mastercam-the-greenest-cnc-company

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Here is an interview with Mark Summers president of President CNC Software at Mastercam, Mastercam stood out to me as one of the few manufacturing companies that made greening even an issue worth mentioning.  Even the smallest steps taken to minimize the damage done by industry is immensely important in these critical times off the bottom line. With all the harm that manufacturing causes the earth and how much we rely on it to keep our world turning it seems more important then ever to bring our attention to this. Society is held together by technology and manufacturing and it is companies like this who make an effort to preserve our earth so important in our rapidly changing times

What are the environmental efforts being made right now by the manufacturing industry as a whole?

Mark: I don’t know if there is enough information to summarize the efforts made by the manufacturing industry but my guess is that many businesses are at least thinking about these issues and many will act in the next few years in various ways.

Where does Mastercam stand in this context, how do you measure up or exceed expectations or current industry standards for greening.

Mark: The expectations are vague and not official unless you’re LEEDS certified so it’s up to the decision makers in each company to decide what level of sustainability to integrate. However I think we measure up pretty well in the green department. We have made both small improvements and large improvements in the way we operate our facility and the way we use energy. Small ideas include using dishes, glasses and ceramic coffee mugs instead of throw away items. (We have six energy star dishwashers). We compost all of our coffee grounds and food waste so as not to use fossil fuel to haul garbage around for no good reason. In our recent building addition we made sure to use low V.O.C. paint and PVC free carpet to improve our indoor air quality. We’ve installed a fresh air heat exchanger so that we don’t lose valuable heat when bringing in fresh air from outside. All of the windows in the building open if occupants want fresh air when weather permits and a large amount of windows allow us to use more natural light rather than electric lights, which are energy efficient fluorescent lights. All of the lumber in the addition was FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. All of our printing is done on 100% recycled paper with environmental ink and over time we have been printing less and supplying more documents electronically. Many of the employees work from home 2 or 3 days a week to reduce fuel usage.
Like most businesses the real opportunity to make a difference in energy usage is the way a building is heated and cooled. Our 50,000 sq. ft. building is 100% geothermal and does not have a backup system. We have 46 wells that are 300 feet deep that extract either heat or cold out of the ground to heat or cool the building and make our hot water as well. Since the only energy source we use is electricity we decided to install a 72kw photovoltaic system to make some of our own. The solar system is newly installed but it appears we are making about 30% of the electricity that we use. That portion of our electricity will cost the same for about 30 years which is the predicted life of the solar panels.

Do you think technology has the ability to make our society sustainable, what social and scientific steps do you feel are needed to make this happen.

Mark: Yes, I think we have the technology to be 100% sustainable but it will take time and large investments and a change in our living standards. The laws of nature will eventually demand that we all become sustainable in our work and home life and making changes sooner rather than later will allow a smoother and less painful transition. The social steps that need to happen are mostly financial to start with since cost seems to have a way of getting everyone’s attention. Keeping fuel prices high via taxes will keep the pressure on all of us to pay greater attention to the way we live. Lobbying for low fuel costs to keep the economy going is short term thinking and just putting off the inevitable. A small amount of pain now might avoid real problems in the future. This theoretical fuel tax revenue could be used for tax credits and rebates to help fund more homes and businesses that invest in alternative energy. If the U.S. government can find a way to spend over half a trillion dollars to fight a war we can surely find the same amount of money to invest in more clean energy ideas that could actually avoid a war.

You were a “green” company before “green” really existed. What is the history of your company’s progress with its environmental efforts?

Mark: We have always tried to pay attention to our energy and material usage. My depression era parents might have had some influence in this area. We built our first building in 1989 about five miles from our current building and incorporated a geothermal system and passive solar system. Oil deliveries and burning oil in a furnace never really made much sense to me.

Are you noticing any other manufacturing companies going green or being socially responsible? If not, why do you think this is and what would it take to change this trend.

Mark: I know of one local shop that is environmentally aware and is in the process of installing a 32kw photovoltaic system to make some of their electricity. The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund offers a generous rebate for this type of system and I am certain that other shops are acting. Some businesses are motivated to save money and some are motivated to save the environment. Either way works.

What is your view on the peak oil crisis and how it will and has affected industry and manufacturing?

