Programming caps it off: final skill set of apprenticeship program is crowning touch.(shop talk)

Developing and implementing your own apprenticeship program can take much time and effort, but a highly trained employee is worth it. If you've built a program based on our first three skill sets, you may be happy to stop here. The final skill set involves programming, and remember, not every employee may be a programmer.

Skill Set No. 4

Skill Set No. 4 focuses on editing and programming skills. Throughout the apprenticeship program, you are gaging the growth and increased knowledge of the student. Some students will progress quicker than others. It is important that only fully proficient people be allowed to move up to Skill Sets No. 3 and No. 4.

Everyone may not have the capability to master programming skills. Also, it is doubtful that a company wants every machinist writing his or her own programs. Each company should clearly define its programming.

Observe any group of machinists and programmers and you'll learn that they all love to argue about the best way to do any job. Many people tend to follow the "My Way" rule of doing things. This can lead to chaos, as they say, "Too many cooks spoil the broth."

Each company should define what level of programming it wishes to be taught. It may be that your goals do not include programming skills, and you don't use Skill Set No. 4 at all.

Our first goal in teaching programming is to teach editing skills. Prior to teaching these skills, the supervisor must define the ground rules. These rules identify the staff members that are allowed to make changes and what types of changes are permissible. If supervisory approval is required prior to making program changes, procedural structures should be clear.

The first step in writing a program is to define the machining processes. New programmers should first develop a machining plan and then discuss the plan in detail with a supervisor or experienced programmer. A certain amount of control should be exercised over the new programmer to avoid major errors that could turn costly.

Programming training should be divided into separate lathe and mill sections.

Datum selection: One of the first choices of the programmer is to select the datum, the zero point of the program. A CNC lathe typically has two choices for the part datum; either one side or the other will be the Z zero datum.

A mill, on the other hand, offers multiple choices of how to hold and process the part.

Mapping the part: As part of the process, I like students to map out the part geometry. This defines all of the X, Y and Z dimensions from the chosen datum.

New programmers must be aware that they may face critics and must have the internal fortitude to support their machining methods.

Cutter compensation: Most programmers utilize a CAD/CAM system at some point in the programming process. Having said that, we all need to have a comprehensive understanding how cutter compensation applies to both lathes and mills. Teaching detailed cutter compensation is an important aspect of teaching programmers.

Once the first program has been prepared, the supervisor should look over the format for large mistakes. The new programmer should then get the opportunity to prove out the program and see how effort brings results.

As the program is fine-tuned, we are well on our way to developing good programming skills.

Remember, these skill sets can and should be adjusted to achieve your own goals. Building the knowledge and skills can only improve our manufacturing quality overall.

Steve Rose is a professional trainer and president of RTSI, Solon, OH. Rosaleen Rose offers website development. They can be reached by photo at (440) 542-3066: e-mail srose@rosetraining.com; or on the Web at www.rosetraining.com. Copyright Rose Training Systems Inc., 2009

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