Computer Aided Manufacturing - CAM

The CAD model data generated during the design process can be utilized further by the Computer Aided Manufacturing process. A good CAD/CAM system eliminates the need to manually calculate tangencies or to do the trigonometry required to calculate tool paths, saving valuable programming time. It also provides a consistent finish and predictable results.

For shops doing a lot of production machining, tool path efficiency becomes another major consideration. If the same part is run hundreds or thousands of times, any wasted moves in the tool path can be costly. One of the recent developments in CAM is the introduction of Knowledge-based Machining.

Knowledge Based Machining simply automates repetitive operations to drastically reduce part programming time especially when a shop finds itself machining a number of the same part features from job to job. A Knowledge-based machining system captures the user's expert knowledge about certain operations, storing them in a database and making tedious information reentry a thing of the past. This aspect of the software is especially helpful for smaller and medium size job shops that don't do a lot of complex three-dimensional machining but instead focus largely on holemaking and 2 1/2 axis milling. Industry statistics indicate that holemaking constitutes over 70% of machine shop operations, while plain milling makes up another 22%.

Computer-Aided Process Planning

Computer-Aided Process Planning is concerned with the preparation of a route sheet for the engineering drawing of the work part which must be interpreted in terms of manufacturing process to be used. The route sheet is a listing of the sequence of operations. Closely related to process planning are the functions of determining appropriate cutting conditions for the machining operations and setting the time standards for the operations which are aided by computers.