Youve probably taught many basic CNC courses. Since your students are
at entry level, youve likely been a little frustrated at times. Just
about the time your students are beginning to catch on to one topic, its
time to move on to another. While youd like to take your presentations to
the next level, there just isnt time and doing so may confuse
students more than help them. When students complete your basic course,
theyre ready to begin working with CNC machine tools but its
unlikely that they have them mastered.
While your past students may not have been experts coming out of your
course, at least they did receive formal training. There are many people
working with CNC machines that did not. Maybe theyre self-taught. Maybe
they learned what they know from others on the job. Maybe they attended the
quickie sessions held by machine tool builders. In any event, they too are not
taking full advantage of all their CNC machines can do.
While the sheer productivity of CNC machines often masks inappropriate
methods, companies are becoming more and more concerned with their CNC machine
tools. Changes in manufacturing including lowered lot sizes, shorter lead
times, and improved quality requirements (among other things) have most
CNC-using companies struggling to maintain profit margins. Theyll need to
improve their methods if they are to remain in business.
The most basic objective of this course curriculum is to help instructors
relate concepts, techniques, and ideas that will help students make
theyre CNC machining centers and turning centers more productive. Since
its aimed at CNC people who already have some CNC experience (we
recommend at least six months) youll be drawing from an entirely new
potential student base. And youll finally be able to take your
presentations to the next level!
Module 1: Basic premises
This short but important module lays the groundwork for what is to come.
Included are presentations that acquaint students with important needs of CNC
using companies. We discuss application versus utilization and machine
utilization versus personnel utilization to help them understand the reasoning
behind improving CNC machine utilization. We also introduce the four CNC-using
company types and discuss factors making up a companys corporate
identity. Finally, we discuss the importance of value added principles in the
Module 2: Review of CNC basics
Since you wont have control of how much previous experience your
students have (aside from setting some pretty broad prerequisites), youll
want to make sure that they have a good grasp of basic CNC principles before
digging in to more advanced topics. Again, many students coming to this course
will be (for the most part) self-taught. Its likely that theyve
missed out on some important basic concepts and techniques. In the advance
courses Ive taught myself, Im always surprised at how often a
so-called expert is unfamiliar with a very basic CNC feature or function. This
module allows you to review the basics using our proven key concepts approach.
(This is the same approach used in our basic CNC course curriculums.) There are
ten key concepts. We begin each key concept by introducing the reasoning behind
the key concept. Then we address how the key concept applies to machining
centers and then to turning centers. Again, this is a review. Students should
be quite familiar with the presentation and if they are
youll be able to buzz through quite quickly. But, if theyre
questioning each step along the way, it should be taken as a signal that more
basic training is needed.
Module 3: Advanced implications of basic CNC features
Many CNC features have multiple uses. But most basic CNC courses introduce
only the most important use. Additionally, most basic courses dont show
all implications related to how a given feature can be best used to meet the
companys specific applications. If its a basic function, and if
its not commonly addressed in a basic CNC course, its fair game in
this module. Included in this lengthy module (the longest of the course) are
presentations on parameters, N words, G codes, M codes, and other CNC words. We
go over each code, one by one, and in numerical order. We also discuss advanced
applications for tool offsets, fixture offsets, and wear offsets. Since we show
so many alternative methods of handling basic CNC functions, theres
plenty of audio guidance during the slide show to help you prepare to teach
Module 4: Advanced CNC features, functions, and concepts
There are many CNC features that are not addressed in basic courses.
Admittedly, many of these features will not be of interest to a given CNC user.
However, this module gives you the presentation material you need to discuss
features like advanced interpolation types (helical, cylindrical, polar
coordinate, and nurbs), scaling, mirror image, coordinate rotation, and three
dimensional coordinate conversion. We also include presentations on certain
machine accessories like bar feeders, index chucks, U axis, and part catchers.
Finally, we provide materials for teaching some important CNC concepts like
tool life management, qualifying CNC programs, and appropriate documentation.
Module 5: Parametric programming
Weve often said that parametric programming is CNCs best kept
secret. There are still many in the industry that dont know what it is,
let alone how to take full advantage of it. These materials allow you to dive
into parametric programming as deep as you want to go. We stress Fanucs
version of parametric programming custom macro B (the most popular
version). If you just want to present a cursory view of what it is, youll
just be acquainting students with its applications and basic features.
This can be done quite quickly. But if you want to present a full course, these
materials still allow you to do so. With limited time for practice (practice
exercises with answers are also provided), this full course can be completed in
about 16 hours.
Module 6: Setup time reduction
All CNC using companies are concerned with how long their machines are down
between production runs. This module lets you first present the principles of
setup time reduction (that can be applied to any form of production equipment).