The peak oil crisis and high energy cost spike was a much needed wake up call for all of us. Hopefully the recent drop in oil prices won’t allow us to forget that we need to pay attention and make some changes. I think most people realize that was just a little taste of what’s coming and we need to be ready when cheap energy is no longer available. There are many ways to “be ready”. Take advantage of the energy incentive programs that are available right now. Hire an energy company to audit your operation and then act on at least some of the advice. Use less energy and make some of your own. Almost any business can afford a few solar panels and encourage recycling and shutting the lights off. Do something and then tell people about it, in that order.

Are there any new greening initiatives at your company, underway or being discussed?

We’re not obsessed with green ideas since we still need to spend most of our time operating the business so it stay healthy but we do talk about energy and environmental ideas regularly. Lately we have been monitoring many of our electronic devices to see how much power they used when turned “off”. You might be surprised to learn that many of these devices such as computers, printers, fax machines, cable boxes, dvd players etc. steal your power all the time. A $25 Kill A Watt meter will help you uncover these electric injustices and will surely pay for itself in short order provided you act on your findings. Another current project is to add more computerized controls to our HVAC system to make sure it runs only when necessary. For example, many people forget to adjust the heat or AC when they leave at night or the weekends. A computer can make that adjustment easily and with more consistency than a human and save lots of energy in the process. In other words, an efficient system that isn’t controlled properly isn’t really that efficient.

How does the lax environmental regulations in China and India fit into the global environmental solution. (this question is intentionally open ended, anything interesting you have to say on this, would be good)

Well, we all live in the same world and the responsibility level of other countries affects us all. My opinion is that the countries that care about the goal of sustainability and environmental responsibility should first offer technical and financial help to the countries that need it if they can. If the offending countries ignore sincere help then the heat should be turned up and we should reduce or avoid doing business with countries that don’t toe the line. Countries are just a collection of people and policies and sometimes a repercussion needs to be felt before action takes place. When my kids leave the lights on in their room I take the bulbs out of the offending light to send a small message. A country might need a larger message in a similar fashion.

What new and exciting things are happening right now over at Mastercam?

We are continuously working on new ideas for our CAD CAM product called Mastercam as we have been for 25 years and this year has proven to be successful as well. Our cautious but constant growth allows us to serve our customers as they expect now and in the foreseeable future and we will continue our ever present goal of reaching sustainability.

go here for a full list of Mastercams green commitments

Women in Machining

Valerie Knupp is a production manager at Haas
Automation, responsible for several sub-assembly
departments, including tool changers, gearboxes,
spindles and, until recently, rotary products. The latter
department she just handed over to someone else, so
she could take on large VMCs and small and mid-size
HMCs. “I’ve done all the sub-assemblies, and now I’ll
be doing the actual machines – rounding off my
machine tool education, if you will,” she says.
Valerie’s first position at Haas was traffic
manager – she didn’t know a lot about machine tools
when she arrived nearly four years ago, but, having
been a general manager for a trucking company, she
knew how to ship anything. After running the shipping
department for a year and a half, she was asked to

