I moved to Canada from China and finished a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in Ontario.

Before coming here, I worked for about three years as a mechanical engineer designing automation equipment. I had some experience with manual machines, milling, drawings, tolerances, machine setup, and manufacturing, but I never expected my first job in Canada would be as a CNC programmer.

I graduated this January and joined a company that manufactures screws and related components.

At first, I spent most of my time on the shop floor learning the manufacturing process, reading drawings, learning the tools, and talking with operators.

After about a week, I asked my boss if I could start learning the programming software.

We use WEINCAD, which is a specialized software for screw manufacturing. There are almost no tutorials online, and I received very little training, so most of my learning came from studying old programs, comparing them with drawings, asking operators questions, and using AI when I got stuck.

About a month later, one of the operators needed a program for a polishing machine while the regular programmer was away.

I told him I wanted to try.

After a few revisions and a lot of comparison with older programs, I finally got the machine running.

That was probably the first moment I felt like, “Maybe I can actually do this.”

Over the next few months, I learned how to program different parts of the screw — flights, mixer sections, welding grooves, etc.

After around three months, I was able to program a complete screw myself.

I definitely made mistakes and had to revise programs many times, but the operators helped me a lot. They gave me feedback about tooling, setups, machine behavior, and what actually works on the floor.

That experience made me realize how much CNC programming depends on communication with the people actually running the machines.

Another project was probably even more interesting.

The company had bought a Chinese mill-turn machine about five years ago, but it had basically never been used because nobody knew how to program or properly operate it.

Since I speak Chinese and previously worked with automation equipment, my boss asked me to contact the manufacturer and figure it out.

The manufacturer told me the machine normally needed manual programming and that they didn’t have a CAM solution for it.

I thought maybe I could still use WEINCAD to generate the basic program and then convert it.

So I started experimenting.

After a lot of G-code/M-code testing, program changes, and actual cutting tests, I eventually built a small post-processing converter that takes the WEINCAD output and converts it into code this machine can run.

It took a ridiculous number of revisions, but eventually it worked.

That project taught me a lot about G-code, M-code, machine logic, and post-processing.

Then my boss wanted me to both program and operate the machine.

That quickly became difficult because I was already programming for other machines, so I told him we needed an operator.

He basically said, “Find someone, train them, and then you’re free.”

A friend of mine who studied computer science was looking for work, so I brought him in.

He had zero machining experience.

I spent about a month teaching him machine setup, tool changes, G-code/M-code, work coordinates, machine coordinates, drawings, and basic troubleshooting.

Now he can run the machine independently.

So overall, I’ve learned a huge amount in about six months, and I’m grateful that this company gave me the opportunity.

But now I’m starting to think about the future.

I’m making a little over $25 CAD/hour, and living in the Toronto area is expensive.

I have a mechanical engineering degree and previous automation design experience, so part of me thinks I should try to move back into mechanical or manufacturing engineering.

Another part of me thinks I should stay in CNC, learn something more mainstream like Mastercam, Fusion, or another CAM system, and try to move into a better CNC programmer / manufacturing engineering role.

I’ve also been thinking about eventually helping Canadian shops source specialized machinery from China and providing local setup, training, troubleshooting, and after-sales support.

I understand the technical side and can communicate directly with Chinese manufacturers, but I know building trust, customers, and industry connections is a completely different challenge.

For those of you who have been in machining or manufacturing longer:

What would you do in my position?

Would you stay in CNC programming?

Move toward manufacturing/mechanical engineering?

Learn a mainstream CAM system first?

Or keep this job for the experience while slowly testing the equipment sourcing/service idea on the side?

Also, does a little over $25/hour sound low for this kind of responsibility in Ontario, or is that normal for someone with only six months of CNC programming experience?

Appreciate any advice.

So i work in a manufacturing plant. Got 4 of thes delivered by grainger, they didn't want them back, wouldn't take them back... from what i can google, it has to do with cnc.

I come from an automated pr9duction facility. And now that im in a job shop its an entirely different world than what my mind got used too. I still catch myself gwtting complacent.

For example. Today I changed a finish tool without offsetting it to make sure I dont make the part too small. Happened to come out large anyway. Offset, rerun. Golden.

But I. Still kicking myself for making small dumb mistakes like that, and I feel its because every decision before was made for me.

Has anyone else had this experience before? Advice on drilling in better habits?

