This is an introduction to CNC lathes programming, assuming no previous knowledge, with exercises and interactive animated graphics.
The follow-on course is the CNC Programming Course for Lathes.
Course requirements are any I.B.M. or IBM-compatible personal computer, a 3.5 inch HD disk drive, and an EGA or VGA or SVGA monitor. The course runs in EGA.
Any screen in the course may be printed out at any time as a graphic print-out. The print-out driver is suitable for Epson 9 pin, 24 pin, IBM Proprinter, Canon Bubble-Jet and Hewlett-Packard (PCL3) laser printers.
Explaining the CNC lathe layout with conventions and options. Covers positioning and sizes and also component location and reasons for datums.
How information is input to a CNC lathe. Interfacing between computer and machine. Part Program generation. Paper Tape conventions and what Parity Checking means.
Grammar of CNC coding, Address Letter descriptions. Explanation of Formats, in Metric and Inches. Leading and Trailing Zero Suppression.
Graphic demonstrations of Absolute and Incremental Positioning with as many Examples and Exercises as the student wishes.
Explanation of G codes and their importance in programming. Graphic Animation of the G codes in use showing Absolute with Diameter programming and Incremental with Radius Programming.
All the miscellaneous M and support codes necessary for CNC lathe programming are covered in this section together with Exercises on the codes.
Explanations and graphics of Arc coding in both Absolute and Incremental Modes followed by exercises and then Animated Demonstrations of the codes in use.
This is where the hard work really starts with the student writing the first Part Programs. Here is a picture from this section ...
- Click here to expand.A bit of a rest after the previous section as there are no exercises here but a very interesting introduction to the subject of Canned Cycles.
Back to the hard work again with further program writing, this time complicated by the requirement of having to produce the correct coding for Arcs.
The following features are available in most sections:-
The courses are made up of ten sections any one of which is available from a Drop Down menu. This is accessible at any time so you can interrupt any section to look at the menu and if necessary you may cancel the menu and carry on with the section. You may move forward or back from the menu although initially we recommend you to start at the beginning and work your way through as the sections are progressive.
We have included a feature which we call 'Logical Paging' as it allows the student to jump forward or back through the sections themselves a 'logical page' at a time.
As the courses are in EGA mode and use is made of colour shades, we have added a very small on-screen contrast check.
The exercises are based on randomly-generated numbers. We have also added a Progress Monitoring system. This provides for a continuous print-out of the exercise results and section totals together with a percentage mark at the end of the section. The student's answers are printed together with the computed answer so the lecturer can assess readily how any student is coping with the course.
The courses are well-supported by Animated Graphics and are in EGA mode.
In the two sections on Part Program Exercises we have added a simple Planning Sheet which is stepped through as the example job is being machined.