manage the rotary department. “I was floored,” Valerie
says. “I didn’t know anything about it! But Bob
[Murray, operations manager] said, ‘You can do it,
Valerie. You’ve shown us you can do it.’ So I was a little
scared.” This didn’t deter her, however. “I’m never
quite satisfied with where I am,” she notes. “I’m always
looking at what’s next.”
At the time, the rotary department was in fine
shape in terms of quality, but it needed work in the
areas of process control and scheduling. “That’s what
I’m really good at – measuring efficiencies, measuring
the labor standards, and putting processes in place,”
she says. Next up was tool changers – and her
responsibilities have been increasing ever since.
Angelica Cardona is a mechanical assembler who
started at Haas a little more than three years ago,
bringing with her many years of experience in
manufacturing. Angie started out building subassemblies
for lube panels, then went on to building
the lube panels themselves. Next came the tool-release
pistons plus most of the assemblies that go in that
area – filters, check valves, through-the-spindle coolant
pumps. She loves her job: “This is one
of the best experiences of my life,
working here.”
For the last 10 months or so, she’s
been building the cam boxes for the
Haas side-mount tool changers
(SMTCs). Valerie Knupp, her
supervisor, says, “If I didn’t have Angie
doing that job already and somebody
asked me whether a woman could do it,
I’d say it was a man’s job. It’s very
heavy, it’s a difficult assembly – and she
does it hands-down. We never have
quality failures on those units.” The fact
that the quality is consistently top-notch
“speaks volumes for the design,”
Valerie points out, as well as for Angie’s
assembly skills.
The stainless steel component that
is the foundation of an SMTC cam box
weighs about 60 pounds. It has to be
heated for the first step in the
assembly process, so Angie lifts it in
and out of an oven. Building five units
at a time, she takes them out of the
oven in succession, lays them out and
does the first step in the process for
each one. She checks the quality at
every stage, and when each cam box is
complete, she inspects it again. “By the
time it’s finished, I’ve gone
through everything twice,”
Angie explains. The cam boxes
then move to the tool changer
area, where the SMTC
assembly is completed and
hooked up to a test box.
Ultimately, each one gets
mounted on a machine where
it runs for 36 hours to make
sure it works. It always does.
Norine Peters, Haas
Automation’s trade show
manager, is known in the
industry as the “Trade Show
Goddess” – a nickname, she
says, that “reflects my attitude
about working in a maledominated
industry.” She’s
been at Haas for nearly five
years, and in “show business”
for more than 20. Before coming
to Haas, Norine worked for various
computer and printer manufacturers,
managing their trade show and public
relations efforts. She managed booths
that were in the 7,500-square-foot range
and two stories high, with a staff of 150
to 200. This helped her make the
transition to working with machinery
that requires a large amount of exhibit
space. “Previously, my focus would be
on how to make the booth stand out in a
very sophisticated and glitzy show
environment,” she says. “The product
was secondary. The machine tool
industry is different in that the focus is
on the product.”
Norine’s biggest adjustment
was learning how to take a much
larger product line on the road
and get it set up. She used to
spend a week building a booth
and then just place the products
and plug them in. CNC shows,
however, require forklifts,
plumbing, coolant, air, raw
materials, extensive electrical
requirements, scrap removal and
more – all of which was new. “I
am not mechanically inclined, but
I have a natural curiosity about
how things work, and I am not
hesitant to ask questions or
doggedly track down the
information I need,” she says.
“Also, my background was being
able to multi-task and keep track
of millions of details.”
The team spirit at Haas is another
thing that made the transition easy.
“There’s a great support team around
here,” Norine says. She’s learned what
questions to ask, and the people she
asks are usually very patient and will
explain things in detail. “One of the
great things about working at Haas is
that the people designing, supporting
and selling the products are generally
excited about what they’re doing, and
more than happy to share that
excitement and pride with you.”
Ana Cruz is a machinist at Repair
Tech International (RTI) in Van Nuys,
California. She started learning the
trade about five years ago, while still in
high school, because the recruiter for the
Machine Tool Partnership Academy at
the school was quite convincing. “I
thought, it’s not going to hurt me a bit to
try something new,” Ana says – and she
found that she liked machining.
In the first year of the Academy
program, Ana learned how to operate
manual machines, and by the third year
she was taking CNC classes at Los
Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys.
She started working part-time for RTI in
1996, and has been full-time since July
1998. Ana still has a few more CNC
classes to complete – she loves
programming, and is looking forward
to learning more about how to write
programs for the parts she runs.
At present, Ana mostly runs manual
machines on the job: lathes, mills and a
drill press. She also supervises several
students who came from the same
Academy program she did. This is a
group of boys who were initially
reluctant to listen to her – she’s not much
older than they are, and she’s a woman.
This wasn’t a problem for long, though,
as it quickly becomes obvious that Ana
knows what she’s talking about. Her
aim, she tells them, is to make them selfsufficient,
so they can work without
needing her supervision. “I tell them it’s
all about teamwork,” she says.
Isaura Miranda, who goes by her
last name, has been a machinist for
Prompt Machine Products in
Chatsworth, California, for three years.
Miranda happened upon the machine
tool trade because she was looking for
work, and her brother-in-law, who also
works for Prompt Machine, told her the
company needed machinists and that
they would train her. Although she
didn’t know anything about machine
tools when she arrived on the job, she
now runs two Haas lathes. At present,
she works mostly on setting up and
running parts. “She’s very good at it and
very reliable,” says her supervisor, Tim
Sullivan. “We can give her a shop order
and she takes it from setup to running
parts off.” Miranda is particularly
interested in programming. She knows
how to modify existing programs, and
has asked to learn more about it, so
Prompt Machine plans to send her to
school. “She likes to learn,” Tim says.
Joyce Hayes has been a machinist
for more than 20 years, and has also
been teaching machine shop classes at
Simi Valley Adult School for nearly 10
years. As a young widow with six
children, she went to the Adult School
to learn a trade so she could support
her kids. The machine shop class was
new – and she was the first student to
sign up for it.
Joyce attended school full-time for
a year and then started working for
Fairchild Industries in Chatsworth. She
became lead person after 6 months, and
then was promoted to “factory
specialist,” which meant she set up all
jobs, did inspections and supervised
other people in her area. She’s also
worked for Rocketdyne and the Jet
Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena. As a
full-time machinist, Joyce ran CNC
mills, lathes and EDM machines. She
now teaches all of these, sometimes
working 14-hour days.
The Adult School offers morning,
afternoon and evening classes so that
students can attend no matter what
their work schedules. About 98% of
Joyce’s students have full-time jobs and
take classes part-time, mostly in the
evenings. Students with no experience
start out in her conventional machine
shop class, where they learn all the
manual tools – lathes, mills and
grinders. Her CNC offerings include a
class on MDI (manual data input), one
on PC-based Mastercam and Gibbs
CAD/CAM software, an advanced class
on tool and die making, and a class on
CNC controls that covers Haas, Fanuc,
Fadal, Acu-Rite and Dynapass controls,
among others.
“We know you can do it.” “We
never have quality failures.” “She likes
to learn.” “It’s all about teamwork.”
Such comments are common where
these women are concerned. And
though they entered the world of
machine tools through different paths,
each of these women shares a common
conscientiousness – every one takes her
job very seriously, and does it very well.
Their consensus is that women are
very well suited to work in this
industry, because women tend to be
detail-oriented, good at having back-up
plans and “winging it” when nothing
goes as planned, and they’re team
players. Now, we could argue all day
and into the night about whether
characteristics such as these are inherent
or learned – or both – or neither. One
thing is clear, though: these women all
possess these particular traits!
To them, being female in a mostlymale
business has not been a
disadvantage – reactions from men in
the industry have generally been
unbiased. “They might have
reservations at first,” Valerie Knupp
observes, “but then they learn, guess
what, she has a clue. She’s doing a good
job.” Variations on this theme came
from every woman interviewed.
Although there have been rare
instances of true male chauvinism (one
woman was actually told, 15 or so years
ago, that she should go home and let a
man have the job she was not entitled
to), in general no one feels that she’s
had to deal with much gender
discrimination. “You have to earn
respect no matter who you are” was an
oft-repeated motif.
So, despite being dominated by
men, the machine tool and
metalworking industry appears to be
an equal-opportunity profession. As
Norine Peters noted, “Women have a
lot to offer this business. As long as
you’re willing to work hard in a fastpaced
environment and you’re not
afraid to stand out in a crowd – you’ll
fit in quite nicely.”

