ENGINEERING FACULTY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

REPORT ON BRIEF HISTORY OF CNC

Date:
Student No : Name: Subject:

8 February 2013 209042915 Stokwe MIJ132S

This is a report which talks about the history of the Computer Numerical Machine (CNC). It has gone through many different changes be the CNC we know and use today. In the 19th century the cams were used for automation of tool control although it was different for the Numerical control because it was programmed. The first machine used for automation of machine is the Numerical control (NC), it was build in the 1940s and 1950s. The design was based on existing tools that were customized with motors that moved the controls to follow points fed in the system. It operated by programmed commands encoded on a storage medium. The servomechanism were improved with analog and digital computers creating the current computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools. The

current CNC machine is automated using the applications of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) programs. The application of these programs is used to produce a computer file that is interpreted to extract the commands needed to operate a particular machine and then loaded into the CNC machines for production. The key development in this design is the introduction of the servo mechanism it produced a powerful, controlled movement with highly accurate measurement information. When the servos are connected together they produced selsyn and its output could be read to ensure proper movement had occurred. The design of the NC was credited to John T. Parsons a machinist. A team at MIT believed greatly the Parsons design could be improved therefore a three way agreement was arranged between Parsons, MI and the Air Force. The project was officially ran from July 1949 to June 1950. In 1958 MIT published its report on the economics of NC. They concluded that the tools were competitive with human operators, but simply moved the time from the machining to the creation of the tapes.

The manufacturing industry was completely changed by the introduction of the lower-cost CNC machines. It was easy to cut curves as in straight lines even the 3-D structures were easy to produce. The results were that a few machine steps were required a human action. The frequency of errors was reduced by CNC automation and provided CNC operators with time to perform additional tasks. It also allows the flexibility in the way parts are held in the manufacturing process and the time required changing the time required changing the machine to produce different components. The G-code is the most common method of programming, manufacuters of some machine-tool have invented the own methods of programming, with the aim of making it easier to program a simple parts and make set-up and modifications at the machine easier. The current CNC mils differ are a little in concept from the original model built at MIT in 1952. Any process that can be described as a series of movements and operations CNC like any other systems can be used as a series of movements and operations. These include laser cutting, welding, ultrasonic welding and plasma cutting. More recently microprocessors had madde CNC controls even cheaper.
Incoclusion the uses of CNC has increased has been improved over that years from acuuracey to being portable and small in size. CNC lathe is know as a universal machine because it can make all other that are required by the other lathe machine.