Making sizing dies - CNC lathe help

[mtnman31]

I have been playing around on a regular lathe for months now and am starting to get comfortable with it - doing mostly basic tasks, of course. I have access to a shop and the use of the machines, but not really anyone who is proficient and can impart any knowledge to me. So far, most of what I have learned is self-taught, trial & error, and reading. The shop recently got a brand new CNC lathe and mill. Both are Haas units and amazing watch in action. I played around with the CNC lathe recently doing everything manually. I now want to make some Lyman style sizing dies on the lathe.

I can make them easy enough on the manual lathe but the CNC is calling me. I want to set it up and let it make me a pile of sizing die blanks that I can later bore to whatever diameter I need - right now I've got four different calibers that I don't have any sizing dies for.

Long story short, I need some help in setting up a program to turn these die blanks. Like I mentioned, the shop I have access to doesn't really have anyone qualified to show me how to do it. The machinists that are there are some young Marines fresh out of school with no experience on the CNC beyond what I have. I've got basic tooling and a supply of stainless and O-1 steel rods.

Anyone willing to give me a little tutoring? Send me a PM and maybe we can coordinate something offline.

[ANeat]

I believe there is a Haas tech as a member here. Depending on the control you may have some type of shop floor programing option. That could step you thru the part design and basicly it does its thing.

There should be a programing manual with the machine

Most of the machines Im familiar with are all G code M code programed.

M6 to get the correct tool
G0 (rapid) to get close to the part
S code for a spindle speed, posibly an M code for range if the machine needs it

G1 (feed) and an F (feedrate) for the desired dimensions ( x axis and Y axis)

Also some newer lathes will have an upper and lower turret, also rotary tooling and a positioning spindle (C axis) If your lathe is like that you may be able to do it all on one machine.

[ANeat]

Just remember if youre typing in stuff, a decimal point in the wrong spot can do a lot of damage.

[Cap'n Morgan]

I learned to program my first CNC by decoding/reverse engineering standard programs for the machine. If you do the coding manually you MUST learn the basics about G-codes:

http://www.linuxcnc.org/handbook/gcode/g-code.html

Since you already know how to operate a manual lathe you should get the hang of it quite easily. Once you get around to actually write some code, you can use a virtual simulator to check the code - it can save you a world of agony!

http://www.cncsimulator.com

[kywoodwrkr]

What model lathe is it?
We have 2 Haas in our school shop.
One has tools on a turret and the other is limited as to automatic tool changes. Both are cnc capable machines.
I have the Lyman sizer drawn up in MasterCam I think and might be able to generate the CNC code to turn it.
I'll be in the class room(shop) through the end of this week, maybe some week after.
Feel free to contact me(e-mail)(can send code via e-mail) if I might be of any assistance.
Dave

[WallyM3]

HAAS uses a interactive programming (as well as code). That should reduce the grade of the learning curve.

It's not such a bad idea to run a batch manually first. Knurling is a revelation on a manual machine.

I envy your access.

Me want TL-1!

[deltaenterprizes]

I learned to program my first CNC by decoding/reverse engineering standard programs for the machine. If you do the coding manually you MUST learn the basics about G-codes:

http://www.linuxcnc.org/handbook/gcode/g-code.html

Since you already know how to operate a manual lathe you should get the hang of it quite easily. Once you get around to actually write some code, you can use a virtual simulator to check the code - it can save you a world of agony!

http://www.cncsimulator.com

Thanks for the link I lost all my CNC programing stuff I got when I was in school.

[theperfessor]

mtnman31-

All our school lathes and mills are Haas machines. If you go to the Haas site they have the users manuals on line. The manuals have a lot of illustrated examples for most of the commands which are real helpful. The basic programming code is the same across all their models, but some advanced codes aren't applicable to all machines, i.e. the codes to turn off or on a chip conveyor for example.

If you can't find the lathe manual on the Haas site I can send it to you as an email attachment. It's in PDF format and covers not only the coding but also various other things - troubleshooting, maintenance and installation, etc.

If you have any problems please feel free to pm or email me. I can even walk you through some things over the phone but I won't give out my number on a public forum.

[theperfessor]

By the way, all the Haas machines I'm familiar with have a simulator built in, I require all my students to use it before I approve them to actually run a program.

[mtnman31]

I do not know what model the lathe is. I'll check later this week when I go by the shop. It does have a tool turret. Other than that, all I can say is that it is NICE.

As for access to the shop, yes, it has been very nice. I just wish they had some more experienced people there. In addition to the CNC lathe they also have a new HAAS CNC mill. I have not played with the CNC mill at all. I messed with the manual mill before the CNC arrived but all I did was clean up a raggedy mold I acquired. I try and squeeze time in at the shop when my workdays are slow and in that limited time I have been more focused on lathe proficiency. Unfortunately, none of the local colleges have any type of machine classes. I have done some welding classes at one of the local junior colleges but no luck with machine shop.

Perfessor, I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't even think about going to the HAAS website. I will check it out and see how that helps my cause. When they bought the equipment the tech rep that came out left his card and contact info as well. I don't really want to call him until I am a little farther along.
Also, I like your A. Rand quote. I read online that they are making a movie based on the novel Atlas Shrugged, hopefully it does the book justice. Apparently though, the movie is having a hard time getting off the ground.