CNC Blog November Archive

Name of your website?

Machine Tools

Your name?

Rachel Porter

Your Location (city, etc)

Congleton

Please give us a short summary of your website?

Machine tool directory listing 1000's of lathes specifications, machine tool manufacuturers and european machine tool dealers

Read more: Machine Tools Interview [click]

Choose your drafting instruments at Office1000 - Part 1

Choosing the right drafting tools will make your job easier. Here at Office1000, we have a large selection of drafting tools from the instruments to measure with, to the pencils to draw with, to the table to draw on. In this post, we will focus on the actual drafting and drawing implements.

Drafting Aids and Writing Instruments: We have several different kinds of drafting aids. We offer the C-Thru Ruler products such as styrene drafting triangles, french curve ruler sets or individual rulers in assorted sizes, and stencil brushes in sizes from 3/4" to 2".

From Helix International we carry the Oxford Math Set in which each Hardcase Set Features:

• Compass
• 6" ruler
• 45 degree/45 degree triangles
• Pencil eraser
• 180 degree protracter
• 10mm lettering stencil
• Pencil sharpener
• 3-1/2" and 7" pencils
• Timetables
• Factsheet

We offer many other Helix International drawing aids as well such as protractors and compasses.

From Sakura, you will find the Pigma Micron Markers in both carded stock and sets. These markers have waterproof, quick drying pigmented inks that will not bleed through the thinnest of papers or fabrics. Once dry, inks are smearproof, permanent, and fade resistant even under sun light or UV light. These nibs do not dry out like most technical pens.

Staedtler offers the self-adhesive, repositionable drafting dots for easy, and convenient positioning of drafting media on your drawing board. Also from Staedtler we offer both the 14" and the 10" horsehair dusting brushes for quick, convenient removal of eraser dust from drawing surfaces and the Staedtler Ames Lettering Guide for drawing parallel guide lines for lettering. These guides are calibrated in 1/32" increments, and includes settings for 9 letter sizes, 10 metric sizes, and lower case letters in 2/3 and 3/5 ratios.

Another popular item is the Sanford Turquoise 2375 Leads and Lead Holders. We have many different types of pencils for drawing and drafting.

Axis in context of CNC machining

In this blog we will learn about the axes in context of CNC machining. We know from the study of geometry that an axis refers to a line which acts as a reference for defining the position of any point in space.

Two axis can define the position of a point in a two dimensional plane while 3 axis are required to define the position of a point in the three dimensional context. This discussion is necessary this context of CNC machining because the cutting tool also has to be referred to a particular point in space in relation to the work piece.

Apart from the three dimensions which define the position of the working tool, the fourth dimension can also be defined in terms of CNC machining which is present due to the motion of the worktable along the vertical and horizontal planes.

Some of the machines also define a fifth dimension which is due to the flexibility of the spindle to rotate at an angle as compared to the work piece. Of course in the earlier days a manual operator did all these manipulations of moving the tool and the work piece in different dimensions but these days precise computer control can be used to do the same.

CNC Drill Press

We have seen various types of lathes with go with numerical control but that are not the only machines which utilize CNC add-on. There are numerous other machines such as the drill machine which use CNC including drilling machines.

Well you might think what sort of arrangement would be it because as we a drilling machine is simply used to make a hole inside a piece of metal. This seems to be a fairly simple operation which should not require much automation. Nevertheless there do exist such machines which incorporate CNC and are used for drilling but usually they are not stand alone drill machines but incorporate other functions like milling and turning within them.

As can be imagined a numerically controlled CNC drill can be used to automatically drill holes within the surface of a material and also can be set to drill several holes on a surface at required dimensions.

One possible use of this function can be in the manufacture of printed circuit boards which usually contain a lot of holes for inserting the legs of electronic components and subsequent soldering. It also finds its uses in various facets of the manufacturing industry to carry out automated operations.

G-Code, M-Code, the important phenomenon

There is an important phenomenon which anyone dealing with CNC machines and numerical control should be knowing and that is the method by which the numerical codes such as the G-code and M-code works in actual practise.

This is important because the knowledge of the underlying process would help a person to appreciate the importance of the same and to handle any discrepancies that might arise during the manufacture process using numerical control on CNC machines. This is important because inappropriate or inefficient use of M-code can lead to deterioration of the execution time of a program.

To take a simple example let us support that the code M03 is executed on a CNC machine. This particular code turns the spindle on in a forward direction. Hence a signal is given to the spindle motor in order to execute the command. But what do you think happens after that?

Well it might be anybody's guess you might say and the next step or code would be executed but you are wrong here if you think that way. The controller waits to see whether the spindle actually reaches the speed at which it is meant to operate before actually going on towards the next step.

This is obviously important since any lapse in such a feedback could ruin the manufacturing process.