Welcome to the final part our 3-part series about the basic CNC terminology that new users will encounter on a day-to-day basis. Let’s wrap it up with these final 21 terms machinists will be incorperating into their daily vocabulary!
What is RS-232 used for?
Communication.
What is DNC?
Direct Numeric Control.
A group of machining operations.
What does profile mean?
A standard 2D machining strategy that follows around the outside or inside of a part profile.
A process for removing the most amount of material before finishing toolpath is used. Removing layers of material, stepping down in the Z-Axis while cutting.
What does plunge mean?
To move a tool down into the material cutting with the bottom of the tool.
What is semi-finishing?
Generally used with complex 3D parts, a process in between roughing and finishing.
What is a cycle?
A complete process or sequence of processes from beginning to end.
What does bore mean?
To make a hole in something.
What does counter-bore mean?
To increase the diameter at a hole’s opening.
Where users create their lists of operations and toolpath to be performed at the machine.
What does stepover mean?
The distance the tool moves over between cuts.
What is an equidistant offset contour toolpath?
A finishing toolpath that maintains an exact step over for the tool regardless of the model’s complexity.
What does radial mean?
To be arranged like rays that are coming out from a common center.
A toolpath that comes out from a common center upwards, downwards, or zigzag.
What does spiral mean?
To wind around a center with an increasing distance from center.
A finishing toolpath that has one start and one finish point and moves in a spiral formation.
What is pocketing?
A method of cutting into the surface and hollowing out a piece of material creating a pocket.
A method of producing screw threads that uses a rotating tool to cut.
How does the arc fit option in 3 axis toolpaths help a customer?
It reduces lines of code and it’s easier for the machine to process 1 arc line versus thousands of small line segments.
What is cycle time calculation?
How much time it takes to machine a single part from start to finish.
There you have it! That concludes part 3 of our 3-part introduction to CAD-CAM terminology. Now that you are armed with the right lingo, the sky is the limit in your machining endeavors!
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