Dumb machinist story of the day.

[YoDoug]

When I design/program  processes I try to follow a few rules.

1. Use as many off-the-shelf components as I can.
2. Always have spare parts for things that have lead time.
3. Make it only fit one way.
4. Make it simple. No complex sequence of steps.
5. Make it consistent. No subjective feel to it. No subjective clamping that lets one operator crush parts while another's come loose while machining.

[gcode]

And Trumps fault for not signing an executive order mandating the use of probes

If he had, Dementia Joe would have issued one repealing it. 

[Jeff]

That's just BRUTAL. I can't remember the last machine I touched without a probe...

Our first machine with a probe and tool setter was the Brother Speedio. (that machine is a license to print money)
Then our large Hyundai vmc.
Every mill my boss buys from now on I will insist on a probe and toolsetter package.

[YoDoug]

that machine is a license to print money

We don't even consider buying a machine without a robot or pallet system or other automation. Slows down the money printing if you have keep hand loading the paper!

[Flycut]

Just today I had 2 guys come up to me saying the machine was acting up and losing it's position.
They would re-indicate the part several times and get a new work coordinate every time.
I gently tapped the part with a mallet and it moved 2 inches. 

[neurosis]

Just today I had 2 guys come up to me saying the machine was acting up and losing it's position.
They would re-indicate the part several times and get a new work coordinate every time.
I gently tapped the part with a mallet and it moved 2 inches. 

We had a guy working here years ago who couldn't get a job running correctly. Parts kept coming loose from the fixture. 

After he'd scrapped about 8 parts he finally came and got me and said "this fixture is a piece of shit. it keeps tossing parts".   I told him that I'd run literally thousands of parts on that fixture and never had one come loose. 

I started examining what he had going on.  He had taken a bunch of bolts out of the clamps and replaced them with longer bolts. The bolts were bottoming out before applying any pressure to the clamps.  

Being the smart ass that I am, after replacing the bolts and running through a set of parts and not losing any, I said "I don't think it's the fixture that's the piece of shit".

[CADCAM396]

In our production side of business. work offset zero at the machine is a known point, we program from there.
operator no touchy no adjustment.
not single machinist in the mix. all button pushers.

they still manage the eff things up.

[Here's Johnny!]

I teach them how to double check work offsets and tool length offsets but they go for the green easy button instead of taking a few minutes to double check. I had one load the wrong diameter end mills into the machine and was trying to blame Mastercam!!!! The few minutes or seconds it takes to double check things is on the operator, they choose to be clueless and shit can happen!

[Jon@NOWHERE]

100% agree. 

This same guy made a tool change over a tall fixture yesterday *after* knowing that the fixture was too tall for the tool change to clear.  He moved positions to change to his edge finder. Then without moving again, changed to the first tool in the program.

The tool changer is still broken on the machine. 

lol.  Not a good week for this guy.

Could you modify the tool change macro to force the table to move to a "safe" position to ensure that wouldn't happen again?

[Jim at Gentex]

Could you modify the tool change macro to force the table to move to a "safe" position to ensure that wouldn't happen again?

Yep, our posts have preset toolchange locations for that very reason.

As for Neuro's problem, the solution is obviously firing this shitbird before he causes any more damage. 

Luckily nobody got hurt, but it's only a matter of time before someone that careless hurts himself or someone else.

[champshire]

Glad my company isn't alone in the frustration of having to program around lack of skill set. I agree, they just hire better idiots. You never know what you will find when you come in. I have a 1" lathe stick tool sitting on my desk that has been melted down at least an inch. You guys guessed it....it never made a sound. Came in last Saturday to a blown up 2" milling cutter. Operator ran the wrong program..... they literally have to select the right program and press start....

[neurosis]

Could you modify the tool change macro to force the table to move to a "safe" position to ensure that wouldn't happen again?

Of course. The programs had safe change locations baked in to them.  He made the change manually so a tool change macro with the safe location would have been nice. 

In this case, there was only 3 parts and it's the only part we run in that machine that would have required the move for a tool change. 

In hind sight, we could have made a temp mod to the macro but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt until they prove to me that they don't pay attention to what they're doing.

[mowens]

I had an owner yelling at me one time until I pointed out he had loaded a bull nose instead of a ball nose.

[TylerBeer]

...and manager's fault for not telling programmer to write probing cycle

.
.
.and presidents fault for not ordering machine with probing option

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but if it's running production parts, then I agree completely.

[crazy^millman]

Latest one for me was someone buying a machine that never had a CNC Machine. They let the MTB order the tooling for them and I was asked to help get 2 parts running. Customer was expecting to hold 16 finishes with ER collets on a machine I will not name that was not even setup correctly. Part was to the correct to the print and looked good, but not to what they wanted to see. It needed to look polished and since it was not they refused to pay for the programming. They asked me what could be done to make that happen I flat out told them buy a better machine. Nope I suck as a programmer and they paid me for my time onsite and one part, but for a different part they didn't.

I was there when the revision change for that part happened. They no longer needed that part. They didn't set it up correctly for OP2 as their justification to not have to pay me for it. I built a Vericut Machine for it and ran everything through Vericut. That process is accepted by NASA for work I have done for customers, but for this place that never had a CNC before or even has a programmer it wasn't. Crazy what some people will do.