What Kinds of CNC Machines

What Kinds of CNC Machines Exist? The short answer is more than we could possibly go into here, but let's try to cover some of the major categories of CNC, which are the most common.

CNC is the acronym for Computer Numerical Control. It is an outgrowth of the older term "NC", which stands for just "Numerical Control". It refers to the idea of controlling machine tools programmatically via computer. With the older "NC" term, a computer need not be involved. The machine might be controlled using, for example, punched tape.

NC, and later CNC, allowed for tremendous increases in productivity for machine tools because the machines could be run automatically without requiring constant attention from their operator. Before the advent of such automation, there was a lesser automation opportunity in the form of hydraulic tracer systems. Such systems used hydraulics to cause the cutting tools of a lathe or mill to follow a template. The taper attachments available for many manual lathes are not unlike the hydraulic tracer capability, it's just that the tracer is capable of more elaborate templates than simple tapers.

But the advent of first NC and then later CNC radically increased the amount of automation that was possible.

CNC Machine Lathes

Some view Lathes as the only universal machine tool because a lathe can make all of the parts needed for another lathe. A lathe spins the workpiece in a spindle while a fixed cutting tool approaches the workpiece to slice chips off of it. Because of this geometry, lathes are ideal for parts that have symmetry around some axis that could be chucked up in the spindle.

CNC Lathes have at the very least the ability to drive the cutting tool under g-code control over 2 axes, referred to as X and Z. They may have a considerable amount of other functionality as well, and there are many variations on lathes such as Swiss Lathes.

The act of cutting a workpiece on a lathe is called "Turning".

CNC Milling Machines

In a mill, the cutter is placed in the spindle where it rotates. The workpiece then moves past the cutter so that chips may be sliced off. The act of cutting a workpiece on a mill is called "Milling".

CNC Mills have at the very least the ability to drive cut in 3 dimensions (some older machines may be limited to 2 or 2 1/2 if there are limitations on when that 3rd dimension may be used) which are referred to as the X, Y, and Z axes.

CNC Routers

A CNC Router is actually a type of CNC Mill, typically one that uses what's called a "gantry" configuration. Typically they're called CNC Routers instead of CNC Gantry Mills when they're used to cut wood, but this need not exclusively be the case.

Many think of CNC machines as being focused on cutting metal, but there is a huge market for CNC woodworking machines of which the CNC Router is the principle example.

There are many more types of CNC machine than just these three most common types including CNC presses of various kinds and so on.

The CNC Controller History

An NC controller receives a set of sequenced instructions, the program, consisting of alphanumeric characters. Numerically Controlled were introduced in the late 1940s and early 1950s, they used for all machine control and data processing before the advent of microprocessors or computers. Computerized Numerically Controlled (CNC) controllers are sometimes still referred to as NC controllers. The controller uses this set of instructions to direct the motions of a machine tool such as a milling machine, lathe machine, plasma cutter and of course CNC router, much like the machine controllers today.

In the past the program was edited and programmed with the very basic computers of the time. The program would then be transported to the NC controller via a tape.
This permitted the program instructions to be read by the controller's tape reader only once and then stored in the controller's memory. Magnetic tape recorders and floppy disk drives were also being used for program recording and storage. There were no direct links between the computer and controller on early CNC control systems.

This permitted the program instructions to be read by the controller's tape reader only once and then stored in the controller's memory. Magnetic tape recorders and floppy disk drives were also being used for program recording and storage. There were no direct links between the computer and controller on early CNC control systems.

Debugging an N/C program before the advent of the computerized NC required making a new tape, trying out the new tape, finding the next error, making another tape, and so on.
The process of debugging a new program could require making a dozen or more punched tapes until an error free program was achieved. Engineering changes required a new tape to be made and debugged.

Modern CNC Controllers 

Today, with the use of powerful microprocessors and computer systems, the NC controller now communicated directly to a computer system with a real time link. This is the CNC controller that is standard today.

The CNC controllers today do far more than drive motors. Some CNC control systems have the capabilities to machine control spindle speeds, coolant flow, and other peripherals.
Modern CNC controllers still require operators to create a program for the controller to follow. Operators today receive help from Software such as Computer-Aided Design (CAD) packages and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software along with the controller software to create the necessary numerical code such as G-code.

The CNC controllers today range from professional standalone control systems, with their own keyboard and user interface, to hobby CNC control system that require a personal computer.

ADTECH-as a leading provider of CNC machine control application solutions 10 years in China, it adopt new advantage CNC controller, user-friendly interface design, stronger functions, which can customized process based on user request. They apply to the different types, different axes CNC machine control.

Machine Controllers

Machine Controllers take your machining instructions from your G-Code and converts the G-Code into motion. You are off to the races. The controller interprets the signal pulses from your Control Computer and instructs the machine to move.

The Machine Controller is made up of various electrical parts. Remember earlier that I said some electronic junkies flock to CNC. This is why. Machine controllers can be built if you are savvy with a soldering iron. I personally always default to ordering up a Machine Controller from one of my sources.

Controller builders to me are electronic gods. They mix power sources, match up Amp, Volts, etc into the item I need. Generally, you can pick the number of Axis you want before they build the controller. For example, if you are building a CNC Plasma Cutter you may want a two-axis plasma cutter controller. Possibly a three-axis controller if you have a Torch Height Control. If you have a milling machine or a wood router in mind, then a three axis is your ticket. If you want to machine with a rotary axis, then you need a four-axis controller. So on and so forth.

ADTECH provides machine controllers in industrial motion control filed, it widely used in milling machine, CNC plasma cutter, lathe machine, welding machine and so on, which is becoming a typical brand in application to motion control field. 

Industrial Robotics Expands Beyond the Automotive Industry

Thanks to the maturation of robotics technology, a growing number of industries are using industrial robotics for a wider range of applications.

Chris Bailey can't emphasize it enough: in recent months has been "barraged" with inquiries about the company's industrial roboticwelding systems.

The barrage is coming from manufacturers that survived the recession and are looking for ways to increase output in the face of a strengthening economy -- without adding headcount.

"So they're looking for more productivity tools," says Bailey, general manager of Lincoln Electric's Automation Division.

The interest in robotic welding systems, Bailey adds, isn't just coming from the industry's core customers, automotive companies.

With the equipment, pendants and software becoming easier to use, and price points coming down, Bailey is seeing more interest from a wider range of industrial users -- from aerospace to alternative-energy companies, from large to small manufacturers.

"These are very, very versatile robots that [the industry is] coming out with," says Wieczerza, a professor of engineering and advanced technology at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. "We're looking at the entire industrial spectrum -- you name it and you'll find a robot."

Macomb Community College, which launched a joint industrial robotics 

Macomb Community College, which launched a joint robotics certification program with Fanuc Robotics America Corp. in September 2010, notes that its certificate is applicable not only to the automotive industry but also to the aerospace, consumer-goods, food, medical, pharmaceutical and solar-panel industries.

"In the '80s, there was only one size of robot, and it basically only did one thing," says Mike Cicco, general manager of distribution sales for Fanuc industrial Robots America. "And right now, there are over 200 different types of industrial robotics that, and they have the ability to pick up 500 grams all the way up to 3,000 pounds. So the number of different places we can put them is really incredible."

Along with that wider range of capabilities, Cicco explains, industrial robotics' heightened vision and intelligence are making them more accessible to small and midsize manufacturers.

ADTECH’s industrial robots are widely used in welding, food and beverage, medical, pharmaceutical and other industries, the robots Designed for small and medium-sized industrial enterprises.