CNC (Computer Numerical Control) technology has been around since 1970s. Ever since its existence, it has been able to transform manufacturing into a faster and more efficient production line. Metal and big industries are not the only ones using this technology, CNC woodworking businesses are also using this automation processes.
What is CNC technology?
In it simplest sense, CNC machines intends to replace manual work with automated processes and work together with other manufacturing processes. For example, manually drilling holes would take a while, imagine drilling in large numbers, it is likely that a person would experience fatigue and increase the possibility of human error in the manufacturing line.
CNC machines could reduce human-related errors and retain consistency, accuracy and precision in their work pieces. Aside from that CNC could also reduce the amount of time spent on production, thus increasing productivity. Given these benefits, it is very likely that businessmen, from small businesses to large scale woodwork business, will use CNC machines for their production.
How does it work?
CNC machines are programmed and controlled by a software. The design that would be followed by the machine is used by the CAD module. It is the Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) which ensures that the movement of the motor or the machine is controlled.
Once the machine is already set-up, using it would be easy. It could work for 24 ours straight or even for the entire year. What it would need is just an occasional break for its regular schedule of maintenance. Operators are trained with the software which would allow them to control the CNC equipment. The trainings are performed using a virtual game.
What can they do?
CNC machines have common characteristics: having axis which could be programmed towards a specific direction or motion. A CNC machine is more complex if it has more axes. This axes would determine the motion of the machine which is important in the manufacturing process.
Additional features may be included in CNC woodworking equipments, like the automatic tool changer, spindle speed and the coolant. The automatic tool changer replaces the spindle automatically when needed. Coolants offer cooling and lubrication for the CNC machine.
The CNC woodworking equipment has a controller which would interpret the commands send by the CNC program. The CNC program can be considered as an instruction set or the step by step procedure of the manufacturing process. In woodworking, the most common operation used would be the routing, which is also drilling. There are CNC equipments which can have several tools and perform different tasks, but uses one interface.
Its impact
With the use of CNC machines in woodworking, it has improved methods of production and increased the number of work pieces finished without sacrificing its quality. Since the CNC woodworking equipments are precise and accurate, it could replicate 10,000 quality pieces.
CNC woodworking machines were able to provide ease in production and manufacturing. Quality was replicated in each product, thus, increasing customer satisfaction.
