CNC Programming Handbook, Third Edition (Volume 1)

I bought this text mainly for its treatment of cnc lathes. My training was only in cnc machining centers (mills), we used the Lynch text. I'll give you a simple calculation to engage you a little. The z coordinate moves along the axis of rotation of the shaft or workpiece with the x coordinate being the radial distance (signed) of the cutter from the axis of rotation. Say you'd like to cut a helix or screw threads on this rod or shaft, uniformly spaced of course. With one revolution of the shaft your screw would advance one thread and be at the beginning of the next one.You want t threads per inch (TPI). The distance advanced in one revolution is then (1/t) inches per thread or revolution.The rate the cutter must travel along the z direction is then (1/t)xRPM where RPM is the rotation rate of the shaft in revolutions per minute. This RPM will depend on the material of the shaft-cutting speed which you look up in the machinery handbook.This rate or feedrate you see then is in inches per minute. By the way x can be given a feedrate also for a taper say.This little blurb is just to give you some idea and get you thinking mechanically. Next for the review:You're assumed to know how to read prints and mainly how to picture in your mind or sketch the object from a standard 3 view orthographic projection drawing (front view, right side view, and top view). The front view actually gives y and z coordinates of the points of your object, right side view gives x and z, top gives x and y. This is why given two views you can draw the third using a miter line (inclined 45 degrees with respect to the y axis anywhere in the y-z plane). This is as bad as it gets and this of course pertains to a machining center. For a lathe a 2 view or even single view will suffice. The coordinate assignment which you can get right off the print as soon as you choose a convenient origin (called program zero) as explained above will be the coordinates used in your program. G codes give cutting tool movements with or without a feedrate from point to point. M codes give machine state like spindle rotates clockwise or counter clockwise or spindle stops and returns home. Enough-Send Cash! The author uses Fanuc control codes which is nearly standard as other controls may have some slight differences if any-you'll have to check the manuals. Tool movement codes are illustrated and clearly explained. Whole examples are given from print to program-quite good. A nice feature is the CD with the free 2 week trial of NCPlot software which allows you to enter your program on your pc and see the result when you run it. I would use this toward the end though if you don't plan on buying it. If you followed along so far mostly you could learn it self-study from this text. In truth there's software that reads print details from a SolidWorks file for instance and writes a good deal of the program for you. Still it's a good skill to learn, you'll need it to interpret what the CAM software is doing and to know where your input is required.

I know some people are being critical about this book because it was written by a non-native English speaker and you can sometimes tell. Big deal! As a CNC programming book i think this as good as it gets. I bought a CNC mill a few months ago and started learning to program it by actually making parts for a staircase out of aluminum. I needed cutting, drilling, countersinking, slotting, tapping etc. This book has everything i needed and more. Whatever i needed to know, it is there, with much detail, real example G-Code ready to be used. I took this project step by step, completing a part as far as i could then tackling the next challenge. Always went back to this book and found what i needed. Never once did i not find anything of thought this could have been explained in more detail. I think this book is absolutely brilliant and i highly recommend it.

I purchased this in New Condition.Very Nice Quality and a Very Informative book.Required for a couple Manufacturing Classes I'm taking.Usually a "Cheap" College Textbook is paperback and seems slapped together.This is a Hardback copy and the overall quality is amazing for the price.The only thing that bothers me is, as an analytical reader I catch quite a few spelling errors and I'm not but 5 chapters in.A lot more errors than I would anticipate out of a published text.However it's not a major deal, and the simplest minded person can easily tell what is being said.As always, Amazon has the best price and availability.

It's a great book if you want to learn about G-code and CNC in general. After trying to read a few user manuals of the machines I am operating at work, this very accessible (easy to understand) writing style and the great structuring come as a surprise. Would definitely recommend it to anyone.What disappointed me personally is the fact that there is nothing on "conversational programming" in there. I have been working a little with this type of programming lately and I find it amazingly simple and convenient. I thought a book that is praised so highly by so many, could at least devote one chapter to this new method. Four stars instead of five therefore.

Book has lots of information and will take me quit some time to get thru, but has already helped provide clarity in the programming language and process

Excellent book. Has helped me tremendously. I use it shop all the time and bring it home every day. I probably have about 2 dozen page flags in this book for information I reference often. I understood how the CNC machines worked and knew how to set up. I can run a manual mill and lathe, but when it came to CNC I was limited to offset fixes. With this book and the ability to pick the brain of someone who is a CNC programmer/operator I have written my own programs and successfully ran jobs. I have yet to use the software provided so I can not speak on it but the content and quality of this book are outstanding.

I've always wanted to learn to program so I figured what the heck! Well last week a co-worker was having issues with a program and asked me to take a look . After reading just half of the book I was able to trouble shoot the issue and help him with the correction !!! I felt great I was learning and able to help . Great book ,although it deals with a lot of mill type programs . I'm a lathe guy but now i can look at code on a mill and understand how they work as well . this is a must have for your shop!