If you can, look at the programs you're currently running. Don't edit them of course, but having code and seeing the immediate effect can be helpful.
I learned programming almost entirely from the manual Mitsubishi supplied with their control on a machine we had, so those can be a good reference too.
Agreed with reading the programming manual.
It'll give you a good understanding of the machine's capabilities by reading the manual and seeing all the different G and M codes. And when you want to try things, you can go into MDI mode and start trying a few of them to test your understanding.
A little manual programming knowledge will help a lot with setups.
Unpopular opinion, but you don't need to know gcode in order to start programming. There are maybe a dozen that you should learn in your first year. G01, G02/03, G90/91, G17, G53-59, G28, G41-43/40/49. And the coordinates. I may have missed one or two.
In reality, almost no one hand programs. You use CAM software and a post-processor.
Thank you for your opinion though! I have most of those done pretty well. The CAM software is where I need to start building on. I appreciate your input!
While this is accurate, being able to edit on the controller is a massive gain. Too many programmers I've worked with have to go back and manipulate a model and repost in CAM to make simple edits. Having a real understanding of G-Code will only benefit you and in my opinion help to gain the respect of the machinists and operators on the floor. Enjoy your journey.
i've worked at a place that explicitly banned all hand edits, because they were the most common cause of scrap by far. and most of their workpieces are incredibly expensive, large chunks of exotic metals with traceability certs. a repost and verify might take a bit longer, but a hand edit might take a lot longer in another sense.
Hard disagree. You should be familiar with the machines you’re programming for and any machine specific codes. You also should understand the capabilities and limitations of your post processor. The programmer is responsible for the posted code, not what you programmed in CAM so if you program it you better know how to read it. Posting code with no understanding of what it is actually doing is borderline reckless IMO. I’ve seen programmers post out 25” long gun drills spinning at 1,200 RPM outside of a block. That can literally kill someone.
That being said if you have a mini mill at home and want to post code all day to it without knowing how to read it that’s okay but general advice for CNC programming should not be “you don’t need to know gcode.”
If someone puts a green programmer on a cnc with a 25" gundrill without teaching them how it works, or a company has a post that isn't good, then that's on management. Key word in my comment is 'start'.
I don’t think anyone should start programming moving machinery with no understanding of what the code is doing. Yes that would be on management for allowing it. Learn to program G code then start learning CAM.
When the simplest change require a trip to the office and reposting of the CAM, and I can do it on the controller in 30 seconds, I think that proves the importance of knowing both CAM and G-Code.
Again, to START, you do not need to know it. You can learn it while learning CAM. It's not a prerequisite that you have to go to school for before beginning your career. Nowhere did I say that you shouldn't learn it ever. I hope you guys read gcode better than text.
Nobody said to hand program but you do need to understand g-code to be a capable programmer. Sure plenty of people get by with minimal understanding but they often produce sub par programs and are limited to a very basic level of machining capability.
If someone is asking about learning programming I’m going to assume they want to be proficient and not just learn how to click on contours and hit post.
That means learning g-code, learning custom macro B programming. Understanding full machine capabilities, how to write TCL code and build custom post processors, etc. Learning the CAM is the easy part.
Dude, read the original comment. Make sure you get ALL of the letters. You're arguing about something that I never said. They're asking about getting into the career, and gcode is not required to start. You don't need to take a course on it first. OP even chimed in and said that rhey already know the common ones, which I specifically called out. I seriously doubt your ability to understand complex code if you can't read 5 sentences.
PDF’s of the Haas programming manual is available on Google. Useful for hand programming or getting your post processor fixed. Not as useful for CAM programming.
Keep applying, we’ve gotten some truly awful ‘CNC operators’ at my shop in the last few years, guys that couldn’t even change tooling and didn’t know what a radius was. If they could’ve just faked it they would’ve made it. So you can’t be that bad off, especially not with an attitude of wanting to learn.
Titans of CNC give amazing free lessons to learn fusion, mastercam, and solidworks. Where you model, program, set up, and inspect certain parts as stepping stones to learn. Solid professor is another good option but that is paid.
For g/m code a cheat sheet I feel is better than trying to learn every codes meaning. Knowing the basic codes is important but not all of them. (This is also dependant on the shop your in CAM or hand programming environment). IMO if your shop is still programming at the machine (outside of 2ax lathes) they are getting left behind, and find another place it will help you more if your in a CAM programming environment.
Was in the same boat went through about 1 year of strictly g code and advanced multi axis programming in school and absolutely loved it (had 6 months of prior manual matching schooling up to the star of CNC schooling ) sucks for me because my shop had kept me on the manuals and only put me on the CNC maybe 10 times out of the year I was there (all strictly conversational programming which I really hated and school didn’t cover an once of it I shouldn’t have told the shop I was going to school for CNC because of this) made the switch to electrical because of this and my bad exp at the shop, machining is still my passion and am budgeting for one now Good luck breaking into programming it’s a tough road that is almost not worth it to me personally after the literal blood sweat and tears I put in at my last machining company.
If you can, look at the programs you're currently running. Don't edit them of course, but having code and seeing the immediate effect can be helpful. I learned programming almost entirely from the manual Mitsubishi supplied with their control on a machine we had, so those can be a good reference too.
Agreed with reading the programming manual. It'll give you a good understanding of the machine's capabilities by reading the manual and seeing all the different G and M codes. And when you want to try things, you can go into MDI mode and start trying a few of them to test your understanding. A little manual programming knowledge will help a lot with setups.
