Ai Topic

[Here's Johnny!]

Sucks that we lost the recent topic that Doug started giving examples of how he is using Ai and Zoffen offered an example as well.

Thought maybe we should have a dedicated area or pinned topics for Ai related questions, reviews etc.

[Zoffen]

Don't worry I will keep adding more examples as I do more stuff with it.

[neurosis]

Yea, Sorry guys..  That was my fault.

[neurosis]

Who would have thought that the one time I decide to mess with something there would be an actual interesting topic on the forum.   

[YoDoug]

I asked Claude to make a use case write up for Claude AI products for the CNC machinist/programmer. This is what it came up with.

CLAUDE, CLAUDE COWORK & CLAUDE CODE — USE CASES FOR CNC MACHINISTS, PROGRAMMERS & CADCAM ENGINEERS
CNC machinists and programmers carry deep, specialized knowledge — G-code dialects, toolpath strategies, fixturing physics, material behavior, post-processor logic. But that expertise still gets taxed daily by repetitive lookups, documentation tasks, and debugging time that could go toward cutting metal. Claude is a technical collaborator that understands the language of the shop floor and works across three tools: the chat interface for on-the-spot questions, Cowork for automating files and workflows on your desktop, and Claude Code for building the custom tooling your process actually needs.

PART 1 — CLAUDE (claude.ai)
Conversational AI for technical Q&A, documentation, and problem-solving
Think of Claude as a senior engineer who's equally comfortable reading G-code, explaining CAM toolpath strategies, writing operator procedures, and troubleshooting a chatter problem at 3 AM. Available on web, desktop, and mobile.
G-code interpretation & debugging
Paste a block of unfamiliar G-code — from a legacy program, a different control, or a post you're reverse-engineering — and get a plain-English breakdown of what each line does, why it might be wrong, and how to fix it.
→ "Why does my canned cycle G73 peck in the wrong direction on this Fanuc block?"
Feeds, speeds & toolpath strategy
Describe your setup — material, cutter, machine rigidity, coating — and get machining parameter recommendations with reasoning. Ask about trochoidal milling, adaptive clearing, high-feed strategies, or when to use HSM vs. conventional.
→ "Roughing 4140 prehard, 1" 4-flute carbide, BT40 spindle — starting point on SFM and chip load?"
Chatter & vibration troubleshooting
Describe chatter symptoms (frequency, location, tool overhang, depth of cut) and walk through a structured root-cause process — spindle speed harmonics, engagement angle, tool deflection, fixture compliance — with specific adjustments to try first.
→ "Getting a 3-lobe chatter pattern on a 6-flute end mill, 4x diameter overhang. What do I adjust first?"
GD&T and print interpretation
Upload a drawing or describe a callout and get a clear explanation of what the tolerance actually requires, how to inspect it, and what the worst-case stack-up means for your setup. Especially useful when engineers use FCFs ambiguously.
→ "What does a composite positional tolerance ⊕ Ø0.010 / Ø0.004 actually constrain on a bolt pattern?"
Setup sheets & work instructions
Describe the operation — workholding, sequence, tools, key dimensions — and get a polished setup sheet or operator instruction document drafted in minutes, formatted to your shop's standards.
→ "Write a setup sheet for Op20 bore-and-face on a horizontal, 3-jaw with soft jaws, 4 tools, datum from Op10 holes."
Fixturing & workholding design
Brainstorm fixturing approaches for awkward parts — thin walls, multiple datums, nested family fixtures. Discuss clamping force, datum progression, locating principles, and the tradeoffs between dedicated tooling and modular systems.
→ "Holding a thin-wall aluminum casting for a 5-axis finish pass — worried about distortion. Options?"
Control & post-processor knowledge
Ask about differences between Fanuc, Siemens, Heidenhain, Okuma OSP, Mazatrol, and HAAS dialects. Understand modal groups, subprogram structures, canned cycle options, and macro variable scoping across control families.
→ "What's the difference between Fanuc #100 local variables and #500 common variables, and when does each reset?"
Training new programmers
Build structured training plans, explain concepts step-by-step, or create quizzes and exercises for apprentices. Claude adapts explanations to different experience levels and generates practice problems on specific topics.
→ "Create a progressive exercise series teaching G41/G42 cutter comp to a programmer who knows basic G-code."
Real-world scenario:
A programmer inherits a 1,200-line Fanuc program from a retired machinist. No documentation, no setup sheet, tool list lost. They paste the full program into Claude and ask: "What is this program making, what's the sequence of operations, and what tools does it use?" Within seconds they have a reconstructed operation sheet, a tool list with offsets, and a list of non-standard macros to verify. What would have been a full day of reverse-engineering is a 10-minute conversation.

