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C.N.C
Timber Routing
A
CNC Router is a flat-bed machine capable of cutting,
drilling, sawing and routing a wide range of materials
to very accurate tolerances, and repeating those results
many times. CNC is an acronym for Computer Numerical
Control.
Materials
which can be cut using a CNC Router include timber panels
(such as laminated or raw MDF), a wide range of plastics,
and softer metals such as aluminium.
CNC
Routers generally have an assortment of cutters, drills,
horizontal boring bits and saw blades loaded at all
times – any of which can be utilised within a single
program
Step
1
The
required panels are designed on a CAD (Computer Aided
Design) Program in 2-dimensional layouts.
These drawings are then exported to a CNC Router
specific program to have additional cutting information
added. Part of this process is to arrange components
on the sheet in such a way as to minimise waste material,
and hence reduce the cost of the final unit for the
customer.
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This
additional information includes: |
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| A
starting point for each cut. |
| Which
cutting tool (of about 10 available on board
at any time) to use for each cut on the drawing. |
| Which
drill or borer to use for each hole on the
drawing. |
| The
depth of each drill or borer hole, and |
| Large
range of suitable materials from thin papers
to thicker boards, metal, timber and plastic
sheets. |
| The
order in which to carry out each cut or hole
(for example, the cut of each part which would
release it from the main sheet is always left
until last to ensure that all other processes
on that part are carried out without the part
moving). |
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The
router program carries-out on screen dummy runs of the
cutting program to allow the programmer to check the
sequence before transferring the finished program to
the router.
tep 2
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Step
2 - click
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The
cutting program is loaded into the CNC Router,
and the required array of cutting bits and drills
are loaded into the machine. Each bit or drill
is placed into a numbered carrier so that the
CNC Router know where to find each one.
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Step
3
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A
sheet of material is loaded onto the Router’s
bed, and held in place by vacuum applied to the
underside of the sheet. This vacuum will also
serve to hold any loose pieces in place until
the end of the cutting cycle.
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Step
3 - click
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Step 4
The
cutting sequence is executed in the nominated order
– which is usually drilling of holes, followed by an
initial ‘rough-cut’ of all edges and finally a second
‘finish-cut’ of all edges.
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Step
4 - click to view larger image |
Step 5
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Step
5 - click
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On
completion of the cutting sequence, the individual
parts are removed from the sheet, and then the
remaining ‘skeleton’ of the sheet is removed and
discarded. Some components may later be returned
for further operations (e.g. on the under-side
of the sheet) or for horizontal boring into its
edges.
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