CAD/CAM Introduction for CNC Beginners

CAD/CAM not only promotes the change of production mode, but also promotes the development of the market. At present, CAD/CAM technology has been applied in many fields, especially in the CNC numerical control industry. Designing with computer assistance is distinctly different from traditional human-centered design. According to the product development plan and the requirements for product functions, it is no longer only relying on the designer’s personal knowledge and ability to design, but using a variety of knowledge including the designer himself and stored in the computer, supported by the CAD system and database work below. The products designed by this way of working are much better than the products designed by a single designer with individual brainpower and ability.

CNC – Computerized Numerical Control

CNC is a new type of processing technology. The main work is to compile processing programs and convert the original manual work into computer programming. The CNC machine tool feed processing route refers to the path that the turning tool travels from the tool point until it returns to this point and ends the processing program, including the cutting path and the tool cut-in and cut-out. The non-cutting idle travel path, and the finishing feed path are basically performed sequentially along its part contour. Therefore, the point of determining the route is. Determine the feed path for roughing and idle travel. CNC machining refers to the machining performed with CNC machining tools. CNC is an index-controlled machine tool that is programmed and controlled by a CNC machining language, usually G code. The CNC machining G code language tells the machining tool of the CNC machine tool, which Cartesian position coordinates to use, and controls the feed rate and spindle speed of the tool, and Tool cooler, coolant and other functions.

CAD-Computer Aided Design

CAD refers to the use of computers and their graphics equipment to help designers carry out design work. In the design, a large number of calculations, analysis and comparisons of different schemes are usually used to determine the optimal scheme; all kinds of design information, whether digital, text or graphics, can be stored in the computer’s memory or external It can be stored and retrieved quickly; the designer usually starts the design with a sketch, and the heavy work of turning the sketch into a working drawing can be done by the computer; the design results automatically generated by the computer can be quickly drawn, so that the designer can timely Make judgments and modifications to the design; use the computer to perform graphic data processing work related to graphic editing, zooming in, zooming out, translation, copying and rotation.

Software: AutoCAD

CAM -Computer Aided Manufacturing

CAM is the use of computer-aided activities to complete the entire process from production preparation to product manufacturing, that is, by directly or indirectly linking the computer with the manufacturing process and production equipment, the computer system is used to plan, manage, and control the production equipment. With the running of operations, processing the data required in the product manufacturing process, controlling and processing the flow of materials (blanks and parts, etc.), testing and inspecting the product, etc.
The core is computer numerical control (referred to as numerical control programming), which is to generate NC codes that can be read by machine tools through computer programming, so that machine tools can run more accurately and efficiently, saving a lot of costs for enterprises.

The CAM software on the market includes: UG NX, Pro/NC, CATIA, CAD/CAM integrated ZW3D, cimatron, MasterCAM, SurfCAM, SPACE-E, CAMWORKS, WorkNC, TEBIS, HyperMILL, Powermill, Gibbs CAM, FEATURECAM , topsolid, solidcam, cimtron, vx, esprit, gibbscam, Edgecam, Artcam… and many more.