[solgood]

Hello all. Long time since posting on the zone but couldn't think of a better place to ask questions and get great input. As of this Monday i will be putting in my two week notice at my current job then starting at my new job working with swiss machines. I know very little about these machines so i have some questions.

First i will give you some background on what i know.
I have 12 years experience running vertical mills of all sizes from a small thirty taper to large 50 taper machines.
For the last 7 years i have been running mazak machines using there mazatrol convsational programming.
I have basic knowledge of g and m codes but its been some time.
Very little experience on lathes.

These are the machines i will be working with.
Citizen Cincom swiss machines
A32, L20E type IX, K16E VII, L32, L20 XIII

Are there any resources out there that can help me learn how to program these machines?
I understand how these machines work. Im more concerned about learning to program them to do it.
Any help would be great.

Thanks very much!

[solgood]

No takers?

[gizmo_454]

Swiss machines are animals all to themselves. Your milling experience will come in handy if the parts you will be making, requires a lot of milling. Programming turning in a swiss is simple, if you have any understanding of G&M codes. That is not to say that machining parts in a swiss is simple. When it comes to milling, just remember that the little tooling in the machine does not have the mass or bearings that even a 30 taper mill has, let alone the horsepower.

Programming is a bit different. There is not one program to work with, but 2 or 3, (Citizen calls them "lines" or $1, $2, or $3), depending on the machine. And they are all running simultaneously. I program our 3 line E32 Citizen by hand. I am sure there is a better way using CAD/CAM solutions like Partmaker SwissCAM, but our little shop cannot afford $10-20K to drop on software like that.

If you are forced to program them manually, the programming section of the manual for the machine you are trying to write a program for, is your best friend. Unfortunately, the manuals do not cover absolutely everything. You will get some help on this forum, if you ask a question in regards to a specific problem, when you get in there and working on stuff.

Best of luck to you in your new position!

Mike

[OMS2010]

Gizmo is right, manuals only show you so much. You're best bet is to if your local citizen ditributor offers programming classes. If not, the next step is to find a consultant like me to come in a train you. I specialize in training for Citizen, Star, and Tsugami machines. I do this thing all the time for companies that purchase their 1st swiss and know nothing about it. If you already have a good machine background, even if it's just milling, then one week on setup and program training will get you on the right path.
Of course, you can just play around yourself with programming and you'll figure it out...............it's all based on how much and how soon you want to learn it