Honestly you sheetmetal guys are way more skilled than most “machinists”/machine operators. Any monkey can get good enough at mental arithmetic to adjust machine offsets, dimensions and calculate F&S in their head. But understanding sheet grains, bend radii, overbend, springback, die clearance, everything necessary to make really tight looking formed parts reliably. that shit is straight up an art form.
I was never a programmer, just an operator, but you have to be VERY good with geometry and being able to imagine the part in three dimensions to read the prints and envision how the part folds up. The people who do programming and all that kind of stuff are pretty fuckin’ smart!
Working a press brake with 1/8th aluminum parts. close enough was something I lived by.
Honestly you sheetmetal guys are way more skilled than most “machinists”/machine operators. Any monkey can get good enough at mental arithmetic to adjust machine offsets, dimensions and calculate F&S in their head. But understanding sheet grains, bend radii, overbend, springback, die clearance, everything necessary to make really tight looking formed parts reliably. that shit is straight up an art form.
I was never a programmer, just an operator, but you have to be VERY good with geometry and being able to imagine the part in three dimensions to read the prints and envision how the part folds up. The people who do programming and all that kind of stuff are pretty fuckin’ smart!