CAD/CAM explanation?

Edwards Finance > CAD Drafting

Q. I see the words CAD/CAM banded around on this NG when it comes to dicussion about tooling kits, but never a an explanation on how this works. Would someone like to post detailed information on the CAD/CAM process and how it relates specifically to mould making?

A. -CAD = computer aided drafting CAM = computer aided manufacturing or computer aided machining the CAD part is done with software, such as "autocad" or any of the many other such programs on the market. prices range from ~ $150-200 to thousands of bucks, depending on level of sophistication (two-D vs. three-D, drawing capability, etc.) and equipment (PC programs are cheaper than "workstation" programs by a factor of 2, usually, though PCs are catching up with workstations in most capability). the CAM part is when the CAD design is "fed into" something like a 6-axis computer controlled milling machine. part of this is software and part is hardware. there are several programs which take a CAD electronic drawing and organize/optimize the tool path so as to make the cutting tool move most efficiently when milling out the part(s). both the CAD and CAM programs are regularly discussed/advertised in free trade magazines like "Desktop Engineering" and others. the hardware part consists of computer controlled versions of the machines typically found in a machine shop: lathe, milling machine, etc. NASA has also developed a technique whereby a vat of goo (epoxy i guess--i've only heard about here in the johnson space center area) is illuminated with a set of lasers so that littlel volumes of the goo are selectively hardened. by doing this repeatedly, a large volume is built up of the small volumes to create a finished "piece" or model. -I try to explain it with my limit knowledge about CAD/CAM. CAD is Computer Aid Design and CAM is Computer Aid Manufacturing. The idea is to design whatever product in your computer using a CAD program, such as Autocad or some other more professional CAD tools. These CAD programs have standard output files that CAM machines can take. You send the CAD output files to the mould builder and they use these files on their numerical control cutting machines to cut the mould. In this way, the human error of interpretting 2 dimensional drawings to build a 3D mould can be eliminated. This is the main advantage of having CAD/CAM systems. But as with most computer applications, if you enter wrong data into your CAD program, you will end up with a wrong product. In the real world, a lot can still go wrong between the CAD and the CAM system if you are not carefull.

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