[megraf]

It's all about the tools the shop has. Sapphire probes (edge finders) aid in a lot of the process. Mastercam allows you to simulate the machine process (and you can usually simulate it completely). Every shop is different – the shop I'm at here has a few lathes, robo-drills, 5th axis, and a few older pieces of hardware (which still are able to receive G-Code).

[dwohnitmok]

I was definitely using edge finders (it seems like machining in general would be way way way more work without edge finders) and occasionally Mastercam.

Definitely never used a 5-axis mill or robodrill though.

I guess my main point of comparison was to laser cutters, which really were basically push button automatable in comparison.

Granted the problem is a lot easier (purely 2-D cuts) and the cutter loses a lot of precision for thick material, but any time I got to use a laser cutter I was blown away by easy everything is and kept wondering whether a similar process could ultimately take root for machining.

[jononor]

The forces involved in CNC machining is a large complicating factor, compared to laser (or 3d-printing). In a laser one can just throw the material onto the bed, and the results will be fine - not so on a CNC. And that one is quite inherent to the paradigm.

Other aspects could likely be simplified and automated to a larger degree than today. In many areas solutions exists, but are quite high budget - things like tool changers, material loading and unloading.

[phkahler]

Machining can be simpler if you've got a couple precision features that can be clamped to with hard fixturing. It's all about positioning the workpiece accurately so the fixed g-code program can do its thing.