I've got a job as a CNC operator (not programmer)...

I've got a job as a CNC operator (not programmer). I've got it thank to a connection and don't know anything about it but they are willing to teach me.
How hard is it?

PAJEET

Have fun buddy

Anyone? I'm scared as hell.

It's more like dealing with power tools than computers. Do you have machining or carpentry experience?

Nah, this is my first job.

What kind of CNC machines?
Generally it's pretty easy.

It's probably something a retard can do by just following tables and guidelines and stuff.

I have no idea. The factory makes metal constructions.
You are second person that has said to me that it is easy and that is encouraging.
I'm 23 and this is my first job. I can't blow it.

You will probably just run programs on the machine. My father has his little business doing the maintenance of those machines and the job it's pretty easy. Maybe you could research over YouTube oor something and the first thing to do is a machine home which stand for positioning in a known position for the machine so it can run its programs. If it's have a *roulette* of tools check the state of the same and replace the tools when damaged. Said that if you're going to just operate you have to only select he program and run it. I encourage you to learn abou programming because it's fun and will give you some money, however that personal development it's always (or at least in my country Chile) do it in a Uni or technical studies center.

Mostly an OCD job as you double and triple check anything that can go wrong. You don't want to be around heavy machinery and something's not fastened.

Milling means metal debris and liquid coolant, both require careful cleaning and maintenance. Sometimes tools require sharpening (maintenance) or replacement, but more often there might be a curl of metal lodged in an unpredictable place.

You're a technician. You're there to help prevent obvious problems from what can't be automated: cleaning and maintenance.

You're a fancy janitor, /thread

Expanding on this, you'll be inserting metal blocks and shafts into several different types of clamps and vices, running routines for initial placement of tool heads, then executing other routines for milling of parts. It's repetitive work, you'll be doing the same visual and measurement checks on each part many times, then checking parts for adherence to per-order tolerances before and after post processing for deburring and polishing/cleaning.

You're a fancy janitor robot

Enjoy the MDF sawdust and pieces moving if it AIN'T KOMO

>I've got a job as a CNC operator (not programmer).
so you're going to press a button and wait for it to finish?

I would describe its difficulty on the same level as a modern day printer.

Anyways, There are probably some manuals you could skim trough.

And maintain the machine.

Neither operating or programming CNC is hard, you can learn it.

>tfw no qt 5-axis cnc at home
Why even live?

This. I did the same and started on a 6axis fanuc mig welding arm. Did a little time on a cnc bar lathe, cnc break press and then hit my last spot working with a cnc punch cutter and a cnc laser cutter. was fun stuff. Luckily for me, all the owner/operator manuals were there for use. Learned a lot and had a lot of fun.
Pic related, the model of laser cutter I worked with.

This. Had a sheet of 10 ga come out of the clamps on the punch cutter. Before you could blink, it destroyed 3 tool holders. $1500 worth of damage. Not my fault, the program from the engineer wasn't optimized for travel. I edited the code to lift the punch head before travel. Apparently you couldn't really get that detailed while doing the drawings-code in CAD. M codes ftw.

Here's what will happen. You go up to the machine, open the door, put a part in the vise, close the door, push the big green button. Program finishes, you'll open the door, take part out, put new part in, close door, push big green button. Rinse and repeat. That's cool that you get to do that though, machining is awesome. Give it a little while and you'll probably start doing other stuff like setups and programming. That might be a couple of years down the road though. Good luck!

Not that hard if you're not a moron. I work on a machine that punches holes in steel plates in patterns and another that drills angled holes in pipes. Basically, it's all automated and you need to learn to use some specific programs. Pray that it runs Winshit or Buttbuntu or something reasonably new. The one I work with runs IBM OS/2 Warp 3 and uses DOS programs inside of it. It also uses a couple of OS/2 specific programs for certain tasks. The hardware is on it's last legs and to turn the machine on you have to take the CMOS battery out and put it back in. Also, a hard drive died about a year ago and luckily there were backup hard drives in the back. I bought some adapters to copy all of the software to SD cards because the BIOS is on the hard drives too, so the whole machine gets fucked in the event of another failure, but I'll be prepared for that. Sometimes it stops and you have to put a 3.5 inch floppy in it that's simply labeled "fixer disk" in sharpie. The machine is simple to operate, it's just the computer hardware and software that's old and shitty.

I'm going to talk with my boss about retrofitting an old (2003-2006) desktop computer and installing Arca Noae Blue Lion so that the whole thing doesn't just shit the bed one day. It would be about $250 worth of upgrades per machine, but its been over 20 years.

I'm and first time on it I had startup, which I took notes. Next was setup (punch cutter), then load program. After that was runtime. Maintenance was keeping the general area clean, machine clean and when need be, sharpening the dies, tools on a surface grinder. Get to know how to use a caliper. All cnc is predicated on predetermined measurements. As mentioned, "home position" is important on the part of the machine's perspective. Think like the machine, work with the machine, treat your machine well and it will work for you.

Fucking hell. any pics of that thing?

No, unfortunately. It looks like standard mid 90s Intel hardware inside with a huge mess of wires.

Again, I'm and this was the punch cutter I worked with. Smallish family owned company got the punch, laser and breakpress for about $1 Mil.
Unfortunately, the company burnt down (again) so all of that great stuff was ruined.

forgot pic

One thing I notice is that the control cabinet is separate, unlike the one I used. Everything was on the back of the machine. Looking at it from this angle would be the blue box on the back end with the control screen.
Eh,close enough.

My father is a CNC programmer and makes good money. From what I understood just having the program working in a simulation isn't enough. You have to win some experience with the different materials and tools. I did an internship in a company once and they told me how the CNC programmers there were annoyed because they had to mill styrofoam and still had to figure out the best way to do this.

OP here. Thank you everyone for your replies. They've boosted my confidence.
I'm starting at Thursday.

>just having the program working in a simulation isn't enough
As an operator, I completely agree. the actual 3D work is nothing like a 2D simulation.
On punch cutters like the more material is taken out, the more the sheet tends to bow upwards. Yeah, the head will usually keep it down under stroke, during travel times the now skeleton frame of workpiece can catch on the head. For long travel, lift the head before such travel. Whether it's for completing the pieces or for tool change.

Cool, man. So no idea what kind of machine yet?
Either way, ask to see and hopefully borrow the operator manuals to familiarize yourself with the machine. I'm sure you will have some kind of senior that's been doing this for a while. Pay attention, take notes and know that just like any other machine, these things have quirks and personalities only known to those that have been around them for a while. While what that person might tell you sounds simple as fuck, it could mean the difference of a 1000 part day or $1000 worth of damage.