Glossary

Assemblies

Precise combination of joinery connections between parts designed to produce a desired structure, function, or shape.

Chip Load

The amount of material removed by each flute tooth, as the end mill makes one revolution, while being pushed along a toolpath.

Collet

Attachment to the spindle that holds the end mill in place, usually with a friction fit.

Conventional (cutting)

The feed direction runs counterclockwise, while the spindle rotates clockwise.

Climb (cutting)

The feed direction runs clockwise, while the spindle rotates clockwise.

Contour cut

Removal of material within a specified region with variable depth topography. Is oriented independently of the material surface.

Cut file

A 2D drawing of the pieces/parts that are laid out with respect to a sheet of material and separated into layers that anticipate toolpaths.

Digital fabrication

The production of things, using digital tools. One-off or specialized.

Distributed manufacturing

Network of affiliated CNC fabricators, who source design information globally and materials locally, and eliminate the transportation waste of a centralized factory.

Dogbone

Detail that removes the radius left by a 90-degree interior toolpath cut by a round end mill. A dogbone is a hole placed at a 90-degree corner that leaves a small 3/4 circle at interior corner intersections.

DXF

CAD file format developed by Autodesk, for AutoCAD that is recognizable by many CAD and CAM programs. DXF stands for Drawing Interchange Format (or Drawing Exchange Format).

End mill

The cutting tool, held by the spindle, for which the toolpath is generated. End mills come in various sizes, materials, flute dispositions, and tip conditions for a wide array of cutting applications.

Feeds

The velocity at which the tool moves laterally through material. Feed rate is measured in distance per time, or inches per minute, and abbreviated IPM.

Flatten

The process of breaking down and laying out the parts of a 3D model into a flattened and 2D version.

Gantry

Apparatus that affords the x/y movement above the stock, holds the spindle, and precisely locates it relative to the toolpath.

Good side

The face veneers of premium, veneer plywood has sides that are graded differently. The finish side that is meant to be exposed has a better quality veneer with usually more uniformity and evenness in most cases. Conversely, the back side is intended to face the interior or back of a cabinet.

Hold-down

Technique of securing material to the router bed, while remaining clear of gantry, spindle assembly, and dust extractor foot.

Iteration

The ongoing cycle of testing and evaluating a design, and then making a next version that improves upon the last. Software, rapid prototyping, and digital fabrication facilitates an iterative process of designing, prototyping, and refining a design, over and over.

Mass customization

“Batch of one” production enabled by the agillity of digital fabrication and parametric software. Individually customized goods are achievable without a corresponding increase in cost or labor.

Open source

Files, code, and designs that are shared with others to be freely used, changed, and subsequently shared as modified or unmodified. Advocates stipulate that to be open source information is licensed for both commercial and noncommercial use.

Open design

Design of physical things (hardware) that are available for others to study, modify, distribute, and make. The design is usually made available in a format that enables others to make modifications. Like open source, open design advocates stipulate that to be truly open, information is licensed for both commercial and noncommercial use.

Open making

Similar to open design, without the commercial stipulation. Open making involves the design of things that can be easily made and adapted by others. Open making aims to bring benefit to many, while enabling designers to still make a living by limiting commercial distribution.

Orthogonal

Right angle or 90-degree. Interlocking two flat parts with an orthogonal connection produces a very strong, durable joint.

Parametric

A design or modeling space in which extents and relationships are defined.

Pocket cut

Removal of material within a specified region, to a specified depth, with a resultant pocket that has edges that are perpendicular to the material surface and a bottom that is parallel to the material surface.

Prefinished

Material that has been finished in the factory, and typically doesn’t require finishing after fabrication.

Profile cut

A perpendicular through cut made through the material, which follows a specified path.

Programs

A program is a set of basic requirements, functions, or accommodations that a design must address. Seating and storage are examples of a design program.

Ramping

Machining technique for easing an end mill into the material at a gradual angle. Usually made as spiral or smooth, ramping reduces heat buildup and vibration, which keeps parts in place while machining.

Sniglet

AtFAB’s version of a dogbone, which removes the radius left by a 90-degree interior cut. The sniglet is fully integrated to the cut profile toolpath.

Speeds

The rotational speed of the router spindle, measured in revolutions per minute (RPM).

Spindle

The engine that generates the rotation of a cutting tool. In contrast to a spindle, some CNC routers have an actual router head that does the cutting.

Stock

The material being milled, and its extents and properties that are defined in the toolpathing software.

Structures

Assemblies that efficiently utilize flat material to resist vertical, gravity loads and sideways, lateral forces. AtFAB designs employ Shear, Torsion, Vierendeel, and Rotational structures to resist loads of forces.

T-bone

Similar to the dogbone, a T-bone removes the radius left by a 90-degree interior toolpath with a 1/2 circle. While a dogbone is a 3/4 circle that is usually cut as a hole, a T-bone’s 1/2 circle may be drawn as integral to the profile-cutting toolpath.

Tabs

An interruption in a profile cut that leaves an amount of material between the stock and the part to secure the part during routing. Tab parameters can be set when prescribing toolpaths in the toolpathing software.

Third Industrial Revolution

Similar to the industrial revolutions that preceded it, the third industrial revolution brings a fundamental economic shift. As decentralized, networked digital manufacturing combines with new communication technologies, logistical ecologies, and renewable energy to bring change to society and culture.

Three-axis

Movement along the x, y, and z axes, within a work zone.

Toolpath

The feeds, speeds, passes, plunges, as well as coordinates of cutting, that are CAM software adds to your cut file’s vectors. CAM software typically communicates toolpath information to CNC routers with G-Code.

Toolpathing software

A term for computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software.

Vector

Line with magnitude and direction. It’s the information from which the direction of the toolpath is derived.

Workflow

Your entire process that works across a variety of collaborators, software, and machines from design through prototyping and fabrication, finishing, and assembly.