The words CAD CAM are used quite a bit in manufacturing circles, but what is it really? When we say CAD / CAM, do we really know what we are talking about? In my experience, many of us don’t. A simple definition is a good starting point. Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing.

Look around you, whether you are at home or in the office. Almost everything you see around you was probably designed on a computer. With the exception of buildings that were made before the 1970s and any antique furniture you may have around it at home, a very high percentage of the things we use every day were designed with CAD.

Automotive and aerospace design was responsible for the development of the first CAD systems in the 1960s and 1970s. They were very expensive systems that cost more than $ 100,000.00 per station. With the development of the PC, all that has changed and CAD systems can be purchased for approximately $ 500.00 to $ 5,000.00.

Even with expensive add-on options, it is rare for a single CAD seat to cost more than $ 20,000.00, unless it is used for some very high-end specialized function. The development of CAD CAM software has paralleled the rise of personal computers, making this type of software affordable for the average manufacturer.

So what about CAM? I guess you could say that there really is no CAM without CAD. Without an electronic design, no CAM system can function. Sometimes the design is done within a CAM system, but without electronic information, CAM is limited. I know many machinists say that they program CNC machine tools in the control without a CAD system, but it is likely that the drawing they are working with was made using a CAD system.

There are probably 100 people who know what CAD is for every 2 who know what CAM is. In the same way, there really is no CAM without CAD, there is also no CAM without CNC machinery. A CNC machine is simply a computerized machine that relies on a series of programmed commands or instructions that include position information to perform a particular task. Usually, but not always, it involves some kind of cutting motion, using a particular type of cutting tool.

Technically, this program code format is designated as RS-474, but most people refer to it as G and M code. Since FANUC is the most popular type of CNC control, the code is often referred to CNC as “FANUC compliant”, which stands for standard G and M code.

CNC machines are not limited to the typical CNC turning and milling machines that have been used for nearly 50 years in machine shops across the country, they come in all shapes and sizes. Grinders, turret drills, lasers, plasmas, water jets, EDMs, shears, brakes, coordinate measuring machines, embroidery machines, welders, routers, jig drills and robots used for almost any imaginable job are just a few of the hundreds of types of CNC machines currently used in manufacturing.

I remember a quote from Gotfried von Leibniz, a seventeenth-century mathematician, who once said: “It is not worthy of excellent men to waste hours as slaves in calculus work, which could be relegated to anyone else if machines were used.” He also strongly advocated the use of a binary number system that is the basis of modern computer numerical computation.

CNC manufacturing technology is the inevitable result of the application of computer technology to manufacturing. It has allowed manufacturing to progress beyond reliance on “fine men” to produce parts by hand.

CAD CAM and CNC technology has produced fabricated parts and assembled products at speeds and accuracies that could only be dreamed of a generation ago. The complexity of modern manufactured parts was simply impossible to achieve in previous generations. The same level of skill is required in these industries, as in earlier days, the inherent limitations and inefficiencies of manual methods, although they have been largely overcome.