You may have heard about machining, the most important manufacturing process indicated by annual dollars spent. Metal cutting is a common term for machining, as the latter generally deals with all types of metal products.

To justify the high expenses of machining, let’s take a look at its principal process.

Similar to other manufacturing operations, machining is done by means of a workpiece, a tool and a machine. It is considered to be the basic material-forming process by removing unneeded metal materials from a workpiece. Moreover, it is also common for hard, non-