Basics of CNC Programming

Before the introduction of automatic machines and automation, industrial manufacturing of machines and their parts for the key industries were made though manually operated machines. Due to this, manufacturers could not make complex profiles or shapes with high accuracy. As a result, the production rate tended to be slow, production costs were very high, rejection rates were high and manufacturers often could not complete tasks on time.

Industry was boosted by the introduction of the semi-automatic manufacturing machine, known as the NC machine, which was introduced in the 1950’s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA. After these NC machine started to be used, typical profiles and complex shapes could get produced more readily, which in turn lead to an improved production rate with higher accuracy.

Thereafter, in the 1970’s, an even larger revolutionary change was introduced to manufacturing, namely the use of the CNC machine (Computer Numerical Control). Since then, CNC has become the dominant production method in most manufacturing industries, including automotive, aviation, defence, oil and gas, medical, electronics industry, and the optical industry. 

Basics of CNC Programming describes how  to design CNC programs, and what cutting parameters are required to make a good manufacturing program. The authors explain about cutting parameters in CNC machines, such as cutting feed, depth of cut, rpm, cutting speed etc., and they also explain the G codes and M codes which are common to CNC. The skill-set of CNC program writing is covered, as well as how to cut material during different operations like straight turning, step turning, taper turning, drilling, chamfering, radius profile, profile turning etc. In so doing, the authors cover the level of CNC programming from basic to industrial format. Drawings and CNC programs to practice on are also included for the reader.

Om Prakash Yadav is a Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) at the North Dakota State University. He has also served as Department chair for 3 years, where he is responsible for teaching, research, and outreach activities for IME Department. He is the founding director of the Center for Quality, Reliability, and Maintainability Engineering (CQRME) located in IME Department at North Dakota State University. The CQRME is sponsored and fully funded by 10 member companies and has undertaken some interesting research projects. His research interests lie in the area of quality and reliability engineering (reliability-based design, robust design, design optimization, and failure analysis), product and operations management (logistics and supply chain, inventory modeling, and manufacturing systems analysis), and quantitative modeling using optimization techniques, statistical modeling, data mining, fuzzy logic and neural network approaches. His diverse educational and academic background combined with industrial experience allows him to undertake challenging and integrative type of research problems. He has been collaborating with researchers across the world and published several high quality research papers resulting through his collaboration with colleagues from other universities and departments. He has extensive experience in failure analysis and reliability analysis of complex mechanical, electrical/electronic, and hybrid systems including complex physical systems. He has developed an active research group with external funding from several sources including National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DoE), NASA, Department of Defense supported Manufacturing Institute (NextFlex), ND State, and industry.

Mangey Ram received the Ph.D. degree major in Mathematics and minor in Computer Science from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India, in 2008. He has been a Faculty Member for around ten years and has taught several core courses in pure and applied mathematics at undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctorate levels. He is currently a Professor at Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), Dehradun, India. Before joining the Graphic Era, he was a Deputy Manager (Probationary Officer) with Syndicate Bank for a short period. He is Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Mathematical, Engineering and Management Sciences and the Guest Editor & Member of the editorial board of various journals. He is a regular Reviewer for international journals, including IEEE, Elsevier, Springer, Emerald, John Wiley, Taylor & Francis and many other publishers. He has published 125 research publications in IEEE, Taylor & Francis, Springer, Elsevier, Emerald, World Scientific and many other national and international journals of repute and also presented his works at national and international conferences. His fields of research are reliability theory and applied mathematics. Dr. Ram is a Senior Member of the IEEE, life member of Operational Research Society of India, Society for Reliability Engineering, Quality and Operations Management in India, Indian Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, member of International Association of Engineers in Hong Kong, and Emerald Literati Network in the U.K. He has been a member of the organizing committee of a number of international and national conferences, seminars, and workshops. He has been conferred with "Young Scientist Award" by the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology, Dehradun, in 2009. He has been awarded the "Best Faculty Award" in 2011 and recently Research Excellence Award in 2015 for his significant contribution in academics and research at Graphic Era University.

Pawan Kumar Negi received his Mechanical Engineering degree from The Institution Of Mechanical Engineers (India), Mumbai, India, in 2015. Previously, he did his Diploma in I & C Engineering from Government Institute, Kanpur, India. Also he obtained various short term professional engineering courses in CNC Milling Machine Operating and Programming, Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and CAD Design (CAD) from Government of India between 2001 and 2009. Presently, he is serving as a CNC programmer and trainer for more than six years in Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), India. He has taught CNC Technology, Automation and CNC programming. Before that he served as a CNC programmer in a reputed Oil and Gas industry, Weatherford Oil Tool Middle East Limited in United Arab Emirates and in EuroTechnology Group, in Saudi Arabia. In addition, he served in Sara Services & Engineers Pvt. Ltd., India, a reputed oil field company, as a CNC programmer cum Shop supervisor. Mr. Pawan has 11 years industrial and more than 6 years technical educational experience in the field of Mechanical engineering.