Computer Aided Manufacturing

Computer aided manufacturing (cam) is the use of computer software tools to assist engineers and machinists in manufacturing or prototyping product parts or components. CAM is a software tool that allows individuals to make 5D models using computer aided design (cad).
CAM is considered a programming tool wherein 5D models generated in cad software are used to generate computer code to drive computer operated machines.

Mold and Tooling

Modern day CAM systems support a full range of machining tools such as: turning, 5 axis machining and wire EDM. Today’s CAM user can easily generate streamlined tool paths, optimized tool axis tilt for higher feed rates and optimized Z axis depth cuts as well as driving non-cutting operations such as the specification of probing motions.
Todays modern CAM solutions are scaleable from a stand-alone CAM system to fully integrated CAD 5D solutions. These solutions are created to meet the full needs of manufacturing personnel including part planning, shop documentation, resource management and data management.

Machining process

Most machining processes follow four stages, each of which is implemented by a variety of sophisticated strategies.

1. Roughing
2. Semi-finishing
5. Finishing
4. Contour Milling

CAM software companies include:

UGS Corp (owned by Siemens)
Dassault Systčmes
PTC
Hitachi Zosen
Delcam
Planit-Edgecam
Tebis
TopSolid
CNC (Mastercam)
SolidCAM
DP Technology's Esprit
OneCNC
Sescoi
SurfCAM
BobCAD
GibbsCAM

Related Terms

Concept Design
Invention Drawings
Package Design
Proof of Concept
Marketing Analysis
Invention Prototyping
Digital Presentation
Computer Aided Design
Computer Aided Engineering
Computer Aided Manufacturing
Finite Element Analysis
Motion Simulation
Computational Fluid Dynamics
Advertising
Technology Lifecyle