Sub-plates and component tooling dramatically simplify the hard and fixed task of making workholding setups on machining centers. This kind of tooling can be purchased from standard suppliers or made by your own people.
Applications for five-axis machining fall into two distinct categories. The first is related to machining very complex shapes, as is required in aerospace and the mold industry.
Constant surface speed is a great turning center feature. It simplifies programming because the speed is specified directly in surface feet per minute (or meters per minute in the metric mode).
Machine tool builders are constantly striving to provide better machines capable of handling more applications efficiently. Yet they are also highly concerned with safety issues.
You probably know that most current CNC controls will display all currently instated modes (commonly set by G codes). With one popular control, this is part of the program check display screen function.
Over the last 10 years, I've been scouring the Internet in search of a realistic training environment that would be appropriate for my CNC courses. While I've found a number of informative sites (that are listed on my company's Web page under "links"), most are simply a series of hypertext links that let you read about the subject of interest.
It should go without saying that a programmer has a big impact on how easy it is to set up a job. The programmer is, of course, the person who creates the documentation.
Variations in workpiece material and/or cutting tools will often require operators to change cutting conditions (mostly spindle speed and feed rate) during a production run. Most manufacturing companies do allow their CNC people to make these changes as they are required to do so.
All current model CNC controls allow offsets to be changed during the execution of the CNC program. That is, operators can change an offset during a production run while the machine is running.
Most machining center programs require but one offset per tool. When it comes to tool length compensation, for example, most applications require that you use one tool length compensation offset for each tool.
In value added terms, there are only two tasks occurring in any business—value added tasks and necessary support tasks. Value added tasks further the completion of a product.