【正文】 A and Europe, further development work occurred. These early numerical control developments were principally for the aerospace industry, where it was necessary to cut plex geometric shapes such as airframe ponents and turbine blades. In parallel with this development of sophisticated control systems for aerospace requirements, a pointtopoint controller was developed for more general machining applications. These less sophisticated pointtopoint machines were considerably cheaper than their more plex continuous path cousins and were used when only positional accuracy was necessary. As an example of pointtopoint motion on a machine tool for drilling operations, the typical movement might be fast traverse of the work piece under the drill39。 conversational input is also called userfriendly or prompted input. Later in this section examples of each of these programming formats in machining applications will be describes. CAM and CNC CAM systems have changed the job of the CNC programmer from one manually producing CNC code to one maximizing the output of CNC machines. Since CNC machine tools are made by a great number of manufacturers, many different CNC control units are in use. Control units from different manufacturers use a variety of program formats and codes. Many CNC code words are identical for different controllers, but a great number vary from one to another. To produce an identical part on CNC machine tools with different controllers such as one by FANCU, OKUMA or DYNAPATH, would require pletely different CNC codes. Each manufacturer is constantly improving and updating its CNC controllers. These improvements often include additional code words plus changes in how the existing code works. A CAM systems allows the CNC programmer to concentrate on the creation of an efficient machining process, rather then relearning changed code formats. A CNC programmer looks at the print of a part and then plans the sequence of machining operations necessary to make it (Figure O3). This plan includes everything, from the selection of possible CNC machine tools, to which tooling to use, to how the part is held while machining takes place. The CNC programmer has to have a thorough understanding of all the capacities and limitations of the CNC machine tools that a program is to be made for. Machine specifications such as horsepower, maximum spindle speeds, workpiece weight and size limitations, and tool changer capacity are just some of the considerations that affect programming. Another area of major importance to the programmer is the knowledge of machining processes. An example would be the selection of the surface fi nish requirement specified in the part print. The sequence of machining processes is critical to obtain acceptable results. Cutting tool limitations have to be considered and this requires knowledge of cutting tool materials, tool types, and application remendations. A good programmer will spend a considerable amount of time in researching the rapidly growing volume of new and improved tools and tool materials. Often the tool that was on the cutting edge of technology just two years ago is now obsolete. Information on new tools can e from catalogs or tool manufacturers39。 lasers, plasmaarc, flame cutting, and waterjets for cutting of steel plate。s maximum horsepower for roughing cuts. For a finishing cut, the smallest diameter of the part being machined is selected and then the cutting speed varied until the RPM is equal to the maximum RPM of the machine. This helps in maximizing machining efficiency. Knowing the horsepower requirement for a cut is critical if more than one tool is cutting at the same time. Software for a machining center application would be Ingersoll Tool Company39。 this meant that the motions would be sluggish, and sliderways would inevitably suffer from backlash, but more will be said about this topic later in the chapter. The early NC machines were, in the main, based upon a modified milling machine with this concept of control being utilized on turning, punching, grinding and a whole host of other machine tools later. Towards the end of the 1950s,hydrostatic slideways were often incorporated for machine tools of highly precision, which to sonic extent overcame the section problem associated with conventional slideway response, whiles averagingout slideway inaccuracy brought about a much increased preasion in the machine tool and improved their control characteristics allows concept of the machining center was the product of this early work, as it allowed the machine to manufacture a range of ponents using a wide variety of machining processes at a single setup, without transfer of workpieces to other variety machine tools. A machining center differed conceptually in its design from that of a milling machine, In that the cutting tools could be changed automatically by the transfer machanism, or selector, from the magazine to spindle, or vice this ductively and the automatic tool changing feature enabled the machining center to productively and efficiently machine a range of ponents, by replacing old tools for new, or reselecting the next cutter whilst the current machining process is in cycle. In the mid 1960s,a UK pany, Molins, introduced their unique System 24 which was meant represent the ability of a system to machine for 24 hours per day. It could be thought of as a machining plex which allowed a series of NC single purpose machine tools to be linked by a puterized conveyor system. This conveyor allowed the work pieces to be palletized and then directed to as machine tool as necessary. This was an early, but admirable, attempt at a form of Flexible manufacturing System concept, but was unfortunately doomed to failure. Its principal weakness was that on