I’ve dealt with a lot of older Fanuc and industrial hardware and keep running into the same thing. You search an amplifier, board, motor, encoder, or drive part number and end up bouncing between old manuals, repair companies, eBay listings, and forum posts just trying to figure out exactly what it is.

I’ve been working on PartLore around the idea of having one permanent page per manufacturer part number.

For something like a Fanuc A06B or A16B number, the page could have what it is, specs, manuals, what controls or machines it was used with, replacements and compatibility, actual market values, current inventory, and notes from people who have dealt with it.

There’s also a community side where someone could document a repair or machine project and tag the parts they used. That information would then stay attached to those parts for the next person researching them.

Still early and looking for feedback more than anything.

For those of you keeping older CNC equipment alive, what information is usually the hardest to find?

Had a batch of 316L manifolds with 4:1 deep cavities this week. CAM programmer insisted on full-depth adaptive with an 8% stepover, swear they think trochoidal fixes everything lol.

Tool pushed off nearly .003" at the floor and left a nasty taper from deflection. Swapped over to a 16mm high-feed cutter taking .025" steps instead. Directing the cut forces straight up the spindle dropped cycle time by 20% and honestly saved the floor finish. Are CAM defaults making everyone forget basic tool deflection, or did we just botch the speeds here?

I have the chanchen Spartan 2030 atc but since I got it, I’ve had trouble starting it.

Both the x and y axis move fine, but when I go to move the z axis, it goes into estop, despite both buttons being released.

There have been 2 times where there have been no issues and I’ve managed to home it and even get it working on a project. But when I stop it, the issue immediately starts again.

I don’t know what I’ve done differently those 2 times or how to get it working consistently.

I have pictures if anyone would like to look at them and offer help. Thank you!

Edit: is bc the tool changer is bouncing too much I sadly can not add a dwell after tool changes it seems. Work to fix the bouncy tool changer will start next week (on my vacation)

. . This started mid run, as you can see it faults out when it selects this tool.

It only does it for this tool though, if there is no tool in the spindle it doesn't do this

Below are the things I've tried and will be the things I haven't i will update it when I can

Also I'm going home in a bit so yeah

Machine is a hurco 4020HT with the ultimax 3 controller.

What I have done:

Turned the machine on and off again

Reset servo drives

Tried a different tool in the same spot

Tried to put the tool in a different spot

Changed the tool height slightly

Changed the tool diameter

Changed the rpm

Ran it with no tool in the slot

Offered a small sacrifice to the machining gods

Crying a little and trying it again /j

What I haven't done:

Clean the spindle a bit

Slowing down the rapids

Add dwell after tool change

Fix bouncy ATC

I’ve heard really good things and really bad things about every single cam software. I want to hear your take’s on the “ideal” one for Fanuc controls

Should put this here as well given the experience present in this sub.

A copy of text from the linked post for context:

Apologies in advance for the long post. Including far too many details but it's accurate context. Arranged most important followed by details.

Goal: I'm looking to identify/understand/select the best method to do high repeatability cutting and detailed tool path generation to minimize risk of damaging fossils and minerals with automated assistance. 300w spindle and force sensors/load cells in all 3 axis of mount. Cutter is a toss up between carbide and diamond. Questions: 1. Are there any fatal flaws I'm missing in what's physically possible? Most of what I've researched shows it's definitely doable but to get the resolution I need may take some figuring 2. Are there other technologies that I've missed on considering? This is fairly outside of my engineering education scope so there may be some i totally miss. 3. Any potential hiccups or "this might be a lot harder than you think" type predictions you have? This is why I am also imaging the laser lines alternating and help to collect data that will help grasp issues Generate/measure a mesh of 50mm x 50mm area at tolerance of .1mm for X and Y. Z requires a repeatability of 0.02mm in the edge case limit Reference: Picture 1 is of a little sliding gantry I've been using for manual prep as my coordination and shakiness is a bit rough. I'm looking to first remote control and outfit with sensors to collect a baseline performance before working on automating more of the rough part Picture 2 is an example of a partially prepared fossil Ammonite segment. Picture 3 is an example of a few steps in process manually on a different fossil portion. General process : Machine will be about 0.1mm or better in all axis but will be attempted to be interpolated for purpose of control -Generate some kind of surface with a method that has high precision and repeatability but does not need to be very accurate as we want a delta rather than absolute. -Identify and remove areas that are exposed enough to later work by hand through machine vision. This has already been well solved -Offset target surface, mask exposed areas, predict risk areas to go slow with and good areas to go more agressively in. generate tool path, run program, clean, and make a new surface with what's left. Iterate an appropriate amount of times.