PART 2 — CLAUDE COWORK
Desktop AI agent for file management, automation, and multi-app workflows
Cowork runs on your Windows desktop and can work with your files, move data between applications, and execute multi-step tasks using plain language — no scripting required. For a CNC shop, it turns repetitive file-and-data chores into simple requests.
NC program file management
Batch rename program files to match your shop's naming convention, move programs to the correct machine folder after sign-off, archive old revisions by date, and flag duplicate filenames across your DNC directory.
→ "Find all .NC files modified this week that don't follow the PARTNO_REV_OP naming format and rename them."
Tool list extraction & reporting
Read through a folder of NC programs, parse all tool calls and offsets, and generate a consolidated tool list in Excel. Identify common tools across programs for crib optimization, or flag tools that don't match the current tool library.
→ "Read all programs in /JOBS/ACTIVE, extract every T-call, and build me a spreadsheet of tools by part and operation."
Setup sheet generation from CAM output
After CAM post-processing, automatically pull operation data (tool, speed, feed, depth) from the NC file or CAM report and populate a standardized setup sheet template — ready for the floor without manual data entry.
→ "Take the Mastercam toolpath report for JOB-4521 and fill out our standard setup sheet template in Word."
Inspection & CMM data processing
Pull measurement results from CMM output files or Excel inspection logs, summarize pass/fail by feature, calculate Cpk trends across a production run, and flag dimensions approaching control limits for engineering review.
→ "Read the last 30 CMM reports for part P-1187 and tell me which dimensions are trending toward their limit."
Cycle time & machine utilization summaries
Pull data from machine monitoring exports or production logs, calculate OEE components, summarize by machine or shift, and generate a weekly report — without spending Friday morning in Excel.
→ "Pull this week's machine monitoring export, calculate uptime by machine, and write a summary email for our Monday ops meeting."
Revision control & change documentation
When a program is updated, automatically log the change, compare the new version against the previous, summarize what changed (feeds, tool numbers, offsets), and append the change record to the job traveler or ECO log.
→ "Compare P-4521_REV2.nc to REV1, list every line that changed, and update the revision log with today's date."
Alarm & fault log triage
Read CNC machine alarm log files from your DNC server or network drive, identify recurring fault codes, group by machine and timeframe, and create a prioritized maintenance summary before the weekly maintenance meeting.
→ "Parse the alarm logs from all 6 lathes for October and rank the top 5 recurring faults by frequency."
Engineering communication drafts
Describe a tooling problem, drawing issue, or process change request and get a clear, professional email or ECR draft ready to send to engineering or purchasing.
→ "Draft an ECR explaining why we need to change the boring bar on P-1220 from HSS to carbide, with supporting data from our scrap log."
Real-world scenario:
End of month, the shop lead needs to submit a tooling cost justification for carbide inserts on a new job. Normally that means opening five different spreadsheets, pulling tool life data, calculating cost-per-part, and writing it up. With Cowork: "Pull our tool life data for T0304 from the last 90 days, calculate average cost per part vs. our budget, and draft a one-page justification for purchasing." Done in three minutes.

PART 3 — CLAUDE CODE
Agentic coding agent for building real automation tools and custom software
Claude Code lives in the terminal and works autonomously on engineering tasks — reading your existing codebase, writing new code, running tests, and iterating until the job is done. For CNC shops with custom software needs, it's like having a developer on the team who already understands manufacturing.
Post-processor development & modification
Write a new post-processor from scratch or modify an existing one — adding support for a new canned cycle, fixing tool change syntax, handling machine-specific modal states, or porting a post from one CAM platform to another.
→ "Modify our Mastercam Okuma post to output M98/M99 subprograms instead of inline G-code for repeated pockets."
G-code validation & linting tools
Build a custom validator that checks NC programs against your shop's rules before they hit the machine — forbidden G-codes, feed rate limits, missing safety blocks, tool number mismatches against the tool library, coolant logic errors.
→ "Build a Python linter that checks our Fanuc programs for missing G40 cancels, feeds over 300 IPM, and tools not in our active crib."
Machine API & data integration
Write integrations against manufacturer APIs like the Okuma THINC API, MTConnect, FOCAS for Fanuc, or OPC-UA endpoints. Pull spindle load, program status, alarm states, and production counters into your own dashboard or database.
→ "Write a C# service that polls our Okuma THINC API every 5 seconds and logs spindle load and current tool to SQL."
Cell control & PLC application logic
Write or debug Structured Text for AutomationDirect, Siemens, or Allen-Bradley PLCs — state machine logic, Modbus TCP register maps, EtherNet/IP configuration, or interlock logic for robot-machine handshaking.
→ "Write a CODESYS ST function block that implements a 16-state machine for robot-to-CNC handshaking with timeout faults."
Robot program generation & utilities
Generate ABB RAPID, Fanuc Karel, or KUKA KRL program scaffolding, write utilities to parse and validate robot programs, or build add-ins that automate target creation from CAD data or CMM reference points.
→ "Write an ABB RAPID module template for a machine-tending cell with load, unload, and inspection station routines."
DNC & file transfer tooling
Build or fix DNC server utilities — RS-232 serial handlers, FTP/SFTP program distribution logic, program request-and-send over the network, or file integrity checking before programs are loaded to a controller.
→ "Build a Python DNC server that serves NC files over FTP and logs every program request by machine IP and timestamp."
SPC & quality data tooling
Parse CMM output formats (PC-DMIS, Renishaw MODUS, Zeiss Calypso), calculate Cpk/Ppk, build control charts, detect trends before parts go out of tolerance, and generate corrective action reports when limits are exceeded.
→ "Write a script that reads PC-DMIS CSV exports, calculates Cpk per dimension, and emails a report when any Cpk drops below 1.33."
Tool crib & inventory applications
Build a lightweight tool crib database application — tracking tool assemblies, inserts, holder IDs, location by machine, preset data, and expected tool life. Integrate with your ERP or produce reorder reports when stock hits minimums.
→ "Build a SQLite-backed tool inventory app with a simple web UI that tracks insert counts by grade and flags reorders."
Real-world scenario:
A shop runs 12 Fanuc cells and wants to know in real-time which machines are cutting, which are in alarm, and what program is running — without paying for a $40K monitoring package. A CNC programmer with basic coding knowledge opens Claude Code and says: "Build me a web dashboard that polls our Fanuc FOCAS API on each machine every 10 seconds and shows live status, alarm text, and current program name." Two hours later they have a working dashboard deployed on a shop-floor PC, built to their exact specs, for the cost of an afternoon.