Machining Mistakes That Will Get You FIRED
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- Опубліковано 22 січ 2025
- The top 5 most common CNC machining mistakes are revealed. Learn how to avoid these pitfalls and achieve better results on your next project.
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Single Block, is your best friend.
So is feed hold
Distance to go display is invaluable
Single block when I have made a new post-processor or a made some large changes to it.
Feed hold for when I run a new program for a new part, then when it's run through. I just use feed hold for the initial entry of the first tool, to hear, see or feel if the part is snug.
Then I either walk away or sit down and wait for the machine to finish.
Not for tapping
@@brandons9138as someone who does alot of fine contouring moves, 2 and 3 axis, I agree with Titan. Distance to go changes too quickly for it to mean anything to me. Absolute position is easier to understand and 50% of my jobs I'll set like he said, zero on top. I only have to glance at my Absolute pos to get all my info.
I agree with all these.
UTILIZE YOUR DISTANCE TO GO MY FELLOW MACHINISTS.
Yes! 😂
i use distance to go and work. i mostly use work its easier for me to read and see where im at
DTG FTW
I can’t count the times I’ve watched people hitting the start button while never looking at the screen. They never take their eyes from the window looking at the part.
🎯🎯💯
I always have watched and loved your guys videos, the fact you take time to teach valuable lessons entirely free to us is just so insane to me - while I may not be machining now, but in the very short future I will be! Merry Christmas and thank you guys for all you do for us, the community
ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOU SET YOUR Z DIFF PROPERLY!!!
I’ve broke a handful of endmills because I didn’t set the z diff properly
and if you have even the smallest of the smallest shadow of any kind of a doubt you do it all over agen. since it dosn't take long check one more time
I have to agree with Barry on the bonus tip I actually try to tell all the new guys and girls I train to use distance to go it’s like this it’s a count down to a rocket launching cause it’s always counting down to zero
Hahaha THANK YOU
@ no problem my guy
#2-Worked with guys that punch the “cycle smash” button and just walk away. Drives me nuts!
Dayum... that guy has balls of inconel!
Is he the same guy who has his safety glasses on the top of his head at all times, never actually over his eyes?
I hate that
Got a coworker like that. He's the least experienced guy but the one with the highest confidence... for some unknown reason. He will sit and program, turn around on his chair and insert the program - hit cycle start - then turn around and look at his phone while the machine runs.
When he also forgets to set the correct XYZ in correlation with his program and to measure the tools... you get the gist. Parallels, vices, clamps, tooling... you name it - destroyed. He rarely reacts when an endmill is mere seconds away from blowing up despite everyone else in the shop looking over towards him because we can all hear its about to go down.
@@innominatum9906 That makes good people leave.
To save time and make it easier, we mostly have standard vices to clamp our material. Because of various reasons.
So I started implementing a "constant Z" from the highest point of the vice closest to the clamping jaws. The fixed jaw, as it will never move and is rigid.
Then to get the top of the part Z, I use my calipers, and just enter it as an incremental input, the value I see from my caliper's.
When a part is either too long for the caliper range, or in some weird angle or anything that makes it impossible to get an accurate reading, then we use the probe tool.
Saves a lot of time, and we don't have to go through the hassle of grabbing the probe tool, and mount in the spindle and then move it to position and all that.
I also look at Distance To Go quite a bit
Even as a novice. Every time a new program is ready to proof out, the CEO and I do a dry run 6 inches above the part (small CNC shop). And we both monitor the first 5 runs. One of us hovering over the E-stop. And the other over the feed hold. We've lost a few tools but never damaged the machines thanks to the precautions.
A good show indeed!
When running a green/new program: I like to look at the distance to go read out while simultaneously hand overide controlling the feed rate during the tool approach as my other hand covers the feed hold button and / or the red pucker switch... depending on who programmed it.
Yes I set Z to top of the job. Sometimes I make the part from plastic first as a test run.
Number 4 is one of those things what is really important to bosses and handling it keeps you at work.
