How do you estimate / quote programming times?

Hey, all!

I am looking for a very simple answer to a very complicated question. I have a TON of work ahead of me and my boss wants to know how long it will take to complete.

I have a very broad spectrum of parts that are all quite different from each other. I have heard that a general rule of thumb is you can apply "five minutes per touch". I have, at the end of a program, counted how many touches the CMM takes, and I can look at how long it took to me to program the part, and this rule of thumb, isn't that far off.

The problem is BEFORE programming, or putting in too much work, I would like a quick and easy method to arrive at a ballpark guess at programming time. I have lots of experience, and I can look at a part and give a ballpark estimate, but my boss wants a layman or someone who is not a CMM programmer to be able to look at a model of a part, and by feature count or some other metric, be able to determine how long it would take a CMM programmer to write a program. (approx.)

Anyone out there know a trick or rule of thumb that could help me out here? Thanks in advance!

TheWhiteSpider
PC-DMIS 2013
offline CAD++
NX/Unigraphics into .IGES files

Parents

WolfMan over 9 years ago

a general rule for me is 5-10m per dim. Normally if you are a beginner and not familiar with the parts/product 10min is ok. If you are familiar with the product I would say 5-7 min per dim is ok.

example: 10m per dim
Say you have a TP callout, you would count 2 Basic dim +TP callout 10+10 +10=30m

Say you have a TP callout on 10 holes, you would add BASICs (angle +locations)+ BHP dia+ 10 holes:

10+10+ 100= 120m

I know it may sound like a lot, and it is, that's why its a general rule for unfamiliar parts and for a beginner. Typically I use 7m rule on the familiar product and 10 for unfamiliar, to ensure I have some wiggle room.

Please don't tear up my post, this is just what I use, doesn't mean its for everyone.

I started with using 10m/dim at first then I changed it to 7/m and it worked out well for me.

There are times, when you may have to deal with something you not sure how to do, in that case I would change it to 15m/Dim. There times when things just go bad, and you want to make sure you do not underbid.

How many times have you recreated a new program from scratch, either due to data loss, or due to bad programming? How many times, had it take you a week or more to figure out how to do something? these are the questions you need to ask yourself. and add time accordingly.
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WolfMan over 9 years ago

a general rule for me is 5-10m per dim. Normally if you are a beginner and not familiar with the parts/product 10min is ok. If you are familiar with the product I would say 5-7 min per dim is ok.

example: 10m per dim
Say you have a TP callout, you would count 2 Basic dim +TP callout 10+10 +10=30m

Say you have a TP callout on 10 holes, you would add BASICs (angle +locations)+ BHP dia+ 10 holes:

10+10+ 100= 120m

I know it may sound like a lot, and it is, that's why its a general rule for unfamiliar parts and for a beginner. Typically I use 7m rule on the familiar product and 10 for unfamiliar, to ensure I have some wiggle room.

Please don't tear up my post, this is just what I use, doesn't mean its for everyone.

I started with using 10m/dim at first then I changed it to 7/m and it worked out well for me.

There are times, when you may have to deal with something you not sure how to do, in that case I would change it to 15m/Dim. There times when things just go bad, and you want to make sure you do not underbid.

How many times have you recreated a new program from scratch, either due to data loss, or due to bad programming? How many times, had it take you a week or more to figure out how to do something? these are the questions you need to ask yourself. and add time accordingly.
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