Do you want to learn how a CNC machine works, but don’t have access to one (yet)? One of our tipsters just informed us of this great project that was created by a team of students from the University of British Columbia, and it’s an interactive 3D learning system that teaches everything about CNC machining.
We downloaded the “game” and it’s pretty cool — you get to walk around a virtual workshop and can click on various things to learn about their functions. Alternatively, you can go just go through their lessons (that appear when you click on things) on the website. It’s a great summary to get your feet wet in the world of CNC machining.
Beyond how the machines themselves work, the website also goes into great detail about the various applications you can use CNC machining for and physics behind tooling design.
Even if you’ve had a brief introduction to CNC machining before, this site provides a great summary of most everything — it’ll be very handy if you’re hoping to use a school’s machine shop for personal projects…
[Thanks Chris!]
Looks like the project has been dead since 2009. Wish I could have the time to update it but, life ….
I was really hoping this would be a 3D CNC simulation. No such luck :(
There are some free sims. Some online. YMMV.
Haven’t used this because it isn’t compatible with my machine. But it does look like it might preview for you, and without the hassles of nagware.
http://www.linuxcnc.org/
It would seem to be a stretch to call this a “game”. It is certainly a great introduction to all the main concepts, but the simulated environment is really just a menu to jump to content. I’d love to see them take this to the next level and introduce real gamification.