It’s finally here – your brand new, shiny CNC router machine. Images of intricately designed signage may get you so excited that the last thing you want to think about is a long training process that delays your creative process. Nothing can be farther than the truth. Without proper training, your projects will suffer in quality, cut and finish, and lack of safety training may lead to dire circumstances. You don’t want this to happen to you. In this week’s Tech Tip, we’ll examine why its important to train your machine operator and what you can do to get the most of your training.
SAFETY
There’s no question about the importance of training to eliminate serious injuries. Understanding your CNC router’s safety rules and guidelines, in addition to maintaining the required operational logs and records, can keep employees safe and operating at high efficiency. Safety labels are an integral part of this process. Make sure your machine operators understand what those symbols mean before you turn your machine on. This is a necessary part of your training and obligation to the safety of yourself and your employees.
ONGOING TRAINING
AXYZ provides a 4-day basic training program that teaches you how to setup the router table correctly, understand the software and practise your skills with an AXYZ Technical Specialist by your side. But training doesn’t stop there. To correctly understand things like feeds and speeds and desired tolerances, practise makes perfect and will not happen overnight. It takes time to thoroughly master these skills. To get production up and running to the level that it should be, you may require additional, advanced training that occurs at a later date.
RUN REAL JOBS
During the onsite training sessions, take this opportunity to run real production jobs together with your trainer, using the right materials required for your business. Training on a CNC router needs to be customized according to your unique environment, so prepare well in advance of the start date.
TRAIN MORE THAN ONE PERSON
Employees get sick; they go on vacation or may leave the company for other opportunities. Make sure there is a backup plan, so that even those not directly responsible for programming or operating a CNC router can step in without missing a beat. Remember, downtime or loss of productivity impacts the bottom line. A machine that’s not cutting is not generating income.
To learn more about AXYZ CNC training and support programs, visit our Service page.
