Piggybacking off this, CNC machining has a lot in common if you don’t mind getting your hands just a bit dirty. It’s a lot less manual labor than you’d expect and you typically won’t ever have to deal with a customer.
GCODE is simple to pick up the basics if you have any familiarity with 3D coordinates and many colleges will offer a fast-track course for around $2-3k. Depending on the area, some shops will even cover this cost while you’re starting.
I’ve done some gcode but moved onto other programming(mostly c# so completely different. One thing I HATED about gcode, I don’t know if it was just my machines or gcode in general(most of mine were based on fanuc cnc controllers typically seen as top of the line) , we were not able to name variables.
I create a variable and assign it #315. What does #315 do? What does it mean? Who knows… Better have notes or comments to explain or your fucked. I can’t say variable x_offset_tool_15 nope…just #315.
I worked with Fanuc control machines for 20 years up until 2023. Sounds like you were needlessly in macro hell. Just declaring an offset will use either an H (typically height) or D (typically a radius offset in Fanuc controls, but sometimes they are setup for diameter).
It would go something like this:
G40G49G80G90(CLEARS OUT POTENTIALLY PREVIOUS GCODES);
T1M06(EXECUTES A TOOL CHANGE, LEAVE OUT M06 IF JUST DECLARING THE TOOL);
G43H01(DECLARES H01 AS THE HEIGHT OFFSET);
G00ZO.O1(MOVES THE TOOL 0.01 ABAOVE WORK);
G41D01X1.0(DECLARES LEFT HAND TOOL OFFSET AS D01);
You don’t need true macro variables for 9/10 applications, or general operation. I feel like you got placed on some overenginered solution.
Piggybacking off this, CNC machining has a lot in common if you don’t mind getting your hands just a bit dirty. It’s a lot less manual labor than you’d expect and you typically won’t ever have to deal with a customer.
GCODE is simple to pick up the basics if you have any familiarity with 3D coordinates and many colleges will offer a fast-track course for around $2-3k. Depending on the area, some shops will even cover this cost while you’re starting.
I’ve done some gcode but moved onto other programming(mostly c# so completely different. One thing I HATED about gcode, I don’t know if it was just my machines or gcode in general(most of mine were based on fanuc cnc controllers typically seen as top of the line) , we were not able to name variables.
I create a variable and assign it #315. What does #315 do? What does it mean? Who knows… Better have notes or comments to explain or your fucked. I can’t say variable x_offset_tool_15 nope…just #315.
I worked with Fanuc control machines for 20 years up until 2023. Sounds like you were needlessly in macro hell. Just declaring an offset will use either an H (typically height) or D (typically a radius offset in Fanuc controls, but sometimes they are setup for diameter).
It would go something like this:
G40G49G80G90 (CLEARS OUT POTENTIALLY PREVIOUS GCODES); T1M06 (EXECUTES A TOOL CHANGE, LEAVE OUT M06 IF JUST DECLARING THE TOOL); G43H01 (DECLARES H01 AS THE HEIGHT OFFSET); G00ZO.O1 (MOVES THE TOOL 0.01 ABAOVE WORK); G41D01X1.0 (DECLARES LEFT HAND TOOL OFFSET AS D01);You don’t need true macro variables for 9/10 applications, or general operation. I feel like you got placed on some overenginered solution.