Manufacturing Disciplines Index

Click on a discipline below for more information and links to frequently used tasks.

• Assembly
• Castings
• Engineering & Design
• Fabrication
• Forging
• Heat Treatment
• Machining
• Machining-CNC
• Metal Finishing
• Mold Making
• Pallets
• Plastic & Rubber
• Prototyping
• Tool & Die Making

Machining, CNC Machining - An Overview

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Machining is the process of forming parts by removing material. The advantage of machining is that it can produce very accurate parts that can fit together perfectly in mechanical assemblies. The disadvantage of machining is that removing material requires some time and energy and wastes all the material that was cut from around the part. Also, machining is best for parts with simple geometry, since basic machining consists mostly of linear and circular cuts. However, machining is the only way to produce high precision mechanical parts and the machined tools needed for other manufacturing processes.

Material can be removed by many machining methods. The most common machining method is mechanical, using a sharp metal tool to shave away material. This is referred to as traditional machining. Traditional machining is almost entirely done with two machine tools, the mill and the lathe. Advanced machining operations include processes like electrical discharge machining or electro-chemical machining to shape metal work pieces.

CNC machining is a wonderful example of how technology has improved upon traditional manufacturing processes. Machine shops have found that complex shapes can be machined with less labor when mills (milling), lathes (turning) and other machine tools are controlled by computers. This is called Computer Numerical Control (CNC) and its being used more and more all the time. A CNC machine can make parts with very complex shapes and it can make the same part over and over again exactly the same way enabling the machine shop to significantly reduce production costs and stay competitive in an ever increasing global market.

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Get Quotes for the Following Machining Processes!

Horizontal Boring Jig Boring Vertical Boring Broaching / Splining Drilling Ram EDM Wire EDM Engraving Gear Cutting Grinding Centerless Grinding Cylindrical Grinding

Flat Grinding Internal Grinding Jig Grinding Honing Large Machining Multi-axis Machining Precision Machining Screw Machining Swiss Screw Machine Turning Milling Saw Cutting

Slotting Tapping Thread Cutting Thread Grinding Thread Rolling CNC Drilling CNC Grinding CNC Machine Center CNC Milling CNC Turning