I aint most hardworking or skilled machinist around, but my bosses have always respected me for my cleanliness, workplace order and taking care of lathes / milling machines and many ex bosses are glad to see me if I end up working for them years later.
Titans of CNC we are watching from Africa kenya,am thankful to your free online teaching,on how to use and oparate a CNC, I am a manual CNC oparater and I love your channel so much,I have never seen not oparate a CNC lathe or milling machine,but whenever I watch your channel am encourage that one day in my life I will get the opportunity.thank you so much and God bless the entire team at titans of CNC
I've preferred bottom of part. We give stock dimensions and if it's too far off, they are supposed to get programming to adjust it. Instead, though they raise the offset, run it, and lower it, wasting time. And that's if they lower it, cause they're in for a surprise when it crashes the stock on the other side, in a different machine, and a different person running it. It has been mitigated a bit with a prep stock work group so there's no sudden hogging or crashes when it goes to multiaxis.
personally i prefer top of part for OP. one and bottom of part for OP. two
Yeah top of the stock doesn't work if you do steel, the customer sends you some garbage material or you receive material that isn't perfect squares, isn't perfect rectangles, isn't flat, a vice grabs that material in all sorts of different ways. Bottom of the vice or bottom of the stock like you said, plus 2.45 = Z0. for example. If you receive aluminum stock that is perfect 3x2x10, great good for you use top of the part, but 99% of the time the material isn't perfect.
@@mad0uche well, the excess stock is on one side or the other. We do account for +.12 error but otherwise there are multiple checks and if it hits the machine without anyone telling programming, they can either raise the offset, which you'd do for the second side anyways, or have it reprogrammed.
@@mad0uche to be honest when is anything actually perfect/square/flat. and not just close enough ?
i mean even from a surface grinder with the super glue trick its still not actually flat. not even to its own/one surface that your measureing on ( closest you probablt get within a deasent size and timely matter is from a constant optical pitch grinder )
@ I mean yeah that’s why you shell mill the top till it’s flat etc., that’s not the point
Few days into 2025 will be my first year of being a cnc machinist. I have already destroyed an hsk100 spindle even though I thought I was being super careful running a program for the first time. It happened probably 7 months into my career without making any mistakes prior. I’m very grateful they kept me around after that because that experience made me hyper aware of everything going on and wanting to learn as much as I can and I’ve been doing so well. I have a lot of pride for my work and I love your channel titans, yall inspire me to be the best I can :)
also for when you do shift work on a tool changing CNC make sure you checked no one changed a tool on the previous shift to a tool that is wildly or slightly different so you dont run a fly cutter with the 8mm carbide parameters and then have to completely recode for the new tool
I run a viper V2100, big old angry mill!! She's so temperamental 😂 Titan u r right about the issue with watching distance to go vs work. That has bit me before! You nailed it! Work let's me know exactly where I'm at! Distance to go is no help in so many situations until too late. I been in the trade a year and a half. My favorite job ever absolutely enjoy my work. Thanks for the advice
Excellent video! I agree, distance to go is so dynamic and hard to follow sometimes. I prefer seeing the current location from the origin and then reading the code as it scrolls to see where the real distance to go is. Makes way more sense to me.
I'm not a machinist, but still find this interesting. Thanks guys.
Oh, also I learned long ago that we all need to be humble.
Thank you, Barry! We learn from accidents, making you the teacher.
Hahaha i break stuff, so yall dont have to 😂
Even the best machinist have mistakes/bumps/crashes call it what you want. We are human, learn from it and move on.
You can also have your feed at 0% which will make it easier if you do use distance to go when verifying a program.
Great video you guys. Kudos to all the Shipping Inspectors! 💪😊
Agree with Titan on work rather than distance to go
I'm proofing out a brand new (or new to me) program with the single block activated coupled with the "Distance to Go" screen. I got my finger from one hand on the feed hold button. I got the rapid override set to 25% and I'm using the feed override as a throttle with my other hand. I'm catching and fixing mistakes beforehand. Once I get my first article, it's all 💯💯.
