CAM programs enable CNC machine tools to make parts with speeds, accuracies and repeatabilities unimagined by the manual machinists of old. However, as with any digital technology, the rule of garbage-in, garbage-out holds firm. A CAM program can run an erroneous toolpath just as fast and faithfully as it does a perfect one. The increasing complexity of machined parts, the growing capabilities of machine tools and a scarcity of experienced programmers magnify the need for error recognition and prevention at the part-programming stage of machining operations. Cutting Tool Engineering talked to suppliers and users of CAM software, machining simulation programs and machine tools to explore the sources of programming errors and the efforts to detect them before the mistakes produce wasted time, scrap and even machine tool damage.
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