We then offer specific CNC-related techniques to improving setup time in the
same order setups are made (tear down, work holding setup, cutting tools,
program zero assignment, program loading, program verification, and first
Module 7: Cycle time reduction
how long it takes to complete their production runs. As with setup time
reduction, this module lets you first present the principles of cycle time
reduction. We then offer specific techniques to reducing cycle time in four
areas, workpiece load/unload, program execution time, tool maintenance, and
Module 8: Spindle probe programming
Actually, the student manual includes discussions on several types of probes
(spindle probes, tool touch-off probes, and tool length measuring probes).
However, the slide presentation is limited to spindle probes. Admittedly, most
spindle probe uses depend solely on the probing programs supplied by the probe
manufacturer. Only a small percentage of probe-using companies develop their
own probing programs. For this reason, most students may not be very interested
in learning how probes are programmed. You may elect to simply introduce the
basics. But if you do need to teach a full course on spindle probe programming,
these materials let you do so. Presentations include introduction to probe
programming, applications for probing, how the probe works, calibration
techniques, and writing spindle probe programs.
Microsoft PowerPoint slide presentations - PowerPoint is fast
becoming the presentation software of choice by most presenters. These
presentations total over 3,000 slides to provide your visuals for the
entire course. Note that theyre developed in PowerPoint 97 (which is part
of Microsoft Office 2000). These presentations are included on a cd and most
include audio narrations. There are ten slide presentations included on the
cd-rom. Each is locally named from INTRODUCTION.PPT through MODULE 8_SPINDLE
PROBES.PPT. These slide presentations can be accessed right from the cd-rom
drive or if your hard drive has the room, you can copy them to your
computers hard drive (theres over 300 megs of data). Each slide
includes a visual (in the form of a book icon) that lets students know the page
number in the student manual that is currently being discussed.
Guidance during slide shows - Most slide shows includes audio
narrations (we call guidance) to help you understand how to make your
presentations. Note that these narrations are not intended for your students.
Each is directed at an instructor getting ready to teach the course (they help
with preparation). A special icon on selected slides can be activated to play
the related narration.
Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer - Though we highly recommend that you
have the actual PowerPoint software, we do include the PowerPoint Viewer. It
does allow you to display the slide shows, but youll have no way to
modify them. Additionally, the slide shows are quite long (most over 300
slides). PowerPoint Viewer does not allow you to move around in the slide show
nearly as easily as the actual PowerPoint software does.
Instructors outline - The outline serves three purposes. First,
it lets you know exactly what is presented in each module. Youll be able
to quickly see whats there. Second, it shows the slide number for each
topic, making it easy to find slides as you move around in each slide show. For
most topics, it also includes student manual page numbers so you can reference
what the student will see as you give your presentation. Note that this will
help you read up on topics you are unfamiliar with.
Workbook and answer book for Parametric Programming module - Since
this portion of the course requires practice to master, we provide you with a
way of printing exercises and programming activities for students to do during
this module. It can be used as homework or done during class. We also provide
you with the ability to print the answer book.
Ability to print slide show hard copy - PowerPoint allows you to
print a hard copy of each slide show (Microsoft calls this printing handouts).
This may help you prepare if you dont always have a computer available.
You can include 4, 6, or 8 slides per page. Even so, there are over 3,000
slides. Be ready for a lot of printing!
Promotional materials - Weve even included a brochure that you
can use to help you promote this course. Its in the
promotions folder of the cd rom. Its in PowerPoint format, so
you can easily modify anything you want! Note that there is space to include
your schools registration information (logo, phone number, fax number,
Free phone assistance - Again, theres a lot of information in
this curriculum. If you have questions about any topic while your preparing to
teach the course, we welcome your phone calls (847-639-8847). Or email us at
A note about the students you'll attract
Remember that your attendees will have (possibly extensive) CNC experience.
Ive found that most catch right on to the presentations being made, even
for those topics that theyve never been exposed to. Frankly speaking,
most arent interested in a grade at all - theyre interested in
learning things that can be applied immediately in their shops. When they latch
on to an idea that will help them, theyll stick with it until they figure
it out! For this reason, we minimize the amount of practice assigned in this
course. With the exception of the parametric programming module, its
mostly lecture. Be sure to take advantage of your students strong points.
As you present the course, solicit ideas and comments each step along the way.
We encourage student participation quite often during the slide presentations.
The more you can get people to contribute during the class, the better the
class will be. And youll be able to collect ideas for future classes!
FREE with initial textbook order!
Not only will you be teaching with the best state-of-the-art CNC curriculums
in the industry, youll be doing so free of charge! All we ask is that
your school bookstore buys the student manuals from us! With an initial order
of just 20 manuals, well ship the instructors materials free of
charge! All instructor materials (slide shows, PowerPoint Viewer, instructors
manual, and Adobe Acrobat Reader to view/print the manual) come on one cd-rom
disk. Our net price to your school (or bookstore) for manuals is $95.00 each.
Suggested retail price is $120.00 each. Future orders can be in any quantity.
This cost will be recovered, of course, as students enroll in your classes and
buy the manuals. In essence, your first 20 students will be paying for the