{"id":20982,"date":"2020-03-15T18:15:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T18:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/20982\/how-to-use-a-cnc-machine-the-only-guide-you-need"},"modified":"2020-03-26T19:21:21","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T19:21:21","slug":"how-to-use-a-cnc-machine-the-only-guide-you-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/20982\/how-to-use-a-cnc-machine-the-only-guide-you-need\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use a CNC Machine: The Only Guide You Need"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you\u2019re a niche operator learning how to program a CNC machine or small woodworking business carving out your own path, the software is a crucial part of your maker\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n<p>With proper software like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inventables.com\">Easel and X Crave from Inventables<\/a>, you can create anything, however, in order to go from a novice maker with a pet project to a master machinist, you have to understand how to use a CNC machine.<\/p>\n<p>Are you trying to figure out how to use a CNC machine? If yes, you should check out our guide here on the important things to know.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Is a CNC Machine?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>CNC is an acronym for computer numerical control. First developed in the 1940s CNC refers to the concept of controlling the production of machine tools or parts by computer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How Does a CNC Machine Work?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When a manufacturer needs to make parts from a solid piece of material like wood, steel,\u00a0 aluminum, or even plastic, A CNC machine is able to precisely remove layers from even the toughest blank or workpiece.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Benefits of CNC Machines?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This ability to finely tweak what is referred to as blank or workpiece material is one reason why CNC machines are commonly used.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>From how far in each direction to move to how fast to move the cutter, a CNC operator can write a part program to their specification and make any machine tools from the blank material.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Before CNC machines, machinists would manually control machine tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Because of the CNC machine\u2019s ability to quickly and effectively produce more machine tools without a machinist\u2019s supervision, knowledge on how to operate a CNC machine has become a mandatory skill for all machinist according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/ooh\/production\/machinists-and-tool-and-die-makers.htm#tab-2\">U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Even more because of the CNC\u2019s superiority, the global CNC machine market estimated to reach over 100 billion by 2025 according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2019\/07\/16\/1883217\/0\/en\/Global-CNC-Machine-Market-Will-Reach-Over-to-USD-100-9-Billion-By-2025-Zion-Market-Research.html\">Global Newswire<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How to Use a CNC Machine?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Using a CNC machine for the first time isn\u2019t that frightening as long as you follow these four steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Design the Prototype<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The first step is to use a Computer-Aided Drafting software or CAD software to design a model of the desired part. Your design can be either 2D or 3D. Using free 3D craving software like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inventables.com\">from Inventables,<\/a> you can precisely and accurately calculate the dimensions of your design.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Convert To G-code.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In order for a CNC machine to understand the design from the CAD software, you will need to convert the CAD model into a geometry code or G-code. G-code is a code that simply tells the machine what type of action should be taken to produce the desired part or tool.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Setting up the Machine.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When setting up the machine, you will need proper tooling and a <em>workholding<\/em> or any device that can be used to secure your blank from the intense forces of the machining process.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Make It<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.inventables.com\/\">Inventables<\/a> tools and software makes it simple to start machining your part or tool today.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Are You CNC Ready?<\/h2>\n<p>Still, wondering how to use a CNC machine?\u00a0If you have made it this far, then that itch for machine making can now become a tangible passion. Now you see that with a simple grasp of CNC machine basics, any beginner can easily produce machine parts.\u00a0As you start your\u00a0CNC machine journey, use this guide to properly create your next machine part or tool.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you\u2019re a niche operator learning how to program a CNC machine or small woodworking business carving out your own path, the software is a crucial part of your maker\u2019s&hellip; <span class=\"read-more-span\"><a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/20982\/how-to-use-a-cnc-machine-the-only-guide-you-need\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How to Use a CNC Machine: The Only Guide You Need&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"genericon genericon-next\"><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21016,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20982\/revisions\/21016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}