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[CrickFreak]

But this is a good point look at your handmade Pro's

Why can't you have it adjusted off a machine so many people think (i know you don't mate) that bats fall of a conveyor belt with a CnC.

We have 2 craftsman and a very experienced one in Gavin Corns.

The magic is not made by the machine but by the designer then the batmaker because ultimately all the CnC does is the donkey work and shape and in our case within .2 of a ounce.

CNC by definition in manufacturing industry means - CAD and CAM, a complete automation of design and manufacturing.
A true CNC is not suitable for products made out of natural material like wood. Every natural material (cleft) has a different DNA and hence different characteristics. This uniqueness requires human (batmaker) intervention during every stage of making the final product for finer adjustments.

The point is a good batmaker will consistently produce bats which feel almost the same but will vary in shape little bit. A pure CNC process will produce bats of exact same shape but each will feel different. With handmade, all bats in a particular model will have slight variance in shape so that they feel the same which is what we all like to see.

But what you are describing is a semi CNC process where the finer adjustments are still made by hand by humans. So to me its still quite similar to hand made bat making process except that the initial shaping is done completely by machine.

[Manormanic]

I would always have said that the main difference - and this an be pro or con either argument - is that the handmade bat is a piece of craftsmanship whereas the CNC made one is a piece more or less of engineering.  As with so many thing, that's a bit of an oversimplification, but it sort of summarises how I see it.

It would be an interesting experiment if you had a bat you loved to get two copies made, one by the original bat maker and one by a CNC company, and see what the differences were as a result.

[procricket]

CNC by definition in manufacturing industry means - CAD and CAM, a complete automation of design and manufacturing.
A true CNC is not suitable for products made out of natural material like wood. Every natural material (cleft) has a different DNA and hence different characteristics. This uniqueness requires human (batmaker) intervention during every stage of making the final product for finer adjustments.

The point is a good batmaker will consistently produce bats which feel almost the same but will vary in shape little bit. A pure CNC process will produce bats of exact same shape but each will feel different. With handmade, all bats in a particular model will have slight variance in shape so that they feel the same which is what we all like to see.

But what you are describing is a semi CNC process where the finer adjustments are still made by hand by humans. So to me its still quite similar to hand made bat making process except that the initial shaping is done completely by machine.

Good post mate

Adjustments are not always required infact the process has become better and better and we have various ways of measuring density so we can get within .2 of a ounce through the machine.

Consistancy is key both at trade and individual level.

Streaky has also developed a bat grabber where almost any shape can be pictures,mapped and then made to a exact weight

[crictech]

I'd of thought that the machine would have it on speed, ability to duplicate a specific shape and precise shaping. The skill comes from the guy designing the bat and programming the machine. I do wonder what innovations we would loose if all bats were machine made and podshavers turned into operators, although I'm sure there will be some new innovations unique to the CAD / CNC way of doing things.

The people best positioned to tell us about the benefits and drawbacks of both are people who use both so maybe B3 could let us know what their experience is.

[tim2000s]

To be fair, I have bats made by machine, hand and hybrid (copy lathe and hand finished). All have been made by reputable makers.

To look at, pick up, and in use, I can't discern whether one is better. I have my favourite, but all are bats that on any given Sunday I will use.

This must then come back to the manufacturing, speed of production, etc as I don't think it makes the slightest difference to the end product.

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[dilscoop]

Basically do you prefer GM or GN.
Both produce great bats.
GM are best for players who want continuity.
whereas trusting your batmaker to produce the best stick possible for you would be going going the GN route.

obviously the CNC bat process is the result of high demand...when did they start using CNC ?
Though i am probably wrong in the reason why they chose CNC route...or are GM just being lazy

[Northern monkey]

Making a bat using a Cnc is not lazy
The bats still got to be finished off by hand
The machine is simply removing material to a pre set program.

Sorting the profiles,clefts,finishing,handles etc still all has to be done
Both the b3 bats and gm bats I've seen have been very very well made bats

[tim2000s]

I'd also suggest that gn bats are not necessarily entirely handmade in India....

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[SkipperJ]

CNC by definition in manufacturing industry means - CAD and CAM, a complete automation of design and manufacturing.

Not really.

CAD = Computer Aided Design
CAM = Computer Aided Manufacturing
CNC = Computer Numerically Controlled (machines)

The bat shape is designed in CAD software. This is where you customize the shape, edges, spine, profile etc.
The CAD "model" is then fed to CAM software, which automatically programs the right tool path etc. to machine a raw cleft into a bat's profile.
Finally the tool path (known as NC code) is fed into a CNC machine, which does the actually machining of the cleft.
This is followed by hand finishing (sanding, polishing, buffing.) Handles need to be fitted by hand as well.

There used to be plain NC machines that used punch cards to control the cutting tool's motion. This was a tedious and error-prone process. That was a long time ago, now tools are controlled through a computer.

[CrickFreak]

Not really.

CAD = Computer Aided Design
CAM = Computer Aided Manufacturing
CNC = Computer Numerically Controlled (machines)

The bat shape is designed in CAD software. This is where you customize the shape, edges, spine, profile etc.
The CAD "model" is then fed to CAM software, which automatically programs the right tool path etc. to machine a raw cleft into a bat's profile.
Finally the tool path (known as NC code) is fed into a CNC machine, which does the actually machining of the cleft.
This is followed by hand finishing (sanding, polishing, buffing.) Handles need to be fitted by hand as well.

There used to be plain NC machines that used punch cards to control the cutting tool's motion. This was a tedious and error-prone process. That was a long time ago, now tools are controlled through a computer.

In manufacturing, example making of a car door, there in no human intervention. Thats what i meant by complete automation. If you compare the car door manufacturing to bat making, the bat gets altered to some extent by human to make it "right" after the machine has finished working. But in case of car door, it will never be "finished" by human.

[tim2000s]

There used to be plain NC machines that used punch cards to control the cutting tool's motion. This was a tedious and error-prone process. That was a long time ago, now tools are controlled through a computer.

CAD/CAM/CNC have been completely automated in car production for at least 20 years. Granted that the computers running the systems have got more powerful, but I was CAD/CAM/CNCing in 1993.

[roco]

CAD CAM is cheating anyway

write the code yourself

(secretly CAD CAM far easier but I didn't say that)