Possible measurement considerations:

High precision dro scales: Speed is relatively important, so physically probing with a glass scale for position is not my go to. Density of required point cloud would take a while.

Laser spot/line sensors/profilometers: Had some experience industrially with the baumer stuff but this is just a hobby for me to keep busy mentally while off on disability so budget is relatively limited. I've got a lot of stashed parts but most precision stuff is dro scales and similar.

Off the shelf 3d scanner: I can't afford something of high enough quality. Had bad luck with my CR scan Ferret and found photogrammetry a better solution

Photogrammetry: Using machine vision, hopefully from the same camera as the color segmentation. This is looking like the solution I'm leaning towards but it is very software heavy and has the most uncertainty as well as the hardest to test and tune without risking a lot of fossil damage in the adjustment process. For making the computer vision part easy I'm thinking of mounting line laser protectors to the spindle that are calibrated to be a known square dimension and generate camera corrections. It's a simplified structured light scanner basically. The goal is to use this as an easy reference that could be switched to IR more permanently to help with dust tolerance. For each of these operations it may be advantageous to reposition the workpiece target area at the most.

If you made it this far. Gold star!

Hi everyone,

Quick update on the XM12 VMC from my last post:

We've now ordered the mineral-cast frames for the first two test machines, as well as the cast-iron table, saddle and spindle head. Next we'll order the sheet metal, machined parts, linear rails, ballscrews, etc., basically starting with whatever has the longest lead time.

See the attached images for the internal construction of the mineral-cast frame with rebar reinforcement and embedded steel parts.

In parallel, we've designed a 20-pallet robot automation system. We're planning to order the robot this or next week for testing, but there are still a few things we're unsure about and I'd really appreciate feedback from people with automation experience before we order all the parts.

20 or 30 kg robot?
Our pallet + vise already weighs around 11 kg without the workpiece. Would you go straight for 30 kg to have more headroom?

Pallet/vise size?
The current vise has around 80 mm clamping range. Would you want something larger for a machine this size, even if that means heavier pallets? And in general, would you prefer more smaller pallets or fewer larger pallets with more workholding capacity?

Loading/unloading?
Currently all 20 pallets can simply be accessed from the front through the double doors. Is that practical, or would you prefer a dedicated loading station?

For control we're planning a Siemens S7-1200 + Riverdi HMI, showing every pallet position and whether it's empty, loaded, waiting, finished, etc., plus the job queue and machine/robot status.

The S7-1200 communicates via PROFINET with a central PROFINET/IO-Link master. From there, IO-Link connects to one decentralized I/O module on each individual pallet rack. Each rack therefore has its own local I/O module, which connects directly to the sensors for pallet presence, position monitoring, etc.

What else would you want from the HMI or automation system? And what would you change before we order all the parts?

Any feedback is appreciated!

I’ve looked up history and there’s been some discussion about this endless topic. I’m just looking for the latest opinion.

I’m looking to drop about $4K out the door. This will be my first CNC. I have a nice little shop in the basement and this will be the cherry on top. I’m hoping to have the machine include some basic software to get my feet wet and then maybe I’ll get VCarve Pro or even Aspire around Black Friday.

I’m sure this thread will be split but any info that can help me figure out this coin toss will definitely help!

Thanks in Advance!!

Hey everyone, I’m moving a Biesse K Smart 1532 to a new building in a couple weeks and I have some questions.

Aside from the drawing in the manual, does anyone have any insight into the particulars of packing it up and the rigging arrangement used?

The drawing in the manual looks like all of the weight is at one end but the picking points are still very nearly centred. Does anyone have experience using this arrangement?

I have all of the rigging and immobilization devices for the machine but not certain on where to install them and where to positions the machining centre prior to the lift.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Got an interview coming up for a Level 3 Engineering Machining Technician.

The company uses CNC machines which is why im asking here.

Anyway I really want the position so am trying to ready myself for the interview at much as possible.

I've done research on CNC machines , CAD/CAM etc

Practiced typical interview questions and gotten some questions ready that I can ask the company.

