The old timer at the shop who said my G-code was garbage

I was running a job on a Haas VF-2 at a shop in Akron a few months ago, and this old machinist walked over while I was setting up a contour pass. He just watched for a minute, then said 'your G-code is garbage, son.' Straight up like that. Turns out he saw me using G02 and G03 with I and J values instead of R, and he told me it was fine for a machine but made troubleshooting a nightmare. He showed me his preferred way with R values on the floor right there, and I tried it on my next part. Made editing way faster when I had to change the radius later that day. Anyone else have an old timer drop a tip that actually changed how you write code?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinhunt1mo ago

Bet he's been running G-code since before you were born...

-2

the_sam1mo ago

Get them to show you a few of their old toolpaths they've saved from way back. It's a good way to see how they actually think about the machine and what kind of shortcuts they take. Most guys who've been doing this since the 80s have a bunch of wild workarounds that still work perfectly today. Just don't argue with them about speeds and feeds unless you've got a good reason.