That sounds dope - but i'm not a machinist - just sounds like a nice combo of man and machine, like being a mech pilot
@fightington Literally! When I man a machine, I'm driving it. And since I'm a programmer, I have control not only over what it does but also how it does it.
I agree, Barry. Distance to go is a good friend to have.
Our post writes minimum Z at the top of every tool. I like to use distance to go, slow rapid, stop just before 1" and slide a 123 block beneath the tool. Enough information to be confident and quick enough to be productive.
Titan has been around, I agree with him on top of part Z+ is safe, Z- is in the part method. That has saved me lots of problems over the years. Also viewing work instead of distance to go. Nice job you guys!! Funny how "we" are always the ones who crashed the machine 😂
On Siemens and Heidenhain controls, you have the luxury, that both the distance to go and the absolute distance are displayed. This helps a whole lot and if you learn to use it, its a really powerful feature. You also have diffrent knobs for feeds and rapids wich makes it wayyy easier to prove a new program.
As a garage machine shop, using LinuxCNC also gives me these features. It really should be a standard in CNC.
I'm with Titan, work is better than distance to go because it resets every time it hits the distance. work stays the same no matter what.
Y’all should have just stopped after the intro and given Barry the floor 😂
Omg!! 😂
Distance to go is great when used with single block. The just pay attention to it being a feed or rapid dtg.
These new cnc machines have internal simulation that can show you alot ahead. You can import you workplace and even include work holding. Once you have taught you workplace and workholding you can simulate and see exactly where that tool will go. As long as you draw everything correctly it's been bulletproof. You can check it on each setup and prove it out.
I have to agree. When working in 3 axis I always want my Z 0 on the top.
- Simulate if possible
- always look out when doing tool changes. Some tools are longer and work holding higher than you might have imagined when you made that code
- always take special care whenever you make even the smallest change on the program
- read the code ahead as you run it. Not always possible but never press cycle start until you know what is going to happen next.
- always take precautions (write notes, add stops etc..) when you have unusual procedures. Like when having to turn the tool counterclockwise, when using tools that require different entry/exits or when using tools too big for the tool changer etc.. It is too easy to press the button and continue if you don't make any effort beforehand to catch mistakes and just rely on memory. Sometimes you may come back to that part of the program tomorrow or monday...
love yall TITANS of CNC.
You guys are so cool! I really want to learn from such cool guys like you.All the best to you and your families.
For the lathe guys, don’t forget your g53 z0 when you go to change tools. I learned that one a few times unfortunately
7:05 true, i have had our post edited many times and sometimes functions somehow got affected by something you didnt expect to be affected and if you dont, like he said, test every function there may be a bad day someday.
Nice list of top 5....add having the correct tool in the proper pocket of the ATC.
Good call!
Trial machining also helps for difficult tolerances
Most importantly. Don’t lie about your experience level and your machining abilities. We’re a team, let your team know your strengths and where you still need growth. It’s easier for an experienced machinist to work with an open inexperienced coworker than it is for an experienced machinist to work with a dangerous liar
Really good advice, especially making zero z top of part. Makes programming errors stand out. ❤
Agree with everything. Like Titan said don't take any chances, if you're 99.9% sure it's good it's not enough. Eliminate that last .1% and make sure you're 100%! It's like treating your firearm as if it's always loaded, never be satisfied unless you are 100% sure it's safe to handle.
I’m with titan. DTG is nice in specific situations but knowing exactly where you are relative to the origin you set is much more useful You can quickly reference the g code and do quick math and get exactly the exact thing dtg tells you while also being able to see the bigger picture
personally i prefer work ofs as well, i already know the distance to go because i just math it in my head quickly while im mentally simulating during the run. but the work ofs gives me the opportunity for me to see what the machine thinks my location to see, it can get pretty easy to catch mistakes when you say command g43h10z2. and the machine says your at z6. or similar
something else about the Z0 is its so easy to know thats your habit and if its wrong its staring you in the face. trying to remember a bunch of negative numbers in a noisy busy distracting environment is not practical. plus most operators run multiple machines. and like a lot of comments say to. i like single block! gives you one last chance and its saved me several times too! any new programs get lots of single block. plus i like to dry run through the graph. just to see what the tool path looks like.
yep i at my last job with a 5 axis but current job too would run programs i was not sure of and well i like being able to see distance to go and work and machine all at once along with the code so when im single blocking through the program that i already read through i can be absolutely sure of whats going on. understanding the intentions of the programmer helps too.
