Machining.Blog® is a weekly blog focused on manufacturing career development. It features blog articles on the fundamentals of manufacturing for aspiring machinists. Our goal is to create an interest in manufacturing in the USA. Our writer Matthew Schowalter has worked in manufacturing for 24 years, and he covers the topics that matter to someone starting their career in manufacturing.
“The soft skills the machinist uses are the unseen tools in their box and can directly impact the success or failure of a dreamed after machining career.”
All in CNC Programming
Over the past 10 years, productivity in the manufacturing industry has increased 1.2% compared to 2.6% in the previous 7 years. Emerging technology trends are disrupting the manufacturing industry, creating a need for increased innovation to remain competitive.
Machining is by far more interesting than what most people know. From the challenges of implementing new complex equipment in the shop, to CNC programming, or even making complex parts in one setup. It is definitely a career choice that most don’t know how advanced it can be, especially the machining of today. Now, we can make parts in one setup that were once made in many setups on multiple pieces of equipment over a long time frame. My career is a success story in manufacturing technology as I have embraced the technology of today.
We will cover the basics of Parameter programming. The concepts learned can be applied to many CNC projects and can be used in small shops and large shops alike. In G Code, macro programming variables are assigned values and when they are referenced and called they provide the last value that they were assigned. Some ways that variables can be used are for machining part families and for modifying work offsets and tooling offsets.
Cardinal Manufacturing is a student-run business in the Eleva-Strum High School. In a student-run business the students are responsible for all aspects of the business. It is a custom job shop that makes machined parts for community members and people throughout the country. Check out this video on the program.
Your company tries SO hard to make everything perfect, but occasionally, something slips through the cracks, and you send some parts to a customer that get rejected. It’s not a fun situation, and it can be like a gut punch, depending on how expensive the mistake is. How you handle it from the customer’s perspective can make all the difference and even potentially turn a bad situation into a positive experience. Customers know that mistakes will happen, but how a vendor responds to them can put your relationship on the chopping block, or solidify your position in the partner category.
Cardinal Manufacturing in Strum Wisconsin is a school-based manufacturing program that operates both as a class and a business as well. The students gain real world life experiences while enrolled in the program. These experiences include problem solving and working in professional roles.
Please fill out the form to ask us machining questions.
Tribal knowledge can be a killer. For a smaller, stable company not on a growth path, it probably isn’t the worst thing ever – unless you lose one of your long-term employees who is the only one that knows how to do a lot of things. Certainly for any company that is on a more dynamic path for growth, adding new customers, more employees, or is concerned about losing that knowledge of a key employee it can be a major problem. Having your companies’ processes and procedures be locked in the brains (and only the brains) of your employees can be very difficult when you lose someone.
Here is a great video about Cardinal Manufacturing which is a student-run business in the Eleva-Strum High School. It’s a manufacturing program in the technical education department where the students are responsible for all aspects of the business.
I recently had an opportunity to interview Phil Brown and Umair Riyas from NexGenCAM about how to begin a career in computer-aided manufacturing or CAM. They are applications engineers that specialize in CAM software. Phil and Umair have extensive backgrounds in CNC and CAM/CAD, they offer a few tips to others who may be interested in starting a career in the field.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the NexGenCAM customer event held in Port Washington Wisconsin. It was great learning about what is new in Powermill software. They also had sessions on Moldflow, CAMplete, FeatureCAM, and Partmaker. The entire NexGenCAM team was there to help customers explore solutions and they provided on-the-spot answers for technical questions.
The entire NexGenCAM team (over 35 people) will be there to answer questions about the design and manufacturing software that they support, which includes Autodesk software products. To register for the event, follow the link below that will take you to their website.
Cardinal Manufacturing is a student-run manufacturing program in the Eleva-Strum high school. They recently finished a 10-month remodeling project in the machine shop and classroom. It was a complete remodel which included the ceiling and walls being repainted. They chose a red and white color scheme for the rooms, halls, and manufacturing equipment.
Standard G-Codes for CNC Lathes
G0 - Rapid Movement
G1 - Linear Feed Movement
G2 - Clockwise Interpolation - Circular Movement
G3 - Counter Clockwise Interpolation - Circular Movement
G4 - Dwell
G9 - Exact Stop
G10 - Set Data
G17 - XY Machine Plane Selection
With my study into the shortage of skilled manufacturing workers that spanned five years, I discovered a few things along the way. The observations started in 2015 by investigating ways to spark interest in manufacturing careers. I published a 4-page article on my career, and it was promoted by three manufacturing magazines. I also assisted my local youth apprentice program by creating a testimonial video for them. I participated in a career fair and only 1% of the students were engaged in manufacturing. I then decided to observe the industry.
