[sixthearl]

hi all, I'm fairly new to all of this so please be gentle with me!
I have just moved my copy of mastercam V9 to another computer and upon startup I am getting an error allocating string table message, when I click ok on it the mastercam system just shuts down, any ideas would be appreciated

thanks in advance
Steve

[daking]

Automizer,
The hard part of hand programming is not the G code. Its the math involved in the path. If you're on a lathe its pretty simple. If you program a mill you'll need to know a little trig to find the offset on curves and angles etc. If you can program with a cad program and you know a little trig, you can hand program. The G codes are in the manual. You don't have to memorize them. Program a simple part by hand and then with your cad program and compare them. You really don't need a class unless you need help with the trig and you don't need to know trig for every program. And don't let anyone tell you writing a program by hand is some kind of black magic or voodo. It's easy to learn.

Dave

[Kevin Taylor]

Mostly hand self tought cnc over the last three year's starting to load programs from laptop to control untill now have ben wrighting long hand or in notepad have bobcad and taken there class but am not profecent at it but is sure helpful ploting point's on arcs and angles Will son have that mastered I hope but with thirty years of making chip's It is a must to know how to do it the manual way to understand what the cnc will do A salesman said he could make a programer out of a machinest but it is much harder to make a machinest out of a programer The old way work's but being to make a few mouse click's and se what it should look like is great. Good then fast is ok but my company moto seem's to be If it can't be done the hard way it's not worth doing!!!

[gbowne1]

Yeah, it's always the smart alec ninnys who do that.. or the much younger ones who aren't as aware of that.

When I started out working in a shop making aircraft parts for the lazy bee, people like that amazed me.

The hard part is not every is exactly like you in a shop full of people.. so you work with everyone the best you can.

I still love learning G code, particularly the old fashioned FANUC style.

I'm not proficient yet at drawing, I have used an ancient copy of TurboCAD 6.5 and gotten away with it. I would love to learn at least AutoCAD LT or R14, and maybe step up to the more complicated CATIA.

I had a Demo copy of BobCAD/CAM 17 I tried out but never got far with it as I had a poor computer at the time.

So, well I still believe handwriting G-Code especially right at the controls goes hand in hand with doing it off the top of a drawing automatically.

It all depends on the amount of time and experience you have that you want to spend on completing a functional CAM experience. So, there you go.

Greg

[dertsap]

it s a great thing to know how to hand code but the bottom line is cad/cam was created for efficiency , i can t see anyone sitting down to write 50000 lines of code , a company cannot expect to make any kind of profit and there is far too much room for error , if your poking around with cnc fine hand code or if you need to whip something off , but in the type of work i do , forget it , the parts are far too complex , the longer that machine sits while i m is programming on the control , that machine is not making money period ,when you ve got a 750 000 dollar machine you want it making chips , i ve watched guys spent over a week for one part using gibbs or mastercam because of the complexity of the part and these are well seasoned machinists , you can t do that by hand
if a guy doesn t know how to hand program then he should learn it , because if he writes a large program on cam and the program isn t wanting to run on the machine , what now?
the two go hand in hand

[danll_99]

its absolutly silly to not be able to hand code. I can write a program at the machine for simple milling or drilling in about 1/8 the time it takes me to go and mess around on the computer. On the other hand I would not even consider starting some of my moldwork without my cad/cam system.

[htmlsmylife]

I said both. I've just started CNC but after doing web development and basic CAD for a few years you realize that WYSIWYG and hand coding both have their positives and negatives. Using the visual representation you can actually SEE whats going on before you start the machine but you also don't know how well the software is programming in the background until you check the code. We learned this in class after ruining a few projects that the output from our software was placing commands the machine didn't like, and this was Autodesk software. (Not that I have ANYTHING against them. )

[RBrandes]

I am wondering what everyone thinks about hand code vs useing a CAD package.....
Thoughts?

If you can't hand code, you won't be able to fix adjust code produced by a program. I hand code all 2-1/2D work and use CAM only for molds and patterns with comples curves.
Regards, Ray

[automizer]

Wow all this is really not what I expected, it was what I wanted to hear but really not what I expected. Looking at the poll numbers just makes me feel more like the green kid that I am. I have walked in to a job thinking I am all this and I can't read a lick of code, the second a problem comes up in the post im hooped. I have lernt little code now I can do all the 2D simple stuff but with out a machine I can macke a part with I find it very hard to do at home. I have just looked at the CNC simulator program posted above and im hopping that will help me seeing it.

A few people mentioned learning code at school, where did you go to school I have only found one class in my area and it is very basic everything is CAD/CAM here.

