CNC Manufacturing

CNC manufacturing is the manufacturing of a device or instrument by obtaining the readings of CAD and following them to produce a product. This technology is used to manufacture products that are pretty complex to be made using other technologies. Initially, a designer creates the design using CAD software.  After that, the design is passed through various stages to ensure its authenticity and practicality.

Once a design gets approved by a manufacturing company, a controller provides the design to the CNC computer, which after a detailed analysis of the design, starts commanding the CNC machines to give the design a practical shape.

1. What Does The CNC Manufacturing Mean?

CNC machines are technological equipment that are used for the manufacturing of a product using CNC technology. The CNC machines are controlled without an operator. G code and M code are the two languages by which the CNC machines operate. The types of CNC machines are in a more significant number.

The most common type of CNC machine is Mill that works using the G code language. This machine can be used for various purposes like tapping, drilling, etc. The other types of CNC machines include lathe and plasma cutters. The most common tools that are used in CNC manufacturing are drillers, wood routers, milling machines, and canned cycles.

CNC machines are the best-specialized machines to produce high-quality products. These machines have higher accuracy and durability. However, in some cases due to the unusual and irregular movement of a particular part of the CNC machine results in the crushing of the machine.

This is due to the reason that these CNC machines sometimes consist of minimal parts for manufacturing complex products efficiently. These parts can easily change their movement, creating a problem for the whole machinery. CNC manufacturing is a commonly used manufacturing process in China.

2. How Does The CNC Manufacturing Works?

CNC manufacturing is a process of enabling a manufacturer to produce the best and high-quality product without monitoring the whole process. The following are the basic steps through which a design passes to be converted into a suitable product using the CNC technology.

· Design Production

The first and the most crucial step in CNC manufacturing is the production of a high-quality design. During its production, it is necessary for the designer to make the design of high quality so that it would be perfect from every aspect. Every angle of the design needs to be properly drawn to avoid any future complications that may act as a hurdle in the manufacturing of the final product.

· Testing of Design

After the design is produced, it is sent to the manufacturing companies to test their design for any drawbacks that the design has. Usually, the designs are sent to the company from which the manufacturer wants to get to get the service of CNC production.

· Reading The CAD by CNC Computer

After successful testing of the design, the worker enters the design into the CNC computer. The computer then analyzes the design and check for any kind of error in the design that can create later problems to the CNC machinery. After that, the computer starts to command the mechanical parts of the CNC machines to start their working.

· Production of Final Product

After passing the design through all these stages, the products are finally manufactured and can be used for their respective uses.

3. What Are the Factors Which Affect the Cost of CNC Manufacturing?

The cost that comes on a product by manufacturing through CNC manufacturing depends upon the type of material you use, the quantity of the product, and the level of complexity of the product. If you use expensive materials, you’ll be definitely charged more, but if you chose the inexpensive materials, you would have to spend an affordable amount of money on its manufacturing. Similarly, the cost is also dependent on the complexity of the product. Here the term complexity is the extent to which a particular product contains complex parts that require complex designing. If you want to produce the products in large quantities, you will have to pay more money, so the cost of this process is also dependent on the total quantity in which you want to manufacture the product.

Besides, the cost of CNC manufacturing is also dependent upon the type of machines that are needed for the manufacturing of your product. In some cases, you will be needing to produce such parts for your product that an ordinary CNC machine cannot prepare, and you will have to spend some more money on getting access to those expensive machinery. The suppliers in China will cost you the least amount of money as compared to those in other countries.

4. What Is the Average Cost of CNC Manufacturing?

The average cost of manufacturing a product using the CNC technology accounts for almost 35 dollars per hour. This price is almost the same for most of the countries with slight variation due to the variation in material prices.

If you went to spend the least on manufacturing your product using the CNC technology, you have to take care of some common things, like you should use plastic material for the parts that can work is made from the plastic. Similarly, you can also reduce your overall cost by choosing a manufacturing company that can manufacture for you a better quality product at a low price.

