In addition to knowing how it works and what are the types of cnc machining that we can find, it is always very helpful to know its origin in order to better understand what were the needs that moved the person who invented it to do it. In this way, we will understand the reason for its operation and design.
CNC machining emerged in the year 1940, from the work carried out by an American engineer named John T. Parsons. At the end of the year, John had the idea of using punch cards as a position coordinate system to control a machine tool. This card-controlled machine moved by making small movements and was capable of achieving the desired finish.
It was not until eight years later that John demonstrated this CNC machining concept to the United States Air Force, which later sponsored projects in the laboratories of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After much research, this institute created the first prototype of a CNC machining machine in 1952. The following year, they demonstrated all the possible applications of CNC machining.
In a short time, countless machine tool manufacturers already had a CNC machining unit in their facilities. Meanwhile, as the institute had not stopped researching, they discovered automatic programming tools, which could be used with the programming of CNC machining. The main objective of this new invention was that the programmer could communicate directly with the machine in a much easier way.
WHAT MACHINES WORK WITH CNC?
Since its discovery, CNC technology has been used to redesign different types of machines, today there are many machines that work with CNC machining, such as milling machines, lathes and grinders.
Milling machines are machines that have the purpose of automatically cutting materials, including metals, for this they use a laser cutting spindle, which moves in different positions and depths according to the instructions it has received through the computer.
On the other hand, grinders use robust abrasive discs to perform abrasive machining on materials such as metal or plastic in order to obtain a specific shape. These types of machines are very easy to program and at least are used for projects that do not require milling machines or lathes.
