a NVQ Lvl 3 in Mechanical Engineering.

But, that probably means nothing in this area!

I need help! I want to go in to the Programming i think.

1. Where are the best courses at?
2. Which courses should i start with?
3. Which courses are more widely used - Fanuc, Siemens etc
4. Are all courses certified by a industry regulation or something - don't want to get caught out on a course/certificate that isn't recognised.

To be honest ladies and gents any information will be greatly received.

Kind Regards

Adam

[Al_The_Man]

A bit about me - I have served 12 years as an Aircraft Technican (Mechanical) and have a BTEC in Aerospace Engineering and a NVQ Lvl 3 in Mechanical Engineering.

But, that probably means nothing in this area!

A mechanical background will certainly help, whatever area you were in.
If you are talking learning from a particular Industrial Manuf. controls course.
Most current controls have always used similar design principle to achieve the same end, they just go about it their own unique manner.
I have taken Fanuc and Mitsubishi courses, the Fanuc cost $$$, Mitsubishi used to offer their course free, you just had to make your way there.
I have never come across a recognized course on CNC per-se.
The problem is the whole subject can cover many disciplines, Electrical, Electronic, Mechanical, Hydraulic etc.
That is just the machine design, maintenance side, then there is the part programming area that covers CAD/CAM and G-Code programming.
For the latter, it helps also to have some knowledge of machining.
This appears to be the field you want to get into, for this there should be further education courses.
Al.

[Vampyre275]

Al,

You're right it is the latter and the programming i'm looking at but not sure of which course to do as they are all pretty expensive (£400 upwards and most around £1000), i think a good start to this would to try and work out which manuf to go with initially to get the best chance of securing a job.

Fanuc, Heidenhain or Siemens? Below are the types of courses i have seen advertised, would like to know if possible which are the most generic/best ones to go for?

Fanuc Custom Macro A
Fanuc Custom Macro B
Fanuc Programming Milling Course 3 Axis Machines
Fanuc Programming Milling Course 4 Axis Machines
Fanuc Programming Turning Course Basic 2 Axis Machines
Fanuc Programming Turning Course Including C Axis Machines
Fanuc Programming Turning Course Including C & Y Axis Machines
Fanuc Programming Turning Course Including C & Y Axis Milling with Sub Spindle Machines
Fanuc Programming Turning Course 2 Spindles & 2 Turrets Machines
Fanuc Programming Turning Course 2 Spindles/Turrets & Rotating B Axis Machines

Heidenhain Vertical & Horizontal 3rd Axis Programming
Heidenhain Vertical & Horizontal 4th Axis Programming
Heidenhain Vertical & Horizontal 5th Axis Programming

Siemens 840D/Twin Spindle with Twin Turret Mill-Turn Machine
Siemens 840D/Horizontal & Vertical 4 Axis Machining Centre

As always any information is greatly received!

Kind Regards

Adam

[Al_The_Man]

One advantage is that G-Code programming is fairly standard across different manuf. so much of what you learn is transportable.
There is of course some differences between Mill and Lathe, but once you have one down pat, the other should be picked up quite readily.
Probably milling should be the first on the list.
When using CAD/CAM to program, the machine type can be invisible to some extent as the differences are taken care of by what is known as a post-processor which outputs a file that is control specific.
All the manuf. you list are popular and among the highest OEM's all over the world.
There are on line helps as well such as simulators like CNCsimulator.com.
Al.

[Ron Dunn]

Just wait a while.

The Yanks will decide they need more oil, or bananas, or something, and they'll go invade another small country. They'll get into trouble and call on an obliging Britain and Australia, and possibly NATO countries, to go and drag them out of the poo.

Either that, or the hordes of CNC owners will run out of customers for military retirement plaques.

You'll be back in the Army in no time.