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 Machining
There are fifteen parameters to be considered when analyzing a new part to be made in a CNC lathe. While this may seem like a lot of considerations, if you examine a part properly you will be successful in its implementation. Here are the parameters to consider and the questions to ask:
Communication and collaboration are important in the manufacturing industry. If we want to grow the industry, we need to keep up on the communication and collaboration. We must Communicate, Collaborate, and Connect and do it on a Consistent basis.
When you ask what machining means to me, I could go on for hours with stories about how I made complex parts on machines that are even more complicated than the parts themselves. 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 a career choice that most do not 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 and here is how I made it happen with six simple steps in career success.
When planning a CNC machining process there are many considerations and options to choose. From cutting tool selection to cutting parameters, the choices have a major effect on the end results. Here is what it might take to define a CNC toolpath:
The community support of the technical education program at Eleva Strum High School is impressively large and there are several reasons why. The technical education program operates as a student-run business that fabricates and machines parts for customers. The business is called Cardinal Manufacturing. The money made by the business is used to buy raw materials, upgrade equipment, marketing, cover the operating costs, and to pay the student employees.
When people hear the term "paperless," they typically associate the elimination of this office resource as an act that helps the environment. And while this is true, adopting a paperless manufacturing solution can do so much more. In addition to promoting a more sustainable business, going paperless can decrease operating costs, enhance productivity and help a shop floor work smarter (and not necessarily harder).
The code to program a G3 counter-clockwise arc on a lathe is: G3X______ Z_______ R_______
I was provided with a few opportunities to talk about my STEM project and my career in several schools. It can be a very rewarding experience to a part of. I never saw myself as a speaker or presenter but with my deep knowledge in the subject, I developed a passion for sharing my experiences in manufacturing.
My first project in technical collage for tool and die making was to make 1-2-3 blocks. I milled the blocks oversize to leave stock for precision grinding. After drilling and tapping the holes in the blocks, we case hardened them. The last process was to precision grind them to size. The grinding process involved both grinding to blocks to size and to a squareness tolerance.
Knowing what features to inspect on machined parts, being aware of machining conditions, and what items and details to deburr can make all the difference in the success of the manufacturing project. By mastering these three items, it will set you apart as a great machinist. Let’s review in detail.
Each program has a program number, that should be different from other program numbers
Each line of code in a CNC program is called a “Block”. It contains G and M codes in it.
The block cannot have two M-codes in it
The ending of a Block has a End-of-Block symbol and it is a semi-colon. (Example: G1X.5; )
While spending much of my career working in the medical machining industry, it was an education into complex part machining. What is being done today in the machining industry is exceptional. Now a highly engineered part can be made compete in one setup in a machine that can turn, mill, drill, hob, broach, thread whirl, and gun drill parts. I have implemented lathes from 5-axis models up to 11-axis models. Here is a breakdown of what it might take to implement advanced lathes.
When I got started in machining, I really didn’t know what kind of tools to purchase. There is a vast variety of tooling to use in the shop, from inspection tools to hand tools. While having a limited budget, I had to choose to first buy the tools that I thought that I would use the most. This will vary from machine shop to machine shop often dependent on the type of work that the machinist does. Here is a list of some of the more popular choices for tools:
Machining and Tool & Die Making is what I have spent most of my career doing. There is something to be said for being able to turn a raw piece of material into a complex finished part. Through all my roles in the machine shop environment, I have identified a few soft skills, hard skills, and technical skills to have mastered if you want to be a great machinist.
Gage blocks (also known as gauge blocks) are inspection tools that are used in the machining industry. They typically come in an 81-piece set and the sizes in the set are as follows:
