a question of curiousity......

[Ravenmaniac]

Question........just for info. only.....Paul, James (Iron Man), kbotta, craiger ny and all of you others with the gazillion on line hours and inputs which, trust me, are all appreciated, find the time to do so? Are you guys on line all the time? I'm just curious as half the time I'm running around like a fireman solving engineering and quality issues here at work just to get parts and programs out the door but you "elite" are there for help and assitance like the "Keebler Elves" are around cookies. I find that sometimes I can't find time to check the forum for days and I really wish I could because if you don't constantly stay attuned you miss valuable advice and issues with software and techique questions. I just wish I had your time.....I guess in reality I'm just jealous as h*ll. Just a "things that make you go "huh?"question" people.....keep up the great work. The advice you serve is invaluable........I hope that in about 20 years maybe I'll approach "senior" status....B

[Wes Cisco]

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I am online all day and often check in from home at night. (Sad I know). There are many threads I do not read. There are many others that I want to read, but can see that I do not have time. I post and read when I have programs running, and thru my lunch break. I must confess that I spend more time on this board than I should, but I consider it one of the fringe bennefits of my job. I am in a very unique position. I have my room mostly to myself. There is a comparator and a phone in here that people come in to use often, but usually they are only here for few minutes at a time. I am the only person in my company that has a clue about dcc cmm, much less pc-dmis. I do not get a lot of "hurry up" pressure. The job market in Houston right now is such I could have another job paying as well or better and very likely closer to home within hours of begining to look. So I am left alone to do my job as I see fit. I believe for the most part they are very happy with the job I am doing. They would like, of course, for it to be done instantly and all dimensions to be in tolerance - LOL - but they are pleased with what I do. I know I am very lucky to be able to spend so much time on this board, and do not always expect to be able to do so, so I am taking advantage of it while I can. And trying to help others as much as I can too. I too am curious to hear what some of the others have to say.

[Ravenmaniac]

Yes Wes I can say that many atime your voice has carried greatly in the chorus...I'm curoius to the other responses when they check back in on Monday. Like you, I sadly find myself investigating new softwares, engineering protocalls and design techniques on my own time at night, at home. It's the only time I get to myself, uninterupted to learn new things and keep on the edge. Big companies don't allow time for that. (I'm a General Dynamics peon)
They think we just blink our eyes and the newest techical sh*t offered out there pops into our heads in seconds and we're ready to go......Thanx for all your inputs...let's read on....B

[LOUGUN]

Ditto on that,
working @ home is a common event now days..
the wife still wants to know why I got 4 puter and an apple in one room .
.I just keep telling the wife, I'm trying out programs

[Ken379128]

whew glad I am not the only one on hone at night on the forums. Now on to my other internet obsession Warcraft......

[JamesMannes]

I am online all day. That is, my computer is on all day so I am "online" all day. I check in while programs are being run or being run through for testing purposes. I am the programmer on first shift for 4 CMM's and 3 areas. I program in AVAIL and PCDMIS. I program in AVAIL for our die cast in-process CMM(parts checked on a daily/hourly basis 38 die cast machines). I program in AVAIL for our CNC department CMM(28 machines). And I program in PC-DMIS for our PPAP/ISIR/First Article, plus any thing else that needs to have quality inspected in to it(joke). The guys on the off shifts don't know AVAIL so I get it all. Also, I keep an open document (available to all managers to view) of my daily activities. Programming is the only thing I do and I do it all day, aside from manual measurement of some stuff not measurable via CMM.

[Ravenmaniac]

I'll be d*mned James...you are Tony Stark!

[craiger_ny]

Ever since I took a quality engineer position my *** has been glued to a chair doing paperwork. I hate it and liked being a technician better. I flip between apps to the forum as I get bored and need to break my gaze away from spreadsheets every so often. I did not find this forum until after I took this position and to be honest if I were a tech I'd be happier. I'd be on the forum a lot less often but over all I'd be happier. I am rarely at a CMM anymore as our machines here are dedicated so most of my posts here are made without me even being at one of my CMMs. I don't even have an off-line copy. Well time to get back to that PPAP I'm working on. Gotta love control plans, that is what I tell myself anyway.

