[Chadfrom308]

Congrats on the CNC machines! I work at a CNC machine shop (Precision Karting) and they are the best and worse machines ever. They can be really useful if you know how to use them and they can be a pain if you crash them.

First thing first. turn the rapid down. It is worth waiting a not crashing the machine than going quickly. The rapid is how fast it moves from position to position without cutting. Turn that down until you ran a program and it works 100% (our CNC lathe from Haas is locked at 50% rapid max)

And Carbide tools are better than HSS, but they will chip and break so much easier than HSS. If you touch the tools off wrong, then you can break them (I've done that a couple of times). Most of the time you can get them resharpened for cheap.

So when you make a program, you build your holes and contours around a work offset. When you put material into the machine, you have to set the work offset. If you have edge detectors, the easiest way is to program the work offset to a corner of the material.

I am not sure how the Tormach works, but if it is anything like a fadal or haas, what you have to do is put it into hand jog mode and jog near the corner. Turn it down to .001" and then slowly go until you hit the edge and then set that work offset (g54).

Next thing you have to do is touch off the tools. Get a thin shim, (we use .006" shim) and go down and touch the cutter to the shim (slowly, especially with carbide). If you get it down to about 1/4" off the material, then turn it down to .001" per click of the jog handle, then jiggle the shim and lower the tool down till it pinches the shim and you cant jiggle it anymore, that is the easiest method. (thats what we do) (and probes are only really for setting work offsets and tools. If you get a fancy system, you can set tool offsets by using a tool probe (which you still need to touch off 1 tool))


The speeds and feeds are a little weird and change with every tool. Carbide cuts more and faster and HSS cuts slower but is more forgiving. I would try to get ahold of some insertable tools. If you break and edge, you can normally rotate the insert a couple of times instead of buying a whole new tool. ISCAR makes really good stuff, but it's also top of the line and expensive. (they might help you out, they are pretty nice)

The easiest thing to do is to just look the tool up online or call whoever makes the tool and ask them, or get a reference sheet. And since you guys aren't doing any high-volume manufacturing, try to use the minimum speeds and feeds.

I wouldn't use the 4th axis until you are really comfortable with the machine.
I dont even know how to program it

If the machine comes with coolant, thats great. If not, then you can use WD-40 unless you are doing some serious cutting (like fast and deep cuts)

I am not positive how accurate tormachs are, but most CNC machines can go to .001" which is probably good enough for anything FRC. Tormachs are really low powered, but most things will be fine with it. Circles should be fine as well.

Any other questions? I think I answered most of them. That's just what I have learned (which is basic). Feel free anyone else to correct me and give more advice.