Brief Description: Setup and start cutting prototype panel
In the world of machining perhaps one of the most critical and sometimes time consuming parts is getting a good set-up. The part has to be held securely, the clamps cannot get in the way, the area to be machined has to be accessible and within the machines reach without running out of table travel.
Because I knew I had to move the machine head I determined to make a hole in the center of each of the PDF and MFD....the two large screens. I will machine one half of the panel at a time, starting with the smaller one. The holes in the center will allow me a "known" location so that after I move the ram of the machine to reach one half or the other I will have a hole to locate the exact location of each and continue the machining process.
So after spending some time getting the panel secured I made the holes to indicate the locations and moved the ram to the right side of the panel to start the machining process. I began with the smaller cutouts in order to maintain the rigidity of the panel as long as I could and then cut the large holes last.
I wrote the program such that each cutout was simply to make an edit to the program in order to write the new location program for that size box. When I cut the "real" panel I will be able to quickly refer to the programs and load them to make the cuts.
By the end of this session the GNS 650 and GMA 245 locations were completed.
