What is CAD-CAM Software?
CAD-CAM technology is the combination of many years of contributions by numerous individuals for manufacturing automation. It is the vision of trend-setters and creators, mathematicians and mechanics, all endeavoring to shape the future and drive manufacturing with innovation.
CAD/CAM applications are utilized to design an item and program manufacturing processes, explicitly, CNC machining. CAD/CAM programming is used to plan and manufacture models, finished items, and production runs.
CAD is an abbreviation for Computer-Aided Design, and CAM is an abbreviation for Computer-Aided Manufacturing. Computer-aided design (CAD) includes making PC models characterized by geometrical parameters. These models usually show up on a PC screen as a three-dimensional portrayal of a section or a system of parts, which can be promptly adjusted by changing relevant parameters. Computer-aided design empowers the designers to see objects under a wide variety of portrayals and test these items by simulating real-world conditions. Computer-aided manufacturing utilizes geometrical design information to control mechanized machinery. CAM frameworks are related to CNC (computer numerical control) or DNC (direct numerical control) frameworks.
What is the difference between CAD and CAM?
There is no CAD without CAM. CAD centers around the design of an item or part, i.e., its capacities and how it looks. Designing world starts in the realm of CAD. Specialists make either a 2D or 3D drawing, regardless of whether that is a driving rod for a car, the modular design of a kitchen fixture, or the hidden circuits in an electrical board. When a plan is finished in CAD, it would then be able to be loaded into CAM. This is customarily done by exporting a CAD file and then importing it into CAM software. In case you’re utilizing software like Fusion 360, then the two CAD and CAM exist in a parallel world, so there’s no import/export required.
When your CAD model is imported into CAM, the platform begins to set up the model for machining. Computer-Aided Manufacturing programming prepares a model for machining by working through a few activities, including:
- Checking if the model has any geometrical mistakes that will affect the manufacturing system.
- Making a tool path for the model, many directions the machine will follow during the machining system.
- Setting any necessary machine parameters, including cutting rate, voltage, height, etc.
- Configuring nesting where the CAM framework will choose the best direction for a section to expand machining efficiency.
When the model is ready for machining, all data gets sent to a machine to produce the part physically.
The improvement of CAD and CAM and especially the linkage between the two significantly shortened the period between planning and production and enormously improved the extent of production processes for which the mechanized hardware could be financially utilized. Similarly as significant, CAD/CAM gave the designers substantially more direct authority over the production process, creating the possibility of totally incorporated design and assembling operations. The proceeding development of the simulation of different manufacturing processes is one of the critical means by which CAD and CAM frameworks are turning out to be progressively incorporated. CAD/CAM frameworks facilitate correspondence among those associated with designing, manufacturing, and various processes. This is of specific significance when one firm contracts another to plan or produce a product.
Benefits of using licensed CAD-CAM Software
There are loads of advantages of using licensed CAD software. Studies have demonstrated that using licensed CAD software permits product development firms to meet their objectives more proficiently. It is safer to use and improves the product development time, item quality, and efficiency while utilizing CAD, which means diminished manufacturing and production costs.
Here are the few benefits of using licensed CAD-CAM Software:
- Improves Productivity
CAD programming permits the designers to bring down the production costs, work smart and fast, and eventually prompts speedier project completion. Since planners can perform all the more proficiently, organizations can keep their work teams smaller. This permits associations to create superior grade, minimal cost items and allows them to produce the items quickly and making changes easily whenever required.
- Excellent Designs
The utilization of CAD permits the designing teams to control the quality of the final designed item. It’s not difficult to examine a mistake, diagnose the issue, and address all the problems in utilizing the product before any models are made. This saves time as well as money for any firm.
- Easily Customize Designs
The fashion designing industry utilizes CAD regularly. It permits the fashioners to create the dresses and see how they would fit on virtual models without spending a rupee on production.
- Simpler to Read
A typical issue that artists face is conveying their vision through drawings. CAD drawings can be read effortlessly, as they’re standardized and coordinated. Readability is expanded, and there are no issues with understanding the drawings. CAD programming produces models that can be utilized by different firms, including advertising and sales. They are excellent to take a look at and exhibit the style and capacity of a design without burning your firm’s cash on a physical model. It’s a simple way of showing your work and intrigue financial investors.
- Improved Sharing
CAD programming makes it simple to work together with colleagues. One individual can work on the design and send it to another, where they can see the designing history to understand precisely what was done and how. The computer-aided design makes working together simple, even for remote workers.
- Documenting Design Presets
An item’s dimensions, angles, and measurements are all easily recorded and saved for later use. Components and sub-assemblies are likewise saved and can be utilized for future plans in case required. You can easily create a bill of materials to give to your manufacturer, and everything is easily recorded for you.
List of Top 10 CAD-CAM Software:
Architects and Drafters use AutoCAD to design blueprint plans for buildings, roads, and bridges. It gives the planner a tool to make things according to scale. It is widely used to create everything from primary devices to something as complicated as the space capsule.
CorelCAD is a CAD platform ideal for specialized designed works that require complex components. This software can be utilized for 3D drawing, designing and printing, and 2D drafting.
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SOLIDWORKS
SOLIDWORKS conveys connected, simple-to utilize tools that assist you with improving and accelerating each part of your product development process.
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Solid Edge
Solid Edge is an arrangement of affordable, simple to deploy, maintain, and use programming instruments that advance all parts of the item development process – mechanical and electrical design, production, simulation, technical documentation, management of data, and cloud-based collaboration.
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Fusion 360
Fusion 360 is an entirely coordinated CAD, CAM, PCB, and CAE programming that incorporates generative plan, 2.5, 3, 4, and 5 axis machining, and advanced simulation and is accessible on a computer or Mac.
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SculptGL
SculptGL is a free 3D sculpting CAD program. It allows clients to sculpt 3D plans, maintain symmetry, and import/export these documents in 3D printable configurations.
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K-3D
K-3D is an open-source 3D modeling and animation platform that assists organizations with managing visualization pipelines and work processes measured on a unified platform. Experts can utilize the node-based visualization pipeline to view and track modifier stacks on a centralized location.
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Antimony
Antimony is a free and open-sourced 3D CAD application that offers an exciting way to deal with modeling. All of Antimony’s activities are nodes. You can create models utilizing the nodes. Putting them in a complex organization will permit you to demonstrate complex shapes procedurally instead of building the outcome using standard modeling tools.
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DraftSight
DraftSight has the productivity devices, functionality, and data compatibility you need to create, edit, view, and markup any 2D or 3D DWG document with speed and effectiveness. Further upgrade design, documentation, and collaboration on the cloud.
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MasterCam
Mastercam conveys an extensive tool path combined with robust CAD tools. Mastercam gives the shop an incredible and incorporated establishment of shop-tested CAD devices.
If you’ve decided that you want to use CAD software for your next project, we at Wroffy Technologies are here to help. Wroffy has a team of IT Experts with knowledge of advanced CAD skills ready to work for you. You can contact us anytime for a free consultation session.