Turn-Mill Machines

Multitasking machines are often built on a turning center platform. These machines use rotary tools to combine several cutting processes such as turning, milling, drilling, tapping, grooving, threading and deep-hole boring on one machine.

Source: Buying a Lathe: Slant-Beds and Multitasking Configurations

A mill/turn machine, or turn/mill machine, is a CNC machine that can perform turning and milling operations.

Why do these machines continue to rise in popularity? It’s simple. They offer the opportunity for a part to be machined completely on one piece of equipment.

Traditionally, parts that might start on a lathe for turning work, for example, could then have to be taken to a mill to create prismatic features. That means, two machines must be set up and tended to. Parts with turning work complete must be transported to the mill. Those parts might have to be staged as work in process (WIP) waiting for the mill to become available (and scheduling can be tricky to efficiently coordinate machine availability). An accumulating number of setups and part repositioning can lead to error stacking. Multiple machines take up more floor space and consume more energy.

In cases in which a multitasking machine can produce parts complete, these issues go away.

Source: Multitasking Machining Equipment: Now the New Normal