mobile robot does CNC machining

Hexapod CNC bot

[Matt has just recently started playing with CNC. First, he did a pen plotter proof of concept. Now The bot can mill 3D surfaces in polystyrene. It's still a little coarse and will most likely always be a bit imprecise since it's not bolted down.  there are also plans to convert it from standard 1/8inch bits to 3mm router bits.]

[This is Matt Denton’s hexapod robot CNC router.  The B.F. Hexapod was built using Hitech’s HSR-5995TG which are much higher torque than similar sized units. Each foot is ball joint mounted to ease terrain adaptation. Having no fixed work envelope really opens up the possibilities for machines like this and Hektor.]

CNC Machining Guns

Beretta 92FS

92fs Beretta frame

I personally happen to be anti gun, I believe people should not kill each other so there is no need for handguns.  but Switzerland, a Utopian society is a good example of how the 2nd amendment maybe should have worked.  every male (and voluntary females) is required to be part of the militia, and they are issued weapons and gear accordingly to keep stowed properly or else! yet there is little crime and everyone keeps their doors unlocked.  this site http://www.cncguns.com, was created by a true gun enthusiast [Justin’s] been CNC milling his own gun parts for quite a while. We’ve been a fan of his work simply because of the technical challenge that this sort of milling presents. Even if you’re anti-gun, you should check out the work he’s been turning out. Pictured is one of his early projects: a 92fs Beretta frame in the process of being milled from a solid block of aluminum. Our friend the gun nut is insanely jealous of his anodizing AR45 lower project.
buy CNC related books and tools on amazon

Interview with Omar Uriarte: CNC MASTERS

Buy CNC books and tools

what is your personal history in CNC and manufacturing.

I believe like most machinists, you are brought into the field at a young age by a father who needs help milling out some parts.  So he teaches you how to machine at a young age in order to improve the turn around time for his waiting customers, and most importantly, he does not need to sub-contract out.  At least that’s my history when it comes to machining.  Machining is not something I dreamt about when I was a kid, its just something you fall into.  CNC was just the next step up.  If you are a machine shop and you don’t own a CNC mill, you can’t compete.

what is the history of your company.