All of these are super solid points. In all honesty, if you follow these few steps, you’ll make thousands of good parts.
Quality should be higher. But I’m biased 😂.
You can not become the best by not making mistakes, those are the best way to learn what are the no's of the trade.
Also I also put Z0 at the top of the part for the first OP, on the second one I usually put it on the bottom so I know that the part is perfect thickness. On my 3-axis.
No way, input a -30 inches in the Z common work offset. Override the spindle up to 200%, edit the code to un-clamp the B and rotate at rapid 10k degrees of rotation. Hit cycle start and roll you box out, middle finger at full mast.
@@everettrhay4855 This guy knows whats up! 😎 If sparks aint flying you aint machining!
Worked at a company for 2 years they had a list by every machine. Check your work order with your program in your setup sheet they had. Touch off all your tools double check and make sure your tools are in the right pocket. Run your program in graphics to make sure it's the right program for the part. Run your program on op stop and single block with 25 % rapped to make sure you won't crash. Best fail safe that I still use to this day with the company I work with now
Great video! I think this is a solid list that sums up the common “oopsies” on the job.
Failure to learn from mistakes is another behavior that can lead to unemployment.
Lot of this i agree with, and i do regularly, i haven't crashed a machine in a long looong time, but I've definitely scrapped out tools and parts for drill brecks, tap breaks, inserts failing doing high-speed machining in 40 HRC 😅 you have no time to react at 275-1000 IPM
It is not only from experience you need to know how to calculate machining and work forces. It is not a guessing game.
I'm not a big fan of HAAS machinery but man-o-man that 5% rapid during (test/dry) run is awesome. 😁😉
You said you set your z off the top of the part, I agree!
But what is the point of probing the part and touching of the tool setter.
I seems to be safer to leave the part surface zero and touching the tool off the top of the part
Tip for touching off tools, I use a 1" gauge block and then -1" to the offset. That way the tool is away from the material and less likely to crash
Op stop, single block, 25% rapid and display on distance to go is how I was trained and I'm going on 10 yrs without taking the walk of shame to the scrap table lol
Thank u to teach me the basic and important part to run the machine~~
U save lots of machinist bro
When i do manual lathe, i remember this principle
My lathe utube channel work like this Boom~~~
This video gave me a cold chill.
Super Good video
Thank you Guys
I just had a crash the other night cuz someone on day shift put the completely wrong drill in the machine and instead of verifying the tool list was correct I just trusted that whomever had put it in did their due diligence. I got complacent and I should've known getting closer to a holiday vacation the odds of someone screwing up were gonna go up and up as we got closer and lo and behold. Someone put a 12" drill in a spot that was supposed to be a 10"(talking length) and it was supposed to be .6875" but it was actually .827.
I have seen someone accidentally do 2. inatead of 0.2 before with a 2" facemill. He lucked out that his face pass had a large leadin
Sometimes distance to go doesn't work because the program sends the tool to stop above the part and then it suddenly plunges, you are not fast enough to react to that and if you didn't do a dry run with z +3. or whatever you already broke that tool.
WORK only tells you where the tool is in relation to the program and ONLY.... ONLY.... ONLY if the tool was set properly! Distance To Go never lies (in relation to next block!)
Single Block
Work
DTG
Must be used together! This will prevent 99.9% of crashes!
I used to teach operators in shop this way.
I would walk up and at a convenient moment press feed hold and pressure them to tell me what tool, what's it doing, where are you at, where are you going?
Really created some good alert operators and made some good machinist.
I also agree with distance to go
One thing i never see people do anymore is Truing tools.. drives me nuts.
All the things that will impress the boss with how fast you got that job done, if you don't do them are the same things that will save you one-day because you're doing them every time.
