VIDEO REVIEW
by Michelle Tackla
Associate Editor
CNC machining professor
Video training covers most machining centers
Training operators is costly. It can mean pulling your
best people off the floor and turning them into teachers--while your machines become
expensive teaching aids. A single mistake can be costly both in tool damage and downtime.
Mastering CNC Machining Centers is a video- and CD-ROM-based training course
developed by V-TIP Inc, MasterTask Training Div, Rockford IL. A 25-lesson, five-course
package trains in setup, operation, and programming of machining centers.
The 25-minute lessons show actual setup, adjustment, and machining situations, as well
as computer animation and graphics to illustrate more difficult concepts. Written guides
to the lessons are included for operators, while the CD-ROM uses computer simulations to
test items from each lesson.
For instance, operators are asked to respond to a feature that is out of tolerance by
figuring out if an offset can be adjusted, by how much, and in what direction. The
operator must then display the correct offset page so the correction value can be entered.
Another test requires the operator to jog the tool to the correct location. If the test
taker makes a mistake and the tool crashes, a decidedly unpleasant boom will come to his
ears, while a woman's voice will say, "uh oh"--delightful to the shop owner
whose very real tools are moving just fine on the shopfloor.
 Mastering CNC Machining Centers trains
operators in the setup, operation, and programming of machining centers
The entire series covers an estimated 90% of the machining centers in use today by
including CNC controls from GE Fanuc, Fanuc, Mazak, and Okuma, the company says. Both
conventional G Code and conversational programming methods are covered. The tests can be
customized to include only the control model or combination of models the operator needs
to learn.
A computerized training management system records the operator's score, the time taken
to complete each test, and a list of the questions that were missed each time the operator
attempted a test.
The documentation the training produces meets QS-/ISO 9000 requirements. For more
information, Circle 402 |
