Program optimization for cycle time in CNC Programming - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Program optimization for cycle time

📖 Scenario: You work in a manufacturing shop using CNC machines. You have a simple CNC program that moves the tool through several points. Your goal is to optimize the program to reduce the total cycle time by removing unnecessary moves and combining steps.

🎯 Goal: Build a CNC program that defines a sequence of tool moves, sets a speed threshold, filters out slow moves, and outputs the optimized program with only the faster moves to reduce cycle time.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list of moves with exact coordinates and speeds

Add a speed threshold variable to filter moves

Use a loop or comprehension to select moves faster than the threshold

Print the optimized list of moves

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Optimizing CNC programs helps reduce machine time and costs by removing slow or unnecessary moves.

💼 Career

Manufacturing engineers and CNC programmers often optimize tool paths to improve production efficiency.

1

Create the initial list of CNC moves

Create a list called moves with these exact entries: {'x': 0, 'y': 0, 'speed': 100}, {'x': 10, 'y': 0, 'speed': 80}, {'x': 10, 'y': 10, 'speed': 50}, {'x': 0, 'y': 10, 'speed': 120}, {'x': 0, 'y': 0, 'speed': 60}

CNC Programming

# Create the list called moves with the exact entries
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Think of each move as a dictionary with keys 'x', 'y', and 'speed'. Put all moves inside a list called moves.

2

Add a speed threshold for filtering moves

Create a variable called speed_threshold and set it to 70 to filter out slower moves.

CNC Programming

moves = [
    {'x': 0, 'y': 0, 'speed': 100},
    {'x': 10, 'y': 0, 'speed': 80},
    {'x': 10, 'y': 10, 'speed': 50},
    {'x': 0, 'y': 10, 'speed': 120},
    {'x': 0, 'y': 0, 'speed': 60}
]
# Create speed_threshold variable and set it to 70
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Just create a variable named speed_threshold and assign 70 to it.

3

Filter moves faster than the speed threshold

Create a new list called optimized_moves that contains only moves from moves where the speed is greater than speed_threshold. Use a list comprehension.

CNC Programming

moves = [
    {'x': 0, 'y': 0, 'speed': 100},
    {'x': 10, 'y': 0, 'speed': 80},
    {'x': 10, 'y': 10, 'speed': 50},
    {'x': 0, 'y': 10, 'speed': 120},
    {'x': 0, 'y': 0, 'speed': 60}
]
speed_threshold = 70
# Create optimized_moves list with moves having speed > speed_threshold
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a list comprehension: [move for move in moves if move['speed'] > speed_threshold]

4

Print the optimized moves

Print the optimized_moves list to show the filtered moves that reduce cycle time.

CNC Programming

moves = [
    {'x': 0, 'y': 0, 'speed': 100},
    {'x': 10, 'y': 0, 'speed': 80},
    {'x': 10, 'y': 10, 'speed': 50},
    {'x': 0, 'y': 10, 'speed': 120},
    {'x': 0, 'y': 0, 'speed': 60}
]
speed_threshold = 70
optimized_moves = [move for move in moves if move['speed'] > speed_threshold]
# Print optimized_moves
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(optimized_moves) to display the filtered list.