C.N.C IS IT A MUST HAVE FOR THE FUTURE?

[KenS]

I hope that I croak before I see no way but to go with CNC at home. I love the old machines and more I love coaxing them to perform.

[Toolmaker Extrodinair]

I agree with most of the posts. but will CNC replace manuals in the home shop? I doubt it, reason being you can still run onesy and twosy faster in most cases. Also as many shop owners know there is always someone out there who will cutthroat you for a buck. Its always been that way and always will be. I for one hope I never see the day manuals are put out to pasture.

[Thrud]

Toolmaker
Hey, you won't see me throw out all my Starrett Inch tools just because I know metric is better! Look at shapers - almost extinct except for the home users that are "discovering" them again. The old orginal ornamental lathes are highly prized today by people that have caught that bug.

It gets me all weepy eyed, all those poor tools out in the cold, rusting for no reason, with no warm shop to call home. We should never forget the past - they did amazing things with less than we have...

[chief]

From the hobby aspect you must ask yourself are you a machinist or computer geek. A comptent machinist is just as accurate as a CNC machine,repitition is another matter.
These CNC,metric guys are nothing but communist troublemakers who seek to destroy
the american way of life, make CNC and Metric use a hate crime! Seriously I like manual machining but enjoy CAD from drawing plans and prints.

[Thrud]

chief:
Dip me in milk and roll me in flour - throw me on the fire.

Thread the inside and outside of a tube. Another tube inside that one is threaded on the outside. A cap screws onto this monolithic piece and engages all 3 sets of threads. It had better turn on with no binding either. You can try for a million years and it cannot be done manually.

However this is exactly what is possible with CNC - a 100% Teflon corrosive fluid transfer pump (no metals at all in it) made by a California company for the I.C. Fabrication industry does exactly this. Another company manufactures downhole pumps that use large gears - they no longer have to get them hobbed as they developed an inhouse program to use a CNC VMC to do the same job for considerably less money than before. Haas published both of these articles in their CNC news magazine.

Just two examples of using your brain and modern technology to accomplish what no one could before - it is called "progress". So, you can embrace it as another tool at your disposal, or you can join all the "purist woodworkers" who bitch and moan about power tools ruining the industry.

[This message has been edited by Thrud (edited 05-12-2002).]

[chief]

Thrud, I agree, you must move with progress or be left behind. Kind of like the three types of people/those who make things happen/
those who watch what happens/ those who wonder what happened. I speak merely from the hobby aspect, does every HSM need CNC, probably not but it is a wonderful tool if you desire to use it. Of course I'm sure your right there are those out there who will say all a real machinist needs is a set of files. take care.

[C. Tate]

I am not concerned about the CNC taking over 100% there is allways a place for the conventional machine. My concern is that the men who can pass along the knowledge and the techniques (the art and craftsmanship) of conventional use will be replaced by the CNC machinist who does not have these skills. I fear we are losing our most valuable resources faster than we are replacing them.

[Thrud]

C. Tate:
Giving a rat's ass about your work, always doing your best, and striving for personal improvment. Foreign concepts for most people. Nobody seems to read.

It does not help when school boards dump trade classes for computer and other "hip" classes. We need better balancing and a change in outmoded teaching methods. It is the school boards that are to blame and should be made aware of this - pull the carpet out from under their feet!

I also agree that the form of CNC we have now is too restrictive but to change that you need great machinists that are also great programmers (actual computer programming not G codes) to make the software more natural. Some of the new systems are better but still have a very long road of improvement ahead of them.

And we will always have the Uber Machinists with us (they could just be a lot busier!). It amazes me what amateur machinists can do when no one has told them what they "can't do" - these are true artists of the form. I am not worried in the least - get your welding helmets out, the future looks bright!

To CNC, or not to CNC, does it really matter? Do what works best for yourself always.

[This message has been edited by Thrud (edited 05-13-2002).]