I check from home too.

Craig

[kbotta]

I stay logged in.
This is really the only surfing I do anymore (at work).
When a program is running, or I have a free minute, it only takes a second to "see whats up".
Kev

[ag162]

I also check in here in the evenings. If you are a dedicated pc dmis programmer, I guess you are concerned about your comrads out there in the field and their well being. Either that or we are just plain nuts for having this on our minds at home. It may be an obsession,,,,,,,,,,,,or the first sign of too much stress.........who knows. I don't even program with pc dmis at this time. I run cam2 with a faro. But my many years with pc dmis keeps me here and keeps my updated, just in case I find it in my career again.

A.Gore

[ag162]

Hey Craiger,
I'm a Quality Engineer here and to save money, I also do the measuring. Talk about being busy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily this is not for automotive. I don't have to deal with PPAP subs or control plans or PFMEA's or the many other related documents. I mainly put the dim reports into AIAG type formats, keep the groups organized etc. Bottom line,,,,I'm only at my desk 10% of the time.
Consider yourself lucky.

A.Gore

[Ravenmaniac]

craiger and ag I feel your pain........When we ran into quality vs engineering problems with some of our projects, the perfect solution was obtained by my "volunteering." The question arose in an engineering meeting one day of "has anyone ever worked directly in quality before?....we need someone to t-e-m-p-o-r-a-r-i-l-y work with QC on some problems we're having." Me being the class idiot just blurted out, "Oh yeah, I worked at NIST for a spell before I went back to school for engineering"........................that was many, many years ago and I've been in quality ever since. And since I have to solve everything from the setups to print explanations I find that I must constantly be on top of Q.C.issues with PCDMIS as well as engineering design and compatability studies. I do enjoy the fact that I get to readily get on the CMM's and program, trying new techniques and trying out new softwares. But time?.....boy....it's a luxury around here that I find very fleeting. That's where YOU guys come in. And don't think it hasn't been used and appreciated. Advice from the forum (example over a year ago from Wes involving corrupt startup files) saved us a 2000 dollar service call. All I can say is...."Stay on line and keep that data stream coming!"...Thanx.....B

[jmgreen]

Around here it can be feast or famine. Like some, I usually check when running programs or we are slow. Some days I'm stuck on CAD and don't even see the CMM. so it just depends. This is why I have gaps in my responses/questions sometimes.

[Paul Barriage]

There are many times I read the posts till I see the question has been answered. Hence my low number. While I could spend the time my machine is calibrating tips by either moveing to one of the other 3 machines or helping an engineer who seems to be lost (deer in headlights), I find that if I leave the machine, it is way too easy to get "involved" elsewhere and forget the timing on my initial project. So, I spend the time calibrating in here. My "boss" also works in this room. He finds the stuff I bring from this forum as valuable as I do. Those minute little details that you just hadn't played with yet, info from the guys trying new versions,...etc. This is all valuable stuff. The relationships that result are well worth the time investment to us.
http://baggy3.info/signani3.gif

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

Well, lets see..... Checking a part with 210 features takes quite a bit of time, leaving me free to run 2 WEDM's. Well, they run for hours without attention, so that still leaves me time to 'visit' this site and the other Pcdmis sites, as well as a WEDM site. Then, I also work/tweak/create Excel forms that help me with inspection, but once you get them 'perfect' (after years of work), then you have your 'free time' back to visit the site. I am not here much when I am making new programs (too time consuming) but I do try to 'visit' a couple-three times a day even then. It does help keep ME up-to-date on the latest blunders, er, improvements to Pcdmis. Right now, I am running a 5-pc study on parts that have 200+ check points, so I will have some 'free time' today.