CAD design means Computer-Aided Design. The CAD design of a 3D or 2D solid part is the first step of a CNC machining process. You can do it with your in-house CAD designer, or you can take help from a professional CAD design agency.
A CAD design software such as Autodesk is necessary to create the CAD design. You can use any CAD design software to create your CAD design. With the CAD design, a designer creates a model or renders the parts of a model. The produced CAD design also contains technical specifications, such as geometrics, dimensions for the parts.
One vital thing to consider before making the CAD design is your CNC machine and tooling specification. How you should prepare your CAD design primarily depends on the type of your CNC machine.
Typical CNC machine tooling is cylindrical. So, with the standard CNC machining process, you can only achieve a curved corner section. Therefore traditional CNC machining has some design limitations, and you can not output every design model from regular CNC machines. Moreover, the properties of the materials you will work on, tooling design, and machine’s work holding capabilities also restrict the design capabilities. The part size, minimum part thickness, features, and the complexity and inclusion of internal cavities also depend on those factors.
After the designer completes the CAD design, he/she exports the file to CNC file formats such as IGES or STEP.
