GabiJack.com

Archive for March 28th, 2009

I’m really excited about a great new resource available to all those engineers, scientists, students, and enthusiasts out there that perhaps never got exposed to CNC machining while in their college years (like yours truly) and/or that wish to learn the basics on how to program and operate a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) milling machine.  It is a book  -actually  it’s a complete course with curriculum available for educators-  written by Charles Davis, General Manager at NEXGEN Manufacturing Systems, Inc., and is available at www. cncforengineers.com. 

On the website, you will also find information about upcoming training (4 day hands-on classes with limited enrollment offered at various locations around the country), on-site training, and educators can request information on curriculum, videos, lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations available to them, and/or how to sponsor training at their school. BTW, this book is already being used at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It was recently displayed at the ITEA (International Technology Education Association) Conference and received a very positive response from technical educators from around the U.S., and, although it is not exclusive of any particular kind of CAM/CAD software application,  SolidWorks 2009 files are available for completing the exercises (parasolid files also available), and is also being displayed by DS SolidWorks at all educational tradeshows.

While the book is no substitute for hands-on experience and won’t turn you into an expert machinist, it provides an excellent foundation, and is especially useful for those of us that desire to understand the CNC processes; what is doable, what goes beyond its limits, what would be too expensive to machine, what changes could be made to our design to improve its manufacturability and decrease cost, etc. Even if we never have to actually program and run a CNC machine ourselves, having some understanding of all this can greatly improve our designs.

I got my copy of this book a few days ago and I’m already reading. I plan to complement what I learn from it with a few classes at DeAnza or some other institution this fall (hopefully I’ll have reliable childcare by then). So far, it looks like an excellent book, but don’t take it from me, go and check it out yourself!