Gotta love that camera guy though, its almost like he knew what was going to happen... ;P
Had many of them, didn't destroy the machine just yet. Only got an increase in salary. Pushed a vise with milling head, T slots and M10 12.9 hardened screws broke. Milled a shunk 5 axis vise. Destroyed a couple of hydro tool holders. Destroyed a weldon tool holders. Broke a brand new milling head, broke iscar circular saws that are 800 euro each... When you need to make a lot of parts every day on multiple machines, for years, shit happens.
I think one of the biggest mistakes is complacency. People trust the machine too much and then like #3 they neglect checking the part and then speaking on #2 they trust the programmer and don’t double check their program. So I think complacency can’t take the spots of #2 and #3
A friend of mine retired from a power company and is working as a machine operator in a different shop. I'm going to make an instruction manual of multiple pages to show him the proper way to push the green button. It will end,"In the event of crash, press the red button." I don't think his employer has shown him how to single block the program yet.
Distance to go will tell you if you're endmill is about to attempt the impossible or not.
Even more important, on a lathe. If you screw up that G83 and your first plunge is -12. instead of -.12
Distance to go is going to show you.
If you review the code and check all your Z's, you can run virgin code very confidently - Never crash a tool. If you are still getting confused between 20. and .200 maybe you shouldn't be a programmer machinist just quite yet.
6. Failing to consistently learn and improve.
7. Not listing to TITANS CNC
Only thing I would add is making sure you place decimals correctly. Telling the machine to plunge down .100 and move at 10.0 IPM is great unless you miss that decimal and it moves at 100. IPM. Then you might have a bad time. Rest of the advice is sound.
I’m a retired machinist in my 60s. I don’t care how many times you see it you cringe . It still makes me jump.😎
My question is. Why did the light turned off in the imbarmia when it crashed ?
I have hit Estop a couple of time in a lot of different machines bit it never turned off the light cause of that. So why did it turn off in that machine when it crashed ?
Good question! I have no idea, all i know is that it increased my fear that i had destroyed something. 😂
It got hit so hard it got it's lights knocked out!
@@barrysetzer did it turn on agen after you powered the machine down and up agen or was it permanetly off until a service guy came by ?
@@rpatrick2 so like a drunk teen girl with a to big attitude that got aslap from a hand that came all the way from the back pucket right accrose the face ? xD
@ yep it just took the time to walk to titan in the conference room and back to the machine. Then all was good
Yeah someone is talking to you while you're setting tool geometry. Machine goes boom.
Oh, that was definitely very unpleasant for Barry and Jessi😅😅😅😅
I do manual machining and have crashed because some of those reasons. The most common one that englobes it all is an illness called GetHerDoneitis.
stealing this
I had this "run in the mill" job, just clamping 9 parts next to each other in a vice. It was only for drilling and tapping so.
I had a bad night sleep and was running on auto pilot basically.
I placed the parts incorrectly in the vice, compared to what I had programmed in the CAM software.
So 9 parts was scrapped, then my production manager told me it would be better and safer to run 1 part at a time.
I got irritated by that, and told him it was a blunder on my part, it happens. He wouldn't hear me, and insisted it would be better if we went with milling one part for all things.
Then I was gonna tell him, "well let's do that for our bed router machine's as well then. Cause it happens there as well". And a lot more frequently than in the VMC machine I run.
But I bit my tongue, and just stood my ground that it would be a waste of time of doing 1 part at a time for a VMC, as well as saying I don't want to clamp and unclamp 9 parts individually.
It's get messy and takes a lot longer to finish the product.
Like and sub for part 2
i started machining in 2018. i follow my own safety process which includes all of these. I have had 2 minor oopsies. I think I am doing okay.
8:57 lot of companies ive worked for switched back and forth depending on who wrote the program some come off center of rotation for CAMplete other come off top of part or -.025 if its a blank (personally ive never used CAMplete) i have maybe a yr or yr half of mastercam experience and 2 yrs of edgecam.
Pure GENIUS...