5. What Are The General Types Of CNC Manufacturing?

There are a number of types of CNC technologies that a person can use for the manufacturing of various products. Most of the CNC technologies are the same, but the main thing that created the types in between them is their uses for different materials. Following are some of the common types of CNC technologies.

· CNC Milling Machine

This kind of CNC manufacturing technology is used for the formation of spherical-shaped products. They are also used for making the cylindrical parts of large machinery. In this technology, the material is placed stationary on a flat surface, and the CNC Milling Machine rotates its parts for the manufacturing of the final product.

· CNC Laser Manufacturing

This is one of the most powerful and effective CNC technology for the manufacturing of plastic products. This technology is also useful for the manufacturing of metallic products. In the CNC Laser Technology, a beam of strong laser is directed towards the material surface.

This laser is powerful enough to convert the line on the material into a sharp cut or convert the cutting lines into vapors, causing a number of cuts on the material for product manufacturing. This CNC technology is highly accurate and can be used for the manufacturing of complex parts of various machinery.

· CNC EDM

This technology is also known as the CNC electrical discharge machines. In this technology, electric sparks are used for converting the materials into a product. This CNC technology is also called wire burning. In this technology, an electrode wire causes the emission of electrical charges from the electrode.

These electrical charges are known to produce a lot of heat.  The electrode is placed above the material which the manufacturer wants to convert to the product. The extensive amount of heat produced by the electrode wire is later on used for the melting of the material for the final product formation.

· CNC Lathes

In this CNC technology, the materials are placed in the CNC machines. After their placement, they rotated inside the machine to convert them into various forms and shapes. This CNC technology is mainly used for the manufacturing of those products that are fitted in the large machinery as the turning centers. Some of the common types of parts manufactured using the CNC lathes technology include different types of shafts, bolts, and screws.

6. Which CNC Manufacturing Technology Is The Most Expensive To Use?

If we talk about the most expensive CNC technology that can be used for the manufacturing of a product, that is 5 Axis CNC manufacturing Technology. In this type of CNC technology, the manufacturing parts of the machine moves in five directions instead of three directions.

The standard CNC technologies rotate in three directions, but the 5 Axis technologies can rotate in additional two directions. This higher functionality helps the manufacturers to produce even the highly complex products quickly. Usually, the complex parts of the machinery are manufactured in different setups.

However, if the 5 Axis technologies are used for product manufacturing, one can easily manufacture the highly complex products in a single setup.  Similarly, better accuracy is vital for the manufacturing of sensitive products. If a person uses the traditional CNC technologies, there is a chance to lose accuracy, but in the case of 5 axis technology accuracy of the product is maintained at the top level.  This technology is also available with the manufacturers and suppliers of CNC parts in China.

7. Why Should We Use 5 Axis CNC Technologies?

The 5 axis CNC manufacturing technology can be called one of the most highly accurate technologies for the manufacturing of the complex parts of large machinery. The large machinery in the factories consists of small and complex parts. The manufacturing of such parts should be made totally error-free, and the 5 axis technology can help you create such highly accurate parts.

· Reduced Number of Setups

The first and the most important reason that makes it the best CNC technology is that it reduces the number of setups. Once you insert the material into a 5 axis machine, you are less likely to eject the material again to manufacture its other parts. This one-time preparation of the whole product in a single machine multiplies the accuracy of the manufacturing exponentially.

· Work Faster

The 5 axis CNC manufacturing technology is known to work a lot faster than any other kind of technology in CNC manufacturing. The main reason is that this technology works on the 3 + 2 principles of manufacturing, thus giving a kind of extra value to the final product.

8. Why Is The Three Axis CNC Manufacturing Technology So Popular In China?

If we talk about CNC manufacturing without mentioning any specific type, the most general CNC that we often refer to is the CNC three-axis technologies. This means that this technology is the most widely used technology for the manufacturing of a product using CNC.

There are so many reasons for such popularity of this technology. This technology is not only popular in China but also popular among the manufacturers and suppliers of other parts of the world.