We established CNC MASTERS back in 1990 with the CNC Jr Table Top Milling Machine, and have sold thousands of these machines since then.  We first engineered a CNC Retrofit kit for Bridgeport milling machines and were lucky to sell 1 to 3 kits a month with advertisement in our local newspaper classified section.  After a few months of doing this business on the side, we had an elderly gentleman, local to us that had a mid-size milling drilling machine in his home garage that he wanted to convert over to CNC.  He contacted us.  He was very excited with the results because he was able to do true 3 axis interpolated movements which he could not achieve before manually.  He told us it would be great if we sold these mill-drills with CNC on it already instead just selling CNC conversion kits.  He said there was nothing in the market for it, and he was right.  CNC MASTERS was the first to manufacture the CNC Jr Mill for it’s class.  Almost 20 years later, we have sold thousands of the CNC Jr Mill alone, out of line CNC machinery around the world.

CNC Jr. Mill

which newer or smaller companies do you believe have alot of potential right now.

I believe that companies, small or large in the USA will have huge potential if they tap into the market of alternative energy engineering.  We have to stop relying on foreign oil.  Companies that break through in developing alternative energy products will succeed. CNC MASTERS is looking forward to that!  Why?  Because they are going to need CNC machinery to prototype and mass-produce their parts for this new industry.

how do you believe the economy will effect the manufacturing industry in America.

Our USA economy will become very strong if we become the leaders of alternative energy.  This will open our door for an entire new string of manufacturing.

what cad-cam software do you recommended and use and why.

We deal out CAD-CAMs with our CNC machinery.  We mainly like to push Rhino CAD and Visual Mill CAM as a bundle package with our CNC MASTERS brand milling machines.  They are effective in what they do.  It’s user-friendly, so much of a learning curve, and they have great technical support.  Most importantly, our customers are happy with the software and the parts they are able to machine using our CNC mills.

what sets your company you apart from the rest.

CUSTOMER SERVICE.  See our testimonials page, it pretty much speaks for itself the type of company we run:    We back up and offer support on any of our CNC MASTERS brand machinery 100%.  The main reason why many customers choose us over our competition is because of our reputation they are hearing about us.  We do not turn our backs from our customers when they need operational support.  We know that down time is losing money in the machining world, and a majority of our customers are one-man operations and have entrusted the operation of their business to CNC MASTERS.  That’s a big honor for us, and we plan to be there for them should they ever need our support.  It’s an honor for us when a huge Fortune 500 company who can easily afford higher-end CNC machinery, purchase our competitively priced machines from us, not just one, but several.  Why?  Because they know CNC MASTERS will give them that support they need when they need it most.  Our CNC milling machines are very easy to learn and operate which is why customers new to the CNC world choose us over the rest as well.

what are your most popular machines, and what jobs are they best suited for.

We offer the CNC Jr Mill, the CNC Baron Mill and the CNC Supra Vertical Knee Mill.   All three are popular machines.  Can’t really say which one sells more.  They all use our CNC MASTERS brand controller and operational software.  So it really depends on the customers, his machining needs, and the square footage he has available in his shop.

mini mill to a CNC

Question

I am trying to convert a mini mill to a CNC machine with accumulated
surplus parts. Basically 3 different servo motors from different
manufacturs all of which have adequate torque and encoder resolution.
Each servo drive can be configured to operate in torque mode. In other
words a +-10VDC signal can control the motors.

I have access to MasterCamX

How do I go from 3D CAD files to corresponding servo input signals? Is
it possible to go directly from MasterCamX to servo motors?
What if any interface is needed?

Answer
there’s a lot more to a CNC than just servos. First, you need to use MasterCAM to turn your CAD files into G-code, which is directly interpretable by a g-code interpreter. Among the best known are Mach 3, which runs on Windows XP, and EMC2, an open source system that runs on Ubuntu Linux. These in turn output signals through (usually) a parallel port to a breakout board, which feeds the individual signals to the various servo drives. Depending on your setup, you might also need home and limit switches, spindle control equipment, and various accessories. It sounds like you have been acquiring surplus equipment for your setup for quite a while, but you may find that a set of motors and drives that are identical will be much easier to configure and tune. Many different options are available, but many people have had great success with the Geckodrive units.