What is CAD/CAM? What does it stand for? What is computer-aided manufacturing and what has it got to do with CAD software? Keep reading to find out.
What does CAD/CAM stand for?
CAD/CAM is a combination of two acronyms:
CAD
**C**omputer **A**ided **D**esign or Computer Aided Drafting
CAM
Computer-Aided Manufacturing or Computer-Aided Modeling or Computer-Aided Machining
The most common is Computer-Aided Manufacturing.
What is Computer-Aided Manufacturing?
Computer-Aided Manufacturing simply means any type of manufacturing that is created with the "aid" of a computer. This can be anything from the act of using a computer to control a machine that manufactures parts, to the use of a computer to assist in the management of a manufacturing plant.
CAM includes manufacturing techniques such as additive manufacturing (3D printing), laser cutting and computer numerical control (CNC) machining.
3D printing is a type of CAM
What is CAD/CAM?
CAD/CAM means literally: Computer-Aided Design & Computer-Aided Manufacturing. Both CAD and CAM are required to manufacture a part, it is unusual, although not impossible, to find one without the other. Generally, a part is first designed in a piece of CAD software and then sent to a CAM software package for manufacture.
What is CAM software?
CAM software is any software package that translates a CAD model into a language that the machine can understand. It tells the machine how to manufacture the part. Some software packages do both CAD and CAM.
More Back to Basics:
- What is CAD?
- What is DWG?
- What is BIM?
- What is CAD/CAM?
- What is GIS?
- Vector vs Raster
Rose est chargée de recueillir les commentaires des utilisateurs et d'améliorer le produit BricsCAD. Avant de venir chez BricsCAD, elle était utilisatrice de CAO et ell a travaillé dans les industries de l'automobile, de l'aérospatiale et de la défense en tant qu'illustratrice technique. Elle adore découvrir comment les mécanismes fonctionnent, les démonter et (avec un peu de chance) les remonter.
