9 Easy G-Codes Every Machinist Must Learn

For those of you who are manual machinists and still wondering what CNC can do for you, there are 9 basic g-codes you must learn today.  If you know them, and they are easy, they will turn the CNC Machine into the equivalent of a manual machine with power feeds and DRO’s on every axis.  They do this because you can use them as simple immediate commands without having to write a g-code program.  You just type in one of these 9 gems and the machine will perform that action immediately through the magic of what’s called “MDI” or “Manual Data Input.”  MDI is like the command line prompt from DOS for CNC and it is handy as can be for quick and dirty operations.… Read the rest

Use a Spring-Loaded Engraving Tool to Pick Up the Engraving Pace

Many of you will be familiar with drag engraving, where a tool in a spring-loaded holder is dragged over a surface to engrave it.  There’s another kind of spring-loaded engraver out there that takes a standard v-bit cutter and can be run much faster than a drag engraver.  2Linc and others make these spring-loaded engraving tools.  Here’s a great demo video by 2linc of one in action that has a number of excellent engraving tips:

As you can see, this spring loader engraver is meant to be used with standard v-bit engraving cutters that are spinning.  … Read the rest

Balance Your Boring Head for Higher RPMs and Productivity

I had a customer ask recently why our G-Wizard Calculator doesn’t have a fairly low limit on the rpms it recommends for boring operations on the mill.  He was concerned that the numbers he was getting for aluminum were too high and causing way too much vibration.
He had a point, on the one hand–conventional boring heads are pretty unbalanced beasts to be spinning up to high rpms.  Criterion talks about limiting them to 1000-1500 rpm.  But on the other hand, there are other designs capable of going faster so how could G-Wizard know the limits of your particular boring head?  … Read the rest

CNCCookbook Bundles: Let the Craziness Begin

All week I have been buried like Captain Kirk over there in correspondence from various folks reacting to the GWE launch announcement.
Let me first just say, thank you, thank you, thank you!  
I really appreciate the attention and I’m trying hard to respond and follow up to all the inquiries I’ve been getting.  One of the themes that has been pretty common has been folks asking if they can get a further discount by buying two or even all three of the products well sell:  G-Wizard Calculator, G-Wizard Editor, and Gearotic Gear Design.  … Read the rest

The 15 Best Web Sites for CNC Job Search

Times are tough, no doubt about it, and I wanted to do something to help others find work.  I get a lot of notes from folks who are using the G-Wizard Editor and our G-Code Tutorial to increase their CNC skills before setting out to find a new job, so that’s one way we try to help.  More directly, we spent time in conjunction with a guest blogger putting together the research on the 15 best web sites for CNC job search.  For each site we give a quick overview of what kind of site it is, some links for sample searches that bring up CNC jobs on the site, and a sample search result that shows how a job is listed on that site.… Read the rest

Neat Portable EDM Drill and Tap Remover

As soon as I saw this video I thought, “What a cool product.”  It’s a portable EDM sinker that can be used to remove broken taps and drill bits.  EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) can literally disintegrate metal like Marvin the Martian’s Ray Gun.  It’s a fascinating process, and there are parts that are impossible to make any other way.  This little gizmo applies EDM to the problem of removing a broken tap or drill bit from the workpiece.  This is a problem we’ve all had at one time or another that generally leads to some strong language.  … Read the rest

Rhino3D 5.0 and Flamingo 3.0 Upgrade: I Need to Rant

I use several CAD programs including SolidWorks and Autodesk, but Rhino3D is by far my favorite.  I just got my new Rhino3D 5.0 upgrade and Flamingo 3.0 Rendering software, so I thought I’d do a little mini review.  I will still do that mini review at some point, but right now I have to finish a rant, because…
The Install and Upgrade Experience is Atrocious
Let’s start with the Bad News first–the install experience is terrible.  Generally, I have found the Rhino upgrade experience to be pretty painless, so I was surprised at how bad this was.  … Read the rest

Tell MAKE Magazine What You Think About Offshoring!

