TABLE OF CONTENTS The development of any CNC program begins with a very carefully planned process. Such a process starts with the engineering drawing (technical print) of the required part released for production. Before the part is machined, several steps have to be considered and carefully evaluated. The more effort is put into the planning stage of the program, the better results may be expected at the end.
The steps required in program planning are decided by the nature of the work. There is no useful formula for all the jobs, but some basic steps should be considered:
Initial information/Machine tools features
Part complexity
Manual programming/Computerized programming
Typical programming procedure
Part drawing/Engineering data
Methods sheet/Material specifications
Machining sequence
Tooling selection
Part setup
Technological decisions
Work sketch and calculations
Quality considerations in CNC programming
The steps in the list are suggestions only - a guideline. They are quite flexible and should always be adapted for each job and to the specific conditions of the work.
Most drawings define only the shape and size of the completed part and normally do not specify data about the initial blank material. For programming, a good knowledge of the material is an essential start - mainly in terms of its size, type, shape, condition, hardness, etc. The drawing and material data are the primary information about the part. At this point, CNC program can be planned. The objective of such a plan is to use the initial information and establish the...
