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Joined: 05/06/2004
Location: AustraliaPosts: 5095
| Posted: 12:06pm 12 Feb 2014 |
Vasi's link explains it. Basically, most CNC machining is done in 2.5d, even though the some machines will work in full 3d.
Say I wanted to machine a cube 20mm square, out of a piece of material 25mm thick. If I went down the 3d path, I would draw up the cube in cad as a 3d solid object, then use a CAM package to place the cube inside the material, at the bottom usually. Then create the cutting paths to route out the cube, a lot of g-code, and send it to the router to do its job. In 2.5d, I would create a simple surfacing operation to mill down 5mm, then another operation to cut out the square shape. 2 operations really, but a lot easier to code, less g-code, and usually quicker.
For some shapes you need to use 3d, but for anything flat, 2.5d is much much easier. Through cutting machines, like lasers, water jets, plasma's etc are all regarded as 2.5d. CNC routers, EDM's etc, can work in 3d
Glenn
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