One of the most common reasons for its popularity is its use for the manufacturing of general products. Often you have projects related to the manufacturing of the typical product. This is because we don’t need to make complex products if we aren’t employed in a large type of factory. The other reason for its so much popularity is that in low cost it helps you manufacture the average to high-quality product very easily.

If you don’t have the budget to use the four or five-axis CNC technology for your product, then three axes will also work for you, but it is not recommended if you are planning to manufacture the complex parts. After the insertion of the CAD into the CNC computer, the three-axis CNC machines are made to produce more copies according to the single design that you have provided to the CNC computer.

The other reason that makes the three-axis CNC technology popular is that the product manufactured by the three-axis can be transferred to the four and five axes for the addition of more complex parts to the final product.

9. Why Is CNC Manufacturing Better Than Traditional Type Of Machining?

There are many reasons that give an upper hand to the CNC manufacturing on manual machining. The most important thing that proves the CNC to be much better than conventional machining is its accuracy. CNC manufacturing, due to its accuracy, is considered to be the best machining technology for the manufacturing of the products. Some of the other reasons that make CNC manufacturing better than other kinds of technologies include the following.

· Complex Parts Are Easy To Be Manufactured

One of the greatest things that make the CNC technology different and better than other technologies is that using this technology, it is very easy to manufacture complex products. By using conventional manufacturing technologies, it is not that easy to manufacture complex products with higher accuracy. However, if you use CNC technology, you can easily create a highly accurate product.

· CNC manufacturing Is Time Saving

CNC machine saves a lot of your time during its automatic processes. Just the CAD entered into the computer is enough to help you manufacture the whole product. This decrease in the overall labor not only saves time but also reduces the labor fee on your overall machining.

In China, the manufacturers and suppliers use special CNC equipment for the manufacturing of their products, which reduces the time to almost half of the time required for normal CNC manufacturing.

· Run 27/7

One of the most important things about CNC manufacturing is that these machines run 24/7 in their factories. They are only stopped when there is some maintenance issue. Otherwise, these machines run round the clock for the whole weak. This always availability of the CNC technologies also makes it better than the traditional manufacturing technologies.

· The Products Have Same Geometry

In conventional manufacturing technologies, the worst thing is that it is not possible to create the exact copy of the already manufactured product. However, in the case of CNC manufacturing, you can easily create multiple copies of the product with the same geometrical shape and size. This is because with using a single computer-aided design, the whole product is created.

So if a person wants to manufacture more copies of the same geometry of a particular product, so CNC manufacturing technology will be the best for him.

10. Can We Manufacture Plastic Products with CNC Manufacturing?

Most of the manufacturers and suppliers in China prefer to manufacture metallic machinery using CNC technology. However, you can use the CNC technology for the manufacturing of plastic-made products. But that is very uncommon, and you may face difficulty in finding such manufacturing companies that produce the plastic-made products using the CNC technology.

This is mainly because of the reason that the metallic substances are easier to be manufactured using CNC instead of those of plastics.  The most common method that the manufacturing companies use for the manufacturing of plastic-made products includes the insertion of the liquid plastic into a desired shape of the mold. After it gets solidified, the plastic is converted into the product.

The other methods used for the manufacturing of plastic products include 3D printing etc. So the CNC technology isn’t going to be that much use in the case of manufacturing plastic products.

11. Can The Air Planes Parts Be Created Using The CNC Manufacturing?

The airplane parts are mostly manufactured using CNC technology. It is extremely important that the parts of the airplanes should be highly accurate so that they may not fall prey to any kind of problem during their travel in the air. Any error in the angles in the airplanes can result in the worst flights, so a kind of highly accurate CAD is required to produce the parts with greater accuracy to ensure smooth and safe flights.

Using the CNC technology, the parts that are manufactured are précised. On the other hand, if we talk about the manufacturing of the parts of the airplanes with the help of traditional manufacturing technology, so that is nearly impossible to be used in the modern world.