This guide is designed to be referenced by purchasing agents or owners who are are looking to purchase CNC equipment.  In order for purchasing and installation of CNC machinery to go smoothly, we recommend that you consider and fully understand the options available.

Machinery Installation Requirements

Here is a listing of basic requirements for all CNC equipment. 

• Electrical Power incoming to your factory or facility must meet the machine requirements.
• Compressed air in your factory must be clean, dry, and meet the minimal PSI requirements in order to prevent premature failure and unnecessary issues with your machinery.
• Network connectivity is an important part of machinery installation.  It is important your machine is placed somewhere that the operator panel can be connected to a company network in order to efficiently load programs.
• Ceiling Height Restrictions are important to understand.  If you facility has a low ceiling there are many options for still installing CNC machinery  that can still be considered.
• Incoming Overhead Door restrictions.  A minimum width is required to move the machinery into your facility.

Material Handling Options

• Machine Placement.  It is extremely important to plan the layout of your facility so that workflow is efficient through your facility.  Placing the CNC in the right spot can save thousands of dollars and gain extreme production efficiencies.
• Loading and unloading the machine can be done using overhead cranes, vacuum lifts or manually.  If an overhead crane is being considered the placement is extremely important to cover the entire work envelope of your CNC.

Controlling contamination

• Consider water/coolant filtration and recycling stations for flood coolant applications.
• Consider dust/chip collection with separation of combustible materials if required for your application.

Maintenance Items

• Spare parts kit or package can be beneficial to keep your machinery in constant operation.
• Tooling requirements - consider the tooling that is needed for your application and determine the best plan for replacing tooling as it wears.