Talking about the numerical control transformation of machine tools

I. A Brief History and Trends in the Development of CNC Systems The world's first electronic computer was born in 1946, which shows that humans have created tools that can enhance and partially replace mental labor. Compared with the tools created by human beings in agriculture and industrial society, which only enhance physical labor, it has made a qualitative leap and laid the foundation for human beings to enter the information society.

Six years later, in 1952, computer technology was applied to machine tools, and the first CNC machine tool was born in the United States. Since then, traditional machine tools have produced qualitative changes. For nearly half a century, CNC systems have experienced two stages and six generations of development.

1.1, NC (NC) stage (1952 ~ 1970)

The early computing speed of the computer was low, and it had little effect on the scientific calculation and data processing at that time, but it could not meet the requirements of real-time control of the machine tool. People have to use digital logic circuits to "take" a machine-specific computer as a numerical control system, called HARD-WIRED NC, referred to as CNC (NC). With the development of components, this stage has gone through three generations, namely the first generation in 1952 - the electron tube; the second generation in 1959 - the transistor; the third generation in 1965 - the small-scale integrated circuit.

1.2, computer numerical control (CNC) stage (1970 ~ now)

By 1970, the GM small computer industry had emerged and produced in batches. So it was transplanted as the core component of the CNC system, and it has entered the computer numerical control (CNC) stage (the "general" word that should be in front of the computer is omitted). By 1971, for the first time in the world, INTEL Corporation integrated the two core components of the computer, the computing unit and the controller, on a single chip using a large-scale integrated circuit technology, called a microprocessor (MICROPROCESSOR). ), also known as the central processing unit (referred to as CPU).

By 1974 the microprocessor was used in CNC systems. This is because the function of a small computer is too strong, and the ability to control a machine tool is rich (so it was used to control multiple machine tools at that time, called group control), it is better to use a microprocessor economically reasonable. Moreover, the reliability of the minicomputer at the time was not satisfactory. Early microprocessor speeds and functions were not high enough, but could be solved with a multiprocessor architecture. Since the microprocessor is a core component of a general-purpose computer, it is still called computer numerical control.

By 1990, the performance of PCs (personal computers, domestically referred to as microcomputers) had reached a very high stage and could meet the requirements of being a core component of CNC systems. The CNC system has since entered the PC-based phase.

In short, the computer numerical control phase has also experienced three generations. That is, the fourth generation in 1970 - the small computer; the fifth generation in 1974 - the microprocessor and the sixth generation in 1990 - based on PC (foreign called PC-BASED).

It should also be pointed out that although foreign countries have long been renamed as computer numerical control (CNC), China is still used to call numerical control (NC). Therefore, the "numerical control" that we talk about in daily life has essentially referred to "computer numerical control".

1.3. The future development trend of CNC 1.3.1 Continue to develop the open, PC-based sixth generation direction Based on the openness, low cost, high reliability, rich hardware and software resources of PC, more CNC systems Manufacturers will take this path. At least the PC is used as its front-end machine to deal with human-machine interface, programming, networking communication and other issues, and the original system undertakes the task of numerical control. The friendly human-machine interface of the PC will be popularized in all CNC systems. Remote communication, remote diagnosis and repair will be more common.

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What is a Wheel Bearing?


A wheel bearing is a set of steel balls held together in a metal ring, called a race. At the center of your wheels, there is a hollow piece of metal, called a hub. The wheel bearings fit tightly inside this hub, and ride on a metal axle shaft, helping reduce friction when the wheel spins.

These are different from the engine bearings, as there is no constant source of lubrication for the wheel bearings, which means they need to be tight enough to keep away water and road dust. They also support the entire vehicle weight while driving, which is why they suffer a lot of abuse from rough roads, potholes, as well as lateral forces when turning.