One of the great advantages of CNC over manual machining is the ability to create holes of almost arbitrary size using an end mill that follows a helical path.

Optimize your toolpaths for better tool life and surface finish…

There were Tormach employees all over the country last week, from Autodesk University in Las Vegas to talking makerspaces at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some spent last week in the glitz and glam of Las Vegas… but really, we only saw the inside of the Sands Convention Center where Tormach Brand Ambassador, John Saunders, spent the week teaching CAM and machining.

Experiential education started to emerge in the 1980s, but it seems like technical education teachers knew this long before all the research was published. Keeping content fresh and finding projects students are interested in is a hurdle that seems to get consistently harder to overcome. Tormach just released its project library to help you do just that.

Whether you’re a CNC veteran or you just discovered this amazing tool, everybody has had to start somewhere. I’ve talked to a number of Tormach customers, and the stories vary widely.

Toolpaths are the heart of computer aided manufacturing (CAM), and by association, incredibly important to CNC machining. But, toolpaths are more than just the pattern tools make to cut your parts.