Rest machining for remaining material in CNC Programming - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Rest Machining for Remaining Material

📖 Scenario: You are programming a CNC machine to finish a part. After rough machining, some material remains in small areas. You want to create a rest machining program to remove only this leftover material efficiently.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple CNC program that identifies the remaining material areas and generates toolpaths to machine only those areas, saving time and tool wear.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a variable called rough_stock representing the initial rough stock dimensions as a dictionary

Create a variable called machined_areas representing areas already machined as a list of dictionaries

Create a variable called rest_areas that calculates the remaining material areas by comparing rough_stock and machined_areas

Print the rest_areas to show the remaining material to machine

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

In CNC machining, after rough cuts, leftover material often remains in tight corners or small sections. Rest machining targets only these areas to save time and reduce tool wear.

💼 Career

CNC programmers and manufacturing engineers use rest machining programming to improve efficiency and precision in production workflows.

1

Define the Rough Stock Dimensions

Create a dictionary called rough_stock with keys 'length', 'width', and 'height' set to 200, 150, and 50 respectively.

CNC Programming

# Create the rough_stock dictionary with exact dimensions
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use curly braces to create a dictionary with the exact keys and values.

2

Define Machined Areas

Create a list called machined_areas containing two dictionaries. The first dictionary has 'length': 100, 'width': 150, 'height': 50. The second dictionary has 'length': 100, 'width': 75, 'height': 50.

CNC Programming

rough_stock = {'length': 200, 'width': 150, 'height': 50}
# Create the machined_areas list with two dictionaries
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Create a list with exactly two dictionaries with the specified dimensions.

3

Calculate Remaining Material Areas

Create a list called rest_areas that contains one dictionary with 'length' equal to rough_stock['length'] minus the sum of 'length' values in machined_areas, 'width' equal to rough_stock['width'], and 'height' equal to rough_stock['height'].

CNC Programming

rough_stock = {'length': 200, 'width': 150, 'height': 50}
machined_areas = [
    {'length': 100, 'width': 150, 'height': 50},
    {'length': 100, 'width': 75, 'height': 50}
]
# Calculate rest_areas list with remaining material dimensions
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a sum inside a comprehension to add lengths from machined_areas and subtract from rough_stock length.

4

Print Remaining Material Areas

Print the rest_areas list to display the remaining material to machine.

CNC Programming

rough_stock = {'length': 200, 'width': 150, 'height': 50}
machined_areas = [
    {'length': 100, 'width': 150, 'height': 50},
    {'length': 100, 'width': 75, 'height': 50}
]
rest_length = rough_stock['length'] - sum(area['length'] for area in machined_areas)
rest_areas = [{'length': rest_length, 'width': rough_stock['width'], 'height': rough_stock['height']}]
# Print the rest_areas list
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(rest_areas) to show the remaining material.