Zone: Machining Centers & Milling Machines

How to Improve Machining Center Accuracy

Accuracy is not just inherent to the machine—it also depends on how the machine is used. Try these techniques to let a new or existing CNC machining center achieve its potential precision.

Read Complete Article

Video: Getting Started With Minimum Quantity Lubrication

Minimum quantity lubrication does not require a special machine tool or special tooling. This video makes the case for MQL and describes how to apply it effectively.

Read Complete Article

Research Further:

Browse This Zone By Type:

Most Recent Content in this Zone:

When to Mill Keeps Changing
2/8/2010 Modern Machine Shop: Technology improvements steadily expand the range of tool and die parts that justify high speed machining.
Video: Getting the Most Out of Your High Speed Spindle
2/4/2010 Modern Machine Shop: Here is an introduction to machining center spindles designed for high speeds, with practical tips for using these high speed spindles effectively.
Machine Line Alleviates Workflow Bottlenecks
1/18/2010 Modern Machine Shop: Workflow bottlenecks led this oil and gas industry manufacturer to seek a new line of machine tools. Standardizing on mills, lathes and other machines from FEMCO eliminated operator training issues while reducing process time and tooling costs.
Automatic Pallet System Helps Pick Up The Pace
1/18/2010 Modern Machine Shop: Racecar drivers depend on high-performance components to win races, but manufacturing those components for on-time delivery requires speed, too. An automated pallet changer from Midaco helped this shop significantly increase production to meet demand for not only its performance car parts, but also components for the aerospace, medical and other industries.
Video: Balancing Tools And Toolholders
12/9/2009 Modern Machine Shop: This video provides both the argument and methodology for performing offline balancing of tool/toolholder assemblies for high speed machining centers.

View More Content in This Zone | RSS | Atom

Overview Of:
Machining Centers & Milling Machines

The term “machining center” describes almost any CNC milling and drilling machine that includes an automatic toolchanger and a table that clamps the workpiece in place. On a machining center (as contrasted with a turning machine), the tool rotates, but the work does not. The most basic variety of this type of machine is also the most basic CNC machine tool—a vertical machining center. While vertical machining centers can be high-end machines because of their precision and/or their size, a small and simple vertical machining center is a relatively low-cost CNC machine tool that often represents a new machine shop’s first machine tool purchase. The orientation of the spindle is the most fundamental defining characteristic of a machining center. Vertical machining centers and horizontal machining centers have (obviously) vertically and horizontally oriented spindles. Vertical machines generally favor precision while horizontal machines generally favor production—but these generalizations are loose, and plenty of machines break out of them. Other choices in machining center orientation include the universal machining center, which can change between vertical and horizontal spindle arrangement. More common than this is the five-axis machining center, which adds rotary motion to the machine’s linear motion. The machine pivots the tool and/or the part not only to mill and drill at various angles, but also to mill swept surfaces. Machining centers linked by an automated pallet system can form an automated machining cell. Such a cell can machine a queue of different parts without operator attention by shuttling the parts in and out of the various machines as appropriate. Related machines in this category include the boring mill, which generally describes a large machine for heavy and/or precise milling and hole making. Another related machine is the manual milling machine. Such a machine may have some basic programmability, but it generally lacks an automatic toolchanger, meaning the tool change is a manual step.