CNC Machining in industry

What I will be speaking about Types of CNC machining Some common misconceptions Skills required in industry Job opportunities in manufacturing in India

Metal forming Metal cutting Types of CNC machining Metal cutting accounts for most of the CNC machining. Metal cutting machines are far more numerous.

Tool room - 3D milling

Aerospace - 5 axes milling

Production - Turning

Production - milling

CNC machining types – in a nutshell 6. Die casting die Production machining (2D milling, turning) Tool room machining (3d / 5-axes milling)

Some common misconceptions

Most industries do 3D, 5-axes machining. A few low tech industries do production machining. Misconception 1

Which of these parts do you see most often on shop floors ? What type of machining do you mainly see in these firms ?

Production machining accounts for 95 % of CNC milling. 3D / 5-axes milling for 5 %.

3D, 5-axes machining is 'high tech'. Production machining is 'low tech'. Misconception 2

Nothing is 'high tech' or 'low tech'. Each type of machining has its own complexity.

CAM software designed for 3D / 5-axes milling can also program for 2D milling and turning. Misconception 3

CAM software for production machining Must have a wide variety of machining operations Must have a wide variety of tools Must have features to reduce cycle time Must have features to check and optimize spindle power usage Must generate shop documents automatically

CAM software requirement for each application is different. Same software cannot do both. CAM software for 3D/5-axes machining Must have 3D CAD Must be able to machine complex surfaces

Features unique to 2D CAM Tools only available in 2D CAM Face mill, Side and face mill, T-slot mill, Dovetail mill, Thread mill, Form mill, Rough bore, Finish bore, Combination drill Operations only available in 2D CAM Face milling, Side slot milling, T-slot milling, Dovetail milling, Thread milling, Form milling, Rough boring, Finish boring, Combination hole drilling, Finish boring, Back spot facing Automatic shop documents in 2D CAM Cycle time breakup, process sheet, tools list, tool layout sheet, spindle power graph, Excel output of docs for analysis

Programming is the main task in CNC machining. Misconception 4

Programming is NOT the main task. Programming is just one of the steps.

Most industries do programming by CAM software. Only a few small industries program manually. Misconception 5

How do these firms do their CNC programming ? 1. Manually 2. Using CAM software

Skills required in industry

The gap – institute to industry Main cause of poor productivity on shop floors is lack of knowledge of tooling, cutting parameters selection. Fact : Most CNC personnel on shop floors do not know the full form of the commonly used word 'carbide'. Institutes concentrate on teaching programming, students think this is all that is required. Fresh engineers are as a result useless in industry, take 6-12 months to learn required skills and be useful.

Skills required in industry Machine construction Machining operations Tooling Cutting parameters selection Manual programming Programming using CAM software

Parts pyramid CAD software in Design office Forging Die made in Tool room Forged parts machined on shop floor

Machines and CAM software pyramid 1 CNC machine in Tool room Programmed with 3D CAM Many CNC machines on production shop floor Programmed with 2D CAM

BE syllabus Theory - Introduction to CNC - Elements of CNC - CNC machining – turning centers / milling - Part programming - Steps in part programming for Milling and Turning Practicals - Learning manual programming using simulation software - Learning computer aided programming using CAM packages

Steps in teaching What you need to teach, and Cadem products

India – CNC metal cutting industry Total population : 100,000. Yearly increase : 15,000 CNC machining centers and lathes : 90 % CNC sheet metal cutting and forming machines : 10 % Ratio of milling machines and lathes : 6:1 India is 7 th largest consumer of machine tools in the world. 12 th largest producer, 4 th largest importer Growth last year 31 % growth in consumtion, 68 % growth in imports Job opportunities for engineers in CNC programming, Tool design, Process engineering

Opportunities for students Production machining is 2D. Tool room machining is 3D. 95 % of CNC machines are used in production machining. Only 5 % in tool rooms. CNC skills for production machining are very different from skills for tool room machining. Skills for production machining can only be taught using CAM software for production machining. CNC machining is a very high growth industry. Given the right training, students can get placement easily.