Computer aided machining is everywhere you turn; almost all machines in the modern world use CAD software to ensure precision and speed that would be impossible without them. Computer aided design allows for precision that is impossible with just the human eye, and it allows for speedy design that is once again impossible when a pencil and paper is used for drawing on.
Accuracy
One of the major advantages over computer aided machining when comparing it to traditional methods used in engineering is the level of accuracy; click here to see just what the latest machinery look like. CAD software can create accurate images, with no room for human error. Whereas in the past a design would have been drawn on paper and the design then built by the human hand, the process is now free from human error as both the design and the production are done by computer.
Lines drawn on a computer with the most up to date CAD software will be free from human error, the lines following their path perfectly. These designs are accurate, and the production of the parts made from these designs is once again free from human error, as the machines that turn or mill the parts will once again run with no room for human error.
4D Design
One comparison that clearly stands out when talking about computer aided machining and human machines is the availability of 4D design; just take a moment to think back in time to geometry classes at school and you will realise just how advanced the world has become. Although it was possible, yet somewhat tricky, to draw a 3D design with pencil and paper, 4D designs have only come about with the age of the computer screen.
A 2D or 3D design that is drawn by hand is nowadays extremely primitive when compared with the 4D designs that can be produced with CAD software. Computer software can be used to make 4D designs in a fraction of the time that it would take a human to draw up a 3D design; in fact in computer aided machining, pencil and paper are all but obsolete.
Speed
Lastly, the speed at which designs can be created and that parts can be produced is probably the most notable difference between computer aided machining and traditional machines. A CNC lathe, turning machine, milling machine, or plasma cutter can get to work at creating hundreds of identical parts over the course of the day, each one being made with the same level of precision as the next.
Once the designs have been created using the latest CAD software, the computers used in computer aided machining will simply transfer messages to the CNC machines that will make the finished product. A CNC machine can be used to make a large number of different parts, a few simple change being made by the CNC machinist allowing for one computer aided machine to make dozens of different parts each and every day. Speed and accuracy from computer aided machining have made factory floors what they are today; places that are practically void of human presence and far more importantly free from the human error that used to be seen on the old fashioned factory floor.
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