You definitely didn’t double check to see if there weren’t anymore doughnuts left! The only thing you hit more than the spindle, is the doughnut box
Drizzle drizzle
My lead hand told me when tool probing never leave the machine alone and cut the feed. Some guys would start the tool probing cycle and go for a smoke.
Thats why i hate doing set up and making program on daily bases its a hazzle.
I ran an Emco CNC lathe. 400mm chuck. big machine. I ran some parts on a friday. finished them. picked the next job. Checked the programm. same tools. aight lets go. yeah well. 1,2,4, and 10 were the same. the finished job had an id tool on t6. the unfinished job on t7. well. toolchange to t7 and ofc there was no offset in there. so the machine literally rapided into the part with the id tool sitting on t6, where the part came flying out off the chuck. it was deep in the grip but still came out. flying against the window shattering it. the plastic window infront catched it and launched it onto the turret. if the plastic broke or it came through. it probably wouldv injured me pretty bad or even killed me. just a stupid mistake. with the luck i had, the window and the id tool were the only damaged things. besides my pride and stuff. seriously. Watch out and be carefull.....
Good tips👏
Takes less time to do all the things that you mentioned The first time around then it does to crash the machine and have to set up everything all over again
Develop consistent habits so you can count on them. I offset Z to dry run, mill and lathe 2.0" always (unless the part doesn't allow). That way when you shift back you know it was 2.0". Note, shifting Z -2.0 is not the same as Z absolute = -2.0 speaking from experience.
Don't do too many things at the same time, machines, dinner plans, etc.
STAY OFF THE PHONE!!!
6. Know what the machine is going to do at any given moment !
Another mistake I see people make, even old school seasoned machinists, will run all of their tool length offsets as negative numbers. They will put a tool in the spindle at Z machine 0, and then jog down and touch the part, and then set their tool length. That's a terrible way to set your tool length.... You should always run positive tool length offsets. That way I can look at a tool, and say yep that's 7 inches, and my offset is about the same. So I know that I'm not wildly off. If I see a negative number in an offset table, I have no idea what that correlates to in actual tool length. It's a very good habit to get into.
If you use a laser toolsetter having a negative offset is the only way it works.....
Its not tool length its height offset and what do you mean you have no idea what that negative number means? If you're running a 3 axis mill then from the spindle to the max depth to the table with out a tool is going to be your max negative number. Once you memorize the max travel of your axis then your tool offset to the part would be the max negative number minus length of tool and height of part from table or z max.
Regardless of how you vs someone else wants tool offset measured always look at distance to go and if you set it correctly from Z zero with negatives its going to tell you exactly how many inches and increments are left before it reaches top of part.
@@dman0042I know what the negative number means, but it doesn't logically correlate to anything relative to the tool in the holder....if I have multiple machines, by using positive tool lengths in the offsets, I can take that tool to any machine, regardless of the setup in each machine..and all I have to do is plug in the known length of the tool/holder in the offset table
@@Steelcrafted You could run negative but you would have to know the negative spindle to table max in each different machine and subtract your positive tool length. But in your case it can help out with that. I agree.
when on you on 5axi its doesnt work,when table ratates its not sipol at all
I worked with someone who drove the machine head into the bed because he wasn't looking while moving the machine down in Y...caused £250,000 in damage
Sorry Titan, Barry is 100% correct distance to go is vital. You should always make sure you have feed rate at zero before you hit cycle start. So always start at feed rate zero and check your distance to go before you start.
It is vital but also resets every time and it doesn’t tell you where you are in space. Work tells you where you are at all times to your part.
Depends also on what your used to.
@ i’m just referring to when you have a new set up making sure that you’re in the right work offset
Set T3 load T4, someone talks to you. Turn around and load t5 and set it
Whenever I program a part on the lathe,
Doesnt matter if I use live tooling or not.
I use my hand as my tool turret and I use my hand to act out the program.
Ever tool index, every cut, every piece of G and M code I act out with my hand.
Then I run the program with my rapid way low.
Yet to crash a machine using this dumb method
She play music and singing very well and beautiful! #MegMyers 👍
everything they said was true. but I added this list to 10 at least