Computer Numerical Control

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Practical Applications of CNC

Manufacturing anything that requires exact measurements requires cutting edge precision and nimbleness from the worker. Most of the time manufacturing these kinds of products requires weeks or months to finish therefore slowing down productivity as well as consistency of the manufacturers.

Computer Numerical Control or more commonly called as CNC’s are the new trend in machine shop manufacturing and practice. Any manufacturing environment owns one or is basically acquainted to this kind of device because of its capability to increase productivity as well as consistency on the products being produced.

Benchmarked from Numerical Control (NC) during the late 50’s, Computer Numerical Control incorporate the functionality of a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), meaning you could program it to execute different functions depending on the type of manufacturing that the industry needs.

Given this kind of quality what does the Computer Numerical Control do in the practical application concept? CNC can do a variety of things depending on how the machine operator would program the system. The more acquainted the machine operator is to the CNC machine the more complex applications as well as programming can be made. Practical applications of CNC range from drilling, lathes, multi-axis spindles, milling machines, laser cutting machines, and wire electrical discharge machines.

Let’s discuss some of these common applications further. In Metal fabrication, Computer Numerical controlled Lathe’s are used to fabricate metal sheet by shearing, flame or plasma cutting, punching, laser cutting, forming and welding. Most CNC Lathe’s are used for designing modern carbide tooling. The design could be created with the Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) process, and when done, the CNC could start creating the product automatically with little supervision from the machine operator.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is the process of removing metal with the use of electrical sparks to take away the metal. These Electrical Discharge Machine has two types, the vertical EDM and wire EDM. Vertical EDM uses an electrode that is the shape of the cavity to be machined into a work piece. Wire EDM is used to create punch and die combinations in the fabrication industry. Computer Numerical Control EDM’s are not usually known because it is mostly incorporated to other CNC process.

Drilling is the most common machine process. Computer Numerical Controlled Drilling is used to create precise right circular cylinders over a certain material, the CNC could be programmed to create holes on different standards, most of the time this is the gaps between these holes. Drilling is commonly used in wood working manufacturing process in which other process is also involved such as milling, turning and grinding.

Several tools for creating holes with CNC’s involve varied hole sizes as well as drill press for creating different depths on its holes. CNC drills are equipped depending on the type of hole that the machine operator is drilling.

Applications stated above are just a few examples on what the Computer Numerical Control could execute. Depending on how you want it to perform, more complex designs can be made and a lot of things can be made in a shorter period of time, therefore the key concept for the proper use of CNC’s is that the machine operator must know what he or she wants to do.

This makes the CNC an indispensable tool for the Manufacturing Industry nowadays.

The Different CNC Machines

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CNC has different applications depending on the machines that operate on it. So if you're a budding operator, you should know the most common machines that can operate on CNC.

Milling

Milling machines are common CNC machines. These devices are used in the shaping of metal and other solid materials. It is basically a rotating cutter and a table. Milling machines are capable of complex toolpaths as the cutter is not limited to a sideways movement but allows for an “in and out” motion. This movement is precisely controlled by moving the table and the cutter relative to each other. Cutting fluid is then pumped in to lubricate and cool the cut and to remove any swarth that is generated by the cut.

Lathes

Lathes are machines that perform different operations such as sanding, cutting, knurling, deformation, or even drilling. These machines work by spinning various solid objects and then using tools that are symmetric to the axis of rotation. A lathe machine has a single tool in which the workpiece is worked against the tool. The tool is then worked alongside or into the workpiece in order to generate the feed.

Lathes can be used for different operations.

Machining Centers

These are more complex CNC machines that combine milling and turning. As milling was described earlier, turning will be the focus of this section.

Turning is the process by which a central lathe is used in conjunction with the rotation of the material to be turned. The cutting tool is then moved along the two axes of motions to produce accurate dimensions.

Combining turning and milling can produce extremely precise components. And that is what these machines are used for. However, due to the complexity of these machines, operators have to be specialists in order to be able to operate with maximum efficiency.

Electrical discharge machine

An electrical discharge machine (EDM) creates cavities in metals by emitting electric sparks. This process requires an electrode, coolant, a power source, and a tank. The cycle is accomplished by connecting the workpiece to one side of the power supply and then placing it in the tank. An electrode (made in the shape of the cavity required) is then connected to the other side of the power supply.

The tanks is then filled with coolant and the electrode is lowered until a spark jumps between the work and the electrode. As the coolant is a dielectric substance (resists electric currents), it requires a smaller difference in distance in order for a spark to jump through. This means that when the spark appears, the dielectric property has been overcome. The spark then dislodges material thereby creating a cavity in the shape of the electrode.

CNC systems

CNC systems are complex machines that transfer and store data regarding the operation mechanism of the machines. Motion programs include point to point control, straight cut control, and contouring control.

Point to point control means the control of the tools from one point to another in the coordinate plane. This method of control is commonly used in drilling and boring operations.

Straight cut control is the method by which a tool is moved in all axes of the machine. The tool also has the ability to move in a 45 degree angle.

Contouring control is the means to create a toolpath. It moves the tools by interpolating points or coordinates that make up the path for the tool to follow.