I can’t believe MAKE Magazine is focused on telling their Makers how to go offshore.  I’ve written about the problems of offshoring before.  Even big companies get it wrong and it makes no sense at all for small companies with so many fine innovative shops right here on our shores.  I’ve talked to many small businesses who are building all sorts of things without recourse to offshoring.
Head on over to the MAKE article and leave a comment telling them what you think about it, and tell them CNCCookbook sent you.  … Read the rest

Tapping Into the Wisdom of the Crowd in Our Software

We spend a lot of time trying to understand the folks using our software.  We know we don’t always get it right and we know there is no one-size-fits-all solution to making the software easier to learn, easier to use, and more powerful.  So we rely on you to keep us in the loop in a whole variety of different ways.  I call this “Gaining the Wisdom of Our Crowd”, and I believe the ability to listen to one of the largest online audiences of machinists in the world (CNCCookbook now has nearly 17,000 folks who have our software and nearly 1.5 million visits a year to the site) gives us a real edge because we learn things from our crowd that are hard to find out anywhere else.… Read the rest

G-Wizard Editor Version 1.0 To Be Launched Friday

G-Wizard Editor, Version 1.0.  Available for Sale Friday, February 1
I’m extremely excited to announce that we’ll be launching our G-Wizard Editor this Friday, February 1.
Since starting to build our first product, G-Wizard Calculator, I’ve had Big Plans for CNCCookbook’s software line.  I’m trying to do something fundamentally different than anything that’s ever been done with CNC Software before.  It’ll be quite a while before the whole Vision is in place and obvious, but GW Editor represents the next Big Step.  As of Friday, we’ll have two great products from CNCCookbook, alongside Art Fenerty’s Gearotic Gear Design software that we also offer.  … Read the rest

Using a Fly Cutter to Increase Your Travels

I got a nice note from Steve, a toolmaker in Indiana, who wanted to pass along some valuable fly cutter lore.  You’d think the modern facemill had eliminated the need for these simple cutters, but nothing could be further from the truth.  That link back there goes to the CNCCookbook page of fly cutter lore, and it’s worth checking out because there are situations where nothing but a fly cutter will help.
Take Steve’s case, for example.  Despite having a big old Haas VF-5 vertical machining center, when it came time to resurface a table saw table, he’d run out of travel.  … Read the rest

The 4 Fastest Ways to Break an Endmill: Chip Clearing, Built Up Edge, Runout and Deflection

It should be no surprise that I consult with a fair number of people who have problems breaking tools and wonder why.  I’m happy to help as I have written extensively on the subject and sell the world’s best feeds and speeds calculator (even if I do say so myself).
Sometimes the problem will turn out to be feeds and speeds, but more often, if the inquiry comes to me, the individual is already using good feeds and speeds provided courtesy of our G-Wizard Calculator.  ”I did what your calculator asked, so what now?” they say.… Read the rest

Boeing’s Problem: Focusing on the Dumbest Idea in the World led to Offshoring

Forbes magazine has a two-part series of articles that essentially blames Boeing’s problems on poor decision making around outsourcing and offshoring work done for the 787 dreamliner.  After already being billions of dollars over budget and delivering the first planes 3 years late, the grounding of the entire 787 fleet adds insult to injury.  The last time an entire fleet was grounded was 1979, and this is not the sort of thing that should be happening to a company like Boeing.  As a market leader, they’re supposed to know better.
Steve Denning, the Forbes writer behind the series, goes on to say that bad offshoring decisions are “a disease that has been gnawing at the US economy for decades: flawed offshoring decisions by the C-suite.”  He quotes Harry Moser, founder of the Reshoring Initiative who says that as many as 60% of offshoring decisions are based on miscalculations.  … Read the rest

Custom Deep Hole CNC Canned Drilling Cycles

It seems like it has been a while since I’ve added a new chapter to our G-Code Tutorial so I decided to get busy and write one.  In addition to updating the chapter on Canned Drilling Cycles a bit, I have added a chapter on Custom Deep Hole Drilling Cycles.
Custom Deep Hole Cycles are a common thing to hand code.  It turns out there are a lot of techniques (described in the chapter!) that are not part of the canned drilling cycles of most controls.  Things like exactly how the pecking strategy changes with hole depth or whether to vary feeds and speeds with depth.  … Read the rest

Movable Tool Storage Organization

One of my tips for improving shop productivity is the suggestion that anything you have to move while looking for something else be put away.  It’s only a few steps, but when you’re totally focused on the project at hand, it seems like they’re long steps and distract from that job.   This idea, another from Lil Scorpion’s Garage Journal Tool Organization thread has me intrigued.  What if instead of taking the thing out of storage to use it, you brought the storage along for the thing and related goodies.  When you’re done, pick up the whole unit and pop it back into the long-term storage where it belongs.  … Read the rest