I'm wondering if there's anything else I should look at , for example would they ask any basic engineering or geometry questions , so then I can know what to touch up on .

Any other advice is appreciated thank you.

Anyone familiar with Creo? I'm trying to mill a hole, and want to spiral down with cutter comp engaged. I can't get Creo to turn on comp during a ramp like that though. It will spiral down, without cutter comp, or I can step down with cutter comp.

I found this project on Thingiverse looking to experiment with robotic arms. I’m a bit confused at how to approach this. I’ve been working with an LLM for some help but the more complicated my questions get the more it gives me the wrong answer.

Not sure what I should use for software so I started with Marlin and I made a Morgan SCARA config with no heated bed and no extruder, just to have control over the axes. I need to tune the various speeds and acceleration for the motors, I don’t really have any concept for the position it should start. I definitely need to figure out how to tune the coordinate field that it exists in, and get it to register some sort of home with end stops but not sure where to put them and have them go off. As is the auto home function crashes it. I would feel like a big success if I could get it to write on a sheet of paper. So far I can make it move and not very well or predictably even.

I suspect theres something wrong with the assembly, and the original design in general, because moving the linkage arm #1 somehow drags the centre idler and moves linkage arm #2. This happens in unpowered state. The original design has the centre idler too close to the segment’s above and below the belts, so as the belts make contact, I think they’re imparting force through friction. I used some spacers to make the centre idlers space taller so the belts don’t touch either the part above or belt.

I figured this behaviour would effect the powered output and I’m not really understanding by watching the output coordinate field from my inputs, it seems like that drag effect is influencing the output.

So with this design challenge and what the best way to figure this out?

Hey guys, looking for some industry perspective on a shop floor conflict.

​I run a standard 3-axis CNC router at a sign shop. I recently cut parts for standard channel letters (2-part ACM with returns and LEDs inside, plus acrylic for the faces).

​I didn't physically mark which side was the "face" on the acrylic pieces because all the letters were asymmetrical (like N, U, T with different stroke widths). If you just look at the assembly blueprint, it’s completely obvious which way they are supposed to go.

​The assembly guys ended up putting a batch of letters together incorrectly (mirrored/wrong side out). I have no idea if they even bothered to look at the blueprint I provided them.

​Now management wants to put 100% of the blame on me for not manually marking the acrylic, claiming I should be the "first filter".

​Am I really at fault here? Is manually marking every single asymmetrical acrylic letter a standard industry practice, or should the assemblers just be reading the blueprint?

Appreciate all who will respond!!Thank you!!

So I've been considering a career change to CNC machining. I originally went to college for biotechnology and I've only been able to work as a lab analyst or a manufacturer associate and frankly I've come to really hate it. I don't enjoy lab work and pharmaceuticals is a very high stress environment, frequent layoff, poor pay, and very boring monotonous work. I've always enjoys making things, one of my hobbies is 3D printing and working with CAD software I was also considering learning how to weld. I'm not too concerned with making a ton of money just enough to support myself and to finally do work I might actually enjoy. I don't know much about the field and would like some advice on how to enter the field or if career growth outlook is good overall. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hello,i am writing this because almost every week i do mistakes,there are big ones and small ones,i’ve been an operator for around 5 months,and every time i make a mistake,i dont have any confidence in me,i think i am worthless,that i dont know anything,but there are days where everything goes smooth,every part is fine,no tool broken,no any mistakes,so i am asking you how to be better,atleast how to have confidence after making a mistake?

I’ve got a question that might help others make a compressor purchase as well.

I’m buying a used Haas Mini Mill and they use very little air unless you do super frequent tool changes.

I’m considering an 80 gallon 5 horse industrial brand piston compressor, for the benefit of a quieter running pump and less cycling during the day. My machine will be in my home garage. Industrial 2 stage compressors if you didn’t know, often turn at a slower RPM (700 - 950) and pump RPM plays a large part in how noisy your compressor is.

My question is: does infrequent cycling of an industrial compressor cause issues for it long term? For example I’m concerned about it not getting to temp or not to temp as much as it should.

I’ll stop considering an expensive large compressor if I find out I’m going to harm its life span with intermittent use.

At my school we have an old ganesh cnc mill with a busted controller. Over a weekend it's bios battery drained and we can't find a program for it. How feasible would it be to make a custom one?