How long does it take you to program?

Getting the question of how long it will take to program a measuring routine is always rough.  People often have the impression that CMM programming should be faster than it actually is.  It is especially rough when you are the only programmer at a company, and you are getting pressure from all directions to have an unreasonable turnaround.  Hopefully you are in a good work environment and people are giving you the benefit of the doubt. 

I would say a reasonable size part with 150 dimensions to report would take somewhere between 4 to 24 work hours for me to program.  I will often give someone a wide range like that and then tell them I’ll look over the print and get back to them with a more precise time estimate.  The wide range in that estimate depends completely on how complicated the part is to fixture and how tricky it is to get at things with the probe(s).  I have had some parts that looked relatively simple end up taking a whole shift to fully take in the inspection requirements and figure out how the heck to fixture the part and organize a measuring approach that accounts for as many potential problems as I can predict. 

As for your other question.  More often than not my programs run perfectly the first time.  In real time crunches I have even started long 8-10 hour measuring routines before I left for the day and came back the next morning to find that the program successfully ran through the night – It’s pretty sweet feeling when that actually works out!  As Henniger123 says, collision detection is quite reliable, and I use it often.  However, I also have the luxury of being one of many CMM programmers where I work, and I often get to write programs a month or two before the part ever arrives in the QC lab – I basically get as much time as I want to check and double check my programs.  It is not a matter of being perfect, it is just a matter of being diligent in finding and fixing my mistakes beforehand. 

I have also worked in more fast-paced environments where I would come into work and find a new part waiting on my desk for a new CMM program.  In that case I would cut more corners when creating a program and fix issues at the CMM during the prove out.  It is nice to have it run perfectly the first time, but the extra care it takes to make that happen can sometimes be more trouble than it is worth. 

Getting the question of how long it will take to program a measuring routine is always rough.  People often have the impression that CMM programming should be faster than it actually is.  It is especially rough when you are the only programmer at a company, and you are getting pressure from all directions to have an unreasonable turnaround.  Hopefully you are in a good work environment and people are giving you the benefit of the doubt. 

I would say a reasonable size part with 150 dimensions to report would take somewhere between 4 to 24 work hours for me to program.  I will often give someone a wide range like that and then tell them I’ll look over the print and get back to them with a more precise time estimate.  The wide range in that estimate depends completely on how complicated the part is to fixture and how tricky it is to get at things with the probe(s).  I have had some parts that looked relatively simple end up taking a whole shift to fully take in the inspection requirements and figure out how the heck to fixture the part and organize a measuring approach that accounts for as many potential problems as I can predict. 

As for your other question.  More often than not my programs run perfectly the first time.  In real time crunches I have even started long 8-10 hour measuring routines before I left for the day and came back the next morning to find that the program successfully ran through the night – It’s pretty sweet feeling when that actually works out!  As Henniger123 says, collision detection is quite reliable, and I use it often.  However, I also have the luxury of being one of many CMM programmers where I work, and I often get to write programs a month or two before the part ever arrives in the QC lab – I basically get as much time as I want to check and double check my programs.  It is not a matter of being perfect, it is just a matter of being diligent in finding and fixing my mistakes beforehand. 

I have also worked in more fast-paced environments where I would come into work and find a new part waiting on my desk for a new CMM program.  In that case I would cut more corners when creating a program and fix issues at the CMM during the prove out.  It is nice to have it run perfectly the first time, but the extra care it takes to make that happen can sometimes be more trouble than it is worth.