[dertsap]

i remember your local , BCIT may offer something , i say this reluctantly because i'm not impressed with what i've seen come out of there as far as machinists but they do offer a cnc coarse i believe , i think they have a couple bench top cnc mills in the shop that have taken some serious beatings , but it my be worth looking into

[dertsap]

hey automizer i recall a past conversation with you , and you had done a coarse at bcit and worked on hass sounds to me you already have the resourses but need to practice them , best thing to do is revisit your note books i m sure there is lots of info there , if you worked on hass with g code , then for the most part the rest of the other brand of machines are the same , other than optional codes , practice is the key ,theory means JACK in the real world when your faced with challenging jobs , but that basic knowledge is a must
i ve seen a lot of guys over the years who were very smart in theory , but dangerous on the practical , this isn t a trade that someone walks into knowing it all , if it was then we wouldn t be getting the money that we do , either a guy has what it takes and gets it or he dosen t , we are forever learning something new , as machines get better tooling gets better , parts get more complicated , you must be physically strong
and mentally , it s not for the weak hearted
i bit the bullet years ago and went from making really good money in construction , and started in the deburring dept,at low wage , but quickly moved up , i ve known a lot of guys who did the same ,
this is the starting point for most guys ,
to quote one guy in the forums , first you get good then you get fast

[lakeside]

hand coding is very important to know I can't count the number of time after programming on a cad only to have a clamp or strap in the way of some positional move and need to edit at controller

[villiersterrace]

I came back to this thread and saw this:

"When my mind is deep in the code and I'm standing at the machine editing or creating a program I can see the tool in my mind as cuts the part. I'm like in another world.

jon"

And don't you just love when some ninny comes up and disturbs you so your train of thought runs off the tracks?

That happens to me when I am reading code generated by a cam system because it spits out every single move, line by line! You have to really concentrate on all those "x's and "z"s especially if you dont have a verify function. See, cadcam is fantastic for complex contours or putting rads on angles to smooth corners, but you HAVE to know where these cnc monsters are going cos they WILL go where you tell them, including through the chuck or the table! I use hand code because you can pull up an old programme with canned cycles and change a few numbers - faster than redrawing the new part and retoolpathing and verifying

[tobyaxis]

It is always best to learn to hand code first before learning CAM. As many point out that an understanding of what your doing and what you want to do is a building stone in CNC Programming. Not to mention again that sometimes things need to be Quickly Edited at the Control rather than going back to the computer. Hand Coding is the best way to Learn. They will always have a place in any shop.
:cheers:

[msomerville]

First I learned how to run all of the manual machines and understood how everything worked, had to be able to make a mold on them before I could move on to the CNC. Now I do the CAM programming, although I still do a quite a of programming at the face of the machine.

Both go Hand in Hand

[Shotout]

It would depend on the job your doing. Myself, I love to write the code by hand. Thats the most interesting part of CNC!

I think everyone that runs CNC, should be able to at least, write simple programs, by hand.

Sing it from the mountian top brother!

We are looking for a second programmer/op where I work. Had a guy come in, graduates with his specialist this Sept same as me. He said he couldn't really run a CNC mill because he can't get his tool paths right in MasterCam. I ask him if he can write g-code. He says no, can't g-code a mill or lathe. I thought that this is probably his problem. If he knew what the tool path should be in g-code, compensation etc, then he'd know how to set up the toolpaths in MC. It goes back to crawling before you walk and walking before you run.

[Matt_S]

I programmmed CNC for 7 years using hand code directly into the controller.After doing it for so long I found I could program by hand faster than guys using mastercam.Utilizing macros and subprogramming,you can simplify a lot of programming needs.
That being said a CAD program would be an essential for complicated programming such as contouring.But when programming for basic type work I really don't see a need for it..

[jani]

I hand code only. I bought programmable casio graphic calculator and write a program which is useful in programming angles. Calculator asks 1. angle in degrees, for example (30 deg) 2. Z-start (2.) 3. angle start in X (100.) 4. angle start in Z (0) 5. Angle end in X (150.)
Then calculator gives me the angle end in Z, which is -43.30... and X-start 97.69...mm. Saves paper and pens.

[RBrandes]

I used to use the little orange trig tables book back when I was an apprentice in the '60's. Now I just model my part in SolidWorks and then orient it in the drawing the way it would be held on the Haas table.
Pick a corner for your origin and use ordinate dimensioning and you have all the X-Y points right on a sheet of paper.
If you don't have G41&G42, you can use the offset sketch tool to get an outline the radius of your cutter.
-Ray in FLA

[CBNDude]

This is simple to answer. If you can not hand code you are not a CNC machinist you are a CNC operator. Cad/CAM programs were developed for us typically LAZY Americans. But honestly they are for aiding programmers and not replacing them. Me 2 cents. And if you haven't figured it out I love hand code and enjoy seeing my programs work perfect, and when they don't work perfect "well" we wont talk about that. (chair)