CNC Mill Op

Intro

Operating a Haas CNC milling machine was the next mountain I wanted to conquer. I successfully operated a CNC mill to cut out a part of aluminum to make a fidget spinner. 

Final Product

At the end, I ended up with a part that was cut accurately and precisely without me having to drill a single hole with my hands. The fidget spinner has very precise measurements and will most likely work the way it was designed to work. 

Process

The very first thing I had to do before starting the project was getting certified which had me complete the Haas CNC mill written assessment and practical assessment. After becoming familiar with the machine I started by cutting a 4” long 4”x2” stock of aluminum using a bandsaw. Following this I headed over to the machine and made sure the machine was at the correct psi by checking the pressure gauge and making sure the pressure supply was on. Following this I went over to the machine and pressed the power on button on the controller. I then pressed the power up button by which the display on the control panel turned on. I turned off any emergency alerts by simply pressing reset. I proceeded to jog the table over to the middle by pressing “Handle Jog” in the Mode keys section and pressing the step that says “0.001” and then pressing either “x” or “y” in the Jog keys section. After I knew which direction I was going in I increased the Handle Jog speed to “0.01” and brought the table to the center of the machine. I used the wash down hose to wash any excess chips and I used the air gun to dry up the area as well as moving any chips that were left. The next step was to load my part in which I used a set of parallels and parallel keepers. Using the wrench I tightened the vise until the piece of stock couldn’t fit and then I loosened it and the stock slipped between the lips. This was where I pushed the stock against the stop and back lip making sure I kept the stock on the parallels while tightening the vise. While tightening the vise I used the hammer to make sure the stock was flat on the parallels. Once I made sure the piece of stock was tight I made sure the coolant nozzle supply was on. I proceeded to cycle the doors and I headed over to the controller. I pressed “List Program” in the Mode keys section after which I selected my desired program using the arrows in the Cursor keys section and pressing enter to select the program. Following this I pressed “Select Program” in the Mode keys section after which I pressed memory since that is where the program was loaded on. Subsequently I pressed position and used the Cursor keys to select “Distance to Go” which is the recommended position screen. Following this I set the Rapid Overrides to 25%, turned on Single Block, turned on Option Stop, and made sure everything was ready to run. Once I was ready I pressed cycle start while my other hand was hovering over feed hold. I proceeded to run my program block by block making sure everything looked correct. Once I confirmed that everything was running just fine I turned off single block and upped the rapid overrides to 100%, however I still had my hand hovering over feed hold just incase something didn’t look right. Once my stock was finished I opening the doors and used the airgun to clear the stock from coolant and chips. I then untightened the vise and took out my part. Following this I used a caliper and micrometer to make sure the stock was cut correctly according to the drawing. 

Skills Gained

The main thing I learned from this project is how to operate a CNC mill. I learned how to correctly tighten a vise, how to load a program, how to run the program, and how to inspect a cut part. These are skills that I don’t necessarily need to use on a CNC mill. I think the skill of being able to inspect a part is crucial for me in the future. In the future I will need to measure and inspect products making sure they are the correct size and have the correct measurements. Using a caliper will allow me to measure Diameter and depth while the micrometer will allow me to measure smaller diameters. 

Lessons

One lesson I learned while doing this project was to not be afraid of the machine. Even though the machine says it is deadly when not used correctly, that doesn’t mean I am going to use it incorrectly. If I focus on making sure I use the correct steps and process I will have a hard time being scared of the machine. 

Reflection

The biggest challenge I faced while doing this project was the inspection part as I didn’t know how to use a micrometer. I still could use some practice on it but now I know the general idea on how to read a measurement using it. I mainly got help from my peers by asking them questions and clarifying things.