[MikeMc]

Hello all!

I just registered here, and I need to say HI. I am not sure if this is a good place or not, but since we only do CNC Swiss turning, I figure this is the best place.

[hongjianming]

hello!
i registered one week ago, i work at swiss type machine company, and glad to know you

[citizencnc]

I'm new here. I hope I will learn a lot from all of the "Guru" here and meet some good friends. Thank you all.

[BYTHEBOOKBOB]

Welcome, CitizenCNC. Judging from your user-name I would be willing to guess that your baileywick would be on Citizens. What models do you work with and what is your area of expertise? What software do you use for programming. I have 5 Citizens, F12, F20, F25, A20VII and L20VIII, We use Partmaker and Win CNC form Marubeni. Fascinating machines! Wish there was more interest inthis area of the Zone!

[citizencnc]

BYTHEBOOKBOB! Thank you for welcoming me.
It's nice to talk to you and all of the Swiss machinists here. I think what all of us will get from here is nothing but gain. I'm strongly believed so.

[BYTHEBOOKBOB]

Dear Citizencnc,

Not a great deal of experience with Partmaker either. We have had it a year and while I believe the program is probably the better of Esprit and Gibbs MTM I still think that it could be more user-friendly. The tool profiles are a bit clunky and do not give you adequate selections for all of the tool geometries used in swiss-turning. I intend on sending my people to training at Partmaker as they are only about six hours away and I believe it would be most helpful. Most programs are currently hand written with assistance from Win CNC. We too machine mostly Inconel, Kovar, 300 & 400 series SS, OFHC Copper, Nickel 200, Niobium and Nickel-Irons. I too look forward to commiserating about the trials and tribulations of the Swiss-turn art.

[billcain]

No matter what CAM system you use, there is no replacement for proper training.

Bill Cain
Applications Engineer
www.partmaker.com

[MikeMc]

I have to agree with Bill, proper training is vital. Getting the training, on the otehr hand is a challange. I do hope we can get this area more active!

[BYTHEBOOKBOB]

Ah yes, it's a conundrum. Somehow taking the time to train employees while meeting deadlines for delivery of parts. There never seems to be a convenient time to schedule training. While I agree that the time spent in training and lost to production is really well worth the cost, I can't help but cringe when it comes to actually implementing it. Maybe it's time to implement the thirty-six hour day!

[ndorin]

I am pocket milling Kovar with small dia. & deep pockets. Roghing with ball mill then finishing with flat e.m. .078 dia 4flute ball going .122 deep. Speed of 8500 feed of 18. to rough at .003 depths of cut, then using 120 SFM with a chip load of .0002-.0003 per tooth to finish with flat em.(coated) My ball mill keeps breaking down? Kovar is annealed. Any suggestions to help? High production parts. 85 pcs with lots of pockets , drilling & tapping.

[MikeMc]

Kovar is some VERY nasty stuff, it work hardens as fast as you cut it, much like A286, but worse. I know Iscar worked a whole tooling scheme for a customer o9f mine few years ago to get through some of the problems. They evenm developed some tooling for them. I would try giving their tech guys a call.

[Nett40]

[QUOTE=MikeMc;549318]Getting the training, on the otehr hand is a challange. QUOTE]

This is so true for me. I am working at a place with 27 Citizens from B12,b16, L20 type 7 and 8, 25 and a few I think c32. I have been there 2 years and Still have not really had any training. There is a guy to go to if I have problems. But it's like everything is a secret. I have Worked with other lathes such as Okuma, Mori-Seki and Cincinnati for 12 years before I started here. So there was a little learning curve as I was thinking backwards as to my Z moves.

[PixMan]

There is a guy to go to if I have problems. But it's like everything is a secret.

A sure sign of insecurity. I share anything and everything I know with my coworkers. I'll still have work, and won't be as distracted by interruptions. Plus, helping them breeds a teamwork environment and that can only be good. Why do people think they become indispensable by keeping secrets?

Yep, I'll show them everything I know right from Day One. Then after morning coffee break we have to find something else to do.

[Gilla#77]

there is no secret to these machines and basically all swiss machines work on the same principle. i do Citizen machines for a company and do all installs and training on the machines we sell. the machines are getting faster and faster and caution should be exercised on initial setups. use the program check hand wheel function on the Citizen machines. it saves alot of broken tools. most times machining material is machining material, so to get the faster cycle times you take it out of your dead times, positioning tools and rapids. have been running swiss machines since i was 18 years young. they are very facinating in what they can do. i am partial to Citizen since that is what we sell, however other brands have thier good points and thier bad points. if i can be of any help to anyone, then dont hesiate to ask. if i dont know the answer i will not BS you, but i can find the answer some where.