That’s good to hear. I almost hesitate to make videos like this. I don’t know if people will give them the chance or just klick away in the first few minutes. I know many people like to see machinery running but not everything is just about machining clips.

Don't hesitate, this is what puts you above the other channels I watch. real in depth info that's not just aimed at the hobbyist. I've been using your method to broach/shape keyways on our Mazak QTN350 and just last week your block skip/GOTO technique to loop the boring head cycle on the mill. would love to see more programing videos, especially on the Mazak, Mazatrol & using variables/macros.

Glad it was helpful to you. Thanks!

Not only is Peter a true professional but also humble. A truly wining combination. Every video is wonderful.

I have no idea what works and what not on older controllers, but looping and branching can cut down the program size by a lot.

Thanks Bill.

Thanks Randy.

G41 climb cutting: smaller values cut more material. G42 climb cutting: bigger comp values cut more material. G41 conventional: more comp = more cut G42 conventional: mo comp, mo cut. The way I remember it is that I'm climb cutting 99.9% of the time so 42 is a bigger number than 41. "Plus cuts more" That applies to any feature so bear in mind whether you're trying to narrow a profile or expand a hole/slot. It's not "make the feature bigger"... it's "cuts more material". Climb cutting, end mills tend to flex away from the part somewhat. Even brand new ones tend to be a tenth or so undersized so if you climb cut and start with zero comp value and have no runout, your part profile should be a little bit big and inside features like windows, counterbores, etc should be a little under. Measure it, understand whether your machine is diameter comp or radius comp, adjust by half what you think you should. Cut again. Measure to confirm that your adjustment was correct and then set it to finish value. That's the long, slow, safe way. Does that help?

Yes I did. John makes excellent videos. I admire his enthusiasm and organizational skills. Since he bought the Haas mills he is learning to use a more industrial work flow. I had made some light suggestions in comments in the past about using cutter comp on his Tormach mills. But I think at the time he wasn't ready for that. Also I have no experience running a Tormach machine and wasn't sure if they could do it.

Edge Precision I agree, John makes excellent videos, except when he's covering topics he doesn't appear to fully grasp. Loving your videos, by the way. Making me miss machining full time and running the big machines.

Little Johnny is not real machinist. He's a "KZfaq Machnist".

INSANE!

The Essex Hunter it seems intimidating at first but if you want to learn it’s not to bad. Just takes time.

Cutter comp can be used any where you need to control feature dimensions or relationships. Usually roughing does not need cutter comp. When using regrinds you need to plan ahead like Peter describes. Even if the feature is something easy like a counter bore for a cap screw, you may want to program cutter comp so it will cut the correct size.

Works on all tool paths, including roughing. It is just easier to make path that is actual part instead of calculating center path for given tool radius. Added bonus is that changing tool is easy as just inputting correct tool D value. No need to redo the path for new radius tool. Doesn't really matter if using CAM is it calculates path easily but when manually doing program it is easier to use compensation.

Im not exactly sure what your asking here. Some softwares deal with cutter comp differently then others. What you do need to be sure of is that the machine is set up to do it the same as the software is applying it. For instance. If you tell your software to use cutter comp. Set your offset for the tools diameter, in the machines control, the same as the software is using. There are areas that on some machines you can get alarms using cutter comp. This is a video I made a long time ago. I can’t remember if I explained this in the video. If you have more questions please ask. Thanks.

Almost none. But even if you do no manual programming you need to understand how to because there are some things cam software doesn't do. Like a broaching cycle for instance. Also very few do probing cycles. I the days when I first ran CNC or more accurately NC we had to manually program everything. In fact we punched paper tapes. To make a edit to a program you used a machine that looked like a typewriter. A teletype I think they were called. As you typed it punched the paper tape. The M30 at the ends of programs is a holdover code that is program tape rewind. At the end you had to rewind the tape and zero return the machine to run the program. This was NC control. Buy the way your middle name is the same as my mothers maiden name.

Thanks, awesome history lesson. I'm going to repeat that M30 tidbit from now on as if I were there, it's fantastic. "Fitzsimmons" is my wife's maiden name, we both blended our last names because we're stinkin' hippies. Her family was from the US midwest (Iowa mostly) and her granddad moved to Canada in the 40s.

I always try to make my lead ins and outs for cutter comp perpendicular to the compensated path. This makes it very predictable where the tool is going to go. I think I explained it very clear in this video where the tool will go if they are not. You need to experiment with your machine by doing some tool paths. You will understand better what actually happens.

I will keep that in mind.

I see that a lot myself. Where I work we never had any sort of cam software so I spent the first 16 years of my working career as a machinist writing all my iso programs on the machine itself and I think thats made me a better machinist since I had to understand every single line of code in the program. Sure the work we do was quite simple and no fancy 3d shapes or anything that required complex cad/cam software but im better for it. Now we run mazaks so my job is even simpler since all the programs are conversational using mazatrol programming on the controls.

The Mazak's are the worst in regards to learning people G since the mazatrol is so easy to use and you never see all the g codes it spits out.

Yep absolutely if mazatrol is all you know then the operator usually has no idea of what the g code is doing in the background.

No.You don’t actually need a D value on every G41,G42 line it’s a modal command. It is much better just to put it on your G43 line at the tool change. Like this say for tool one. The line would be. G00 G43 H1 D1 Z(wherever you are going in Z). That D command will be used for every cutter comp command until it’s changed. This is a better way to program. If you want to change tool assignments you only have to change one D. The other way if you miss one D that’s not right it can be a disaster.

@@EdgePrecision yes..thats right. Could you tell the reasons for the error 'interference in crc' for a cam generated program.

If you have a inside radius in a couture/profile that is smaller than your compensated values radius it will give you a alarm. Or to look at it another way if the radius of compensation cant touch a line or arc in the profile it will generate a alarm. This can happen also with short line segments say a step in a profile that the endmill or tip radius of a tool cant reach or a inside corner with a small chamfer to small for the endmill to touch. Notice in the beginning of this reply I said compensated value, not necessary the actual tools radius. A lot of people have the code outputted as compensated path at the tools centerline. Than they use very small values for their diameter/radius at the control. I myself don't program this way but I have seen it done. If that still doesn't make sense please ask more questions. This is a little hard to explain.

@@EdgePrecision what is compensated value if it is not tool radius? I have done interpolation programs with G41/G42 many times before. But this time I am tried with cam generated program where I got this error. Its while making 25H7 open slot with 16mm dia end mill.

If you outputted code for the centerline tool path (as if there is no compensation). But on those profiles you tell your cam software to put compensation (G41 or G42). Now you could use compensation values that are very small just to come to size if the endmill is not the actual nominal size. Like your 16 MM being actually 15.95 you could use a compensation value of -.05 MM to get to size. I'm not sure on your program why your getting the error without seeing the actual program. When you say open slot do you mean open at both ends or only one end? If its closed at one end is there small corner radii at the end. Smaller than the tools radius (If you are using that for you compensation value)?

Sometimes I record a intro. But than I edit the video clips and it comes out longer than I thought it would. Also my visualization of a videos length has more to do with the time it takes me to make not it’s actual view time. If that makes sense. So if I make this video in two hours. But a machining video takes ten hours but only has 15:00 view time. To me it’s still the longer of the two.

@@EdgePrecision would you be able to explain it in 2 min? just a broad idea of what it is and used for. like cutter comp for dummies. thank you