During my travels as a CAMWorks Application Engineer, I’ve instructed many training classes to diverse groups of machinists, designers and engineers. Frequently while teaching, I notice a striking challenge in terms of context for those lacking adequate machine shop experience. This can be difficult during training, considering how much artistry and background is required to skillfully work with CNC machinery. While CNC’s can be unforgiving dangerous machines in the wrong hands; there is really not much magic to understanding the essentials. CNC is similar to driving a car, or more accurately, using a giant 3-Dimensional, computerized Etch-A-Sketch, except with giant spinning blades and twenty horsepower motors.