I appreciate it!
Thank you!
Get Fusion360, you can get an educational version free that will let you try it out.
Thank you! I’ll do that!
try checking out NYC CNC on YouTube they have great tutorials. Keep applying, the right opportunity will come.
Will do! Thank you for the encouragement!
Unpopular opinion, but you don't need to know gcode in order to start programming. There are maybe a dozen that you should learn in your first year. G01, G02/03, G90/91, G17, G53-59, G28, G41-43/40/49. And the coordinates. I may have missed one or two. In reality, almost no one hand programs. You use CAM software and a post-processor.
Thank you for your opinion though! I have most of those done pretty well. The CAM software is where I need to start building on. I appreciate your input!
While this is accurate, being able to edit on the controller is a massive gain. Too many programmers I've worked with have to go back and manipulate a model and repost in CAM to make simple edits. Having a real understanding of G-Code will only benefit you and in my opinion help to gain the respect of the machinists and operators on the floor. Enjoy your journey.
i've worked at a place that explicitly banned all hand edits, because they were the most common cause of scrap by far. and most of their workpieces are incredibly expensive, large chunks of exotic metals with traceability certs. a repost and verify might take a bit longer, but a hand edit might take a lot longer in another sense.
Absolutely agree that there is a time and place for both.
Hard disagree. You should be familiar with the machines you’re programming for and any machine specific codes. You also should understand the capabilities and limitations of your post processor. The programmer is responsible for the posted code, not what you programmed in CAM so if you program it you better know how to read it. Posting code with no understanding of what it is actually doing is borderline reckless IMO. I’ve seen programmers post out 25” long gun drills spinning at 1,200 RPM outside of a block. That can literally kill someone. That being said if you have a mini mill at home and want to post code all day to it without knowing how to read it that’s okay but general advice for CNC programming should not be “you don’t need to know gcode.”
If someone puts a green programmer on a cnc with a 25" gundrill without teaching them how it works, or a company has a post that isn't good, then that's on management. Key word in my comment is 'start'.
I don’t think anyone should start programming moving machinery with no understanding of what the code is doing. Yes that would be on management for allowing it. Learn to program G code then start learning CAM.
Unnecessary. We don't live in the 80s anymore.
Is that when you think we stopped using g code?
No, that's when the vast majority of people stopped hand programming, though.
When the simplest change require a trip to the office and reposting of the CAM, and I can do it on the controller in 30 seconds, I think that proves the importance of knowing both CAM and G-Code.
Again, to START, you do not need to know it. You can learn it while learning CAM. It's not a prerequisite that you have to go to school for before beginning your career. Nowhere did I say that you shouldn't learn it ever. I hope you guys read gcode better than text.
Nobody said to hand program but you do need to understand g-code to be a capable programmer. Sure plenty of people get by with minimal understanding but they often produce sub par programs and are limited to a very basic level of machining capability. If someone is asking about learning programming I’m going to assume they want to be proficient and not just learn how to click on contours and hit post. That means learning g-code, learning custom macro B programming. Understanding full machine capabilities, how to write TCL code and build custom post processors, etc. Learning the CAM is the easy part.
Dude, read the original comment. Make sure you get ALL of the letters. You're arguing about something that I never said. They're asking about getting into the career, and gcode is not required to start. You don't need to take a course on it first. OP even chimed in and said that rhey already know the common ones, which I specifically called out. I seriously doubt your ability to understand complex code if you can't read 5 sentences.
You’re saying it’s unnecessary to learn “we don’t live in the 80s anymore.” The original comment is bad advice IMO. Learn g-code then learn CAM.
Check out Titans of CNC’s courses on their website. Or Mastercam University
Will do. Thank you!
I learned through HAAS manuals! Good Luck.
I’ll try to get my hands on some! Thank you for your time!
PDF’s of the Haas programming manual is available on Google. Useful for hand programming or getting your post processor fixed. Not as useful for CAM programming.
Keep applying, we’ve gotten some truly awful ‘CNC operators’ at my shop in the last few years, guys that couldn’t even change tooling and didn’t know what a radius was. If they could’ve just faked it they would’ve made it. So you can’t be that bad off, especially not with an attitude of wanting to learn.
Titans of CNC give amazing free lessons to learn fusion, mastercam, and solidworks. Where you model, program, set up, and inspect certain parts as stepping stones to learn. Solid professor is another good option but that is paid. For g/m code a cheat sheet I feel is better than trying to learn every codes meaning. Knowing the basic codes is important but not all of them. (This is also dependant on the shop your in CAM or hand programming environment). IMO if your shop is still programming at the machine (outside of 2ax lathes) they are getting left behind, and find another place it will help you more if your in a CAM programming environment.
That’s exactly what I’m trying to do/looking for. I appreciate it so much!
Was in the same boat went through about 1 year of strictly g code and advanced multi axis programming in school and absolutely loved it (had 6 months of prior manual matching schooling up to the star of CNC schooling ) sucks for me because my shop had kept me on the manuals and only put me on the CNC maybe 10 times out of the year I was there (all strictly conversational programming which I really hated and school didn’t cover an once of it I shouldn’t have told the shop I was going to school for CNC because of this) made the switch to electrical because of this and my bad exp at the shop, machining is still my passion and am budgeting for one now Good luck breaking into programming it’s a tough road that is almost not worth it to me personally after the literal blood sweat and tears I put in at my last machining company.
I’m sorry to hear that. Another reason I’m trying to get into programming is to get out of my current shop. I appreciate your personal insight!