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Article: Sculpting parts from stored patterns. (Computer-Aided Manufacturing)
- Article from:
- Mechanical Engineering-CIME
- Article date:
- April 1, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 American Society of Mechanical Engineers. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Michelangelo viewed sculpture as a way of liberating an existing form imprisoned in marble. The modern manufacturing process follows a similar philosophy. Computerized manufacturing machines remove excess material from raw blocks to create parts according to stored patterns. An industry of manufacturing software developers has arisen to provide engineers with the tools necessary to create these patterns.
While milling and turning remain the central business of most machine shop floors, automation has introduced some new operations to the machining of parts and has displaced others. Mills, lathes, stampers, and drills that were once handled manually are now ...