A Warm Welcome back
J
We have something a little different for you in this post; an autobiography by the latest hire at SmartCAMcnc, our trainer for our SmartCAM CAM Software, Mr. Casey Baker.
It began before it all started, if you see what we mean
I have been around SmartCAM since before the beginning. Jerry Blakely taught me G & M code
while we worked together at Rear’s
Manufacturing in Eugene.
Jerry wanted me to take over the programming from him, because he wanted
to focus on a new PC-based computer-aided manufacturing software company, which
he co-founded with Bruce Winegarden as Point Control Company in 1984.
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| Jerry Blakely in happy retirement in 2010 |
Alpha-Testing tester to welcome aboard…
Jerry sent me the latest software
they were developing to try out, and report back. It was exciting to be in on
the ground floor of this exciting new CNC technology! In 1987, Jerry hired me
for SmartCAM
technical support. In addition to phone
support, I did trade show demos, and delivered training both in our Oregon
office and at customer sites.
I liked training SmartCAM right from the beginning
I completely enjoyed being a trainer
because it allowed me to learn and to continue learning the new capabilities in
the product, while also helping to advance the knowledge and productivity of
the trainee.
One time I was training SmartCAM
to a group of programmers, and a person asked me how long it took me to learn SmartCAM,
I told him I had not yet learned it all. That was 20 years ago, and it still holds
true today.
In my philosophy of training, I
expose new students to a wide frame of reference guided by the questions they
ask, and capabilities they wish to learn. Different people respond in a wide
variety of ways to the challenge of learning a complex software product, and I
always look forward to the questions.
Here is just one example of a
question I was asked that helped further my knowledge of SmartCAM. I was training a group in SmartCAM Production Milling. On the "Split"
panel there is a field labeled
"Gap", and was developed for the fabrication industry to add shaker
tabs to a sheet of parts, but ….
When we think of a gap, the number is
always positive, right? A gap is the distance from one edge of the gap to the
other. A trainee asked what would happen if we put a negative number in that
field. Hmmm. I had never thought of that, and it was a very good question. So,
we tried a negative number in the field... hit go... and wow! It gave us an
overlap!
When machining a pocket, if the cut
starts and ends at the same exact point, you get a little mark, but if you make
an overlap, you get a much cleaner finish cut through the start point. This was
VERY
HELPFUL! We had just found a new capability for the SmartCAM
milling products!
While some trainers might have
thought "That is a dumb question, as a positive distance is required for
that field". But as they all say,
there are no dumb questions, and as a result we learned something new and very
useful. That is one of my favorite
aspects of training: learning new capabilities and techniques!
Interested and excited by the applications
Over the years, I have seen a wide
variety of industries and in an even wider range of big and small companies,
all making different products! It's always fun to see the countless ways SmartCAM
is being used to make their companies more productive and successful.
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Casey
Baker, SmartCAM Trainer
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I may get to meet and train you before long
I can’t teach people everything there
is to know about SmartCAM, but I can help them build a foundation of SmartCAM
knowledge that allow them to continue to learn and grow with it. That is also
why I love my job training people to use SmartCAM!
Casey
Baker
Applications Engineer /
Software Trainer
Thanks for that, Casey. We’ve learned some stuff that we didn’t know before; about you, about SmartCAM CAM Software and about the history of the product of which we are all so proud. We just love having your infectious enthusiasm around the place!
Do you know Casey?
Why not drop us an email using the link below and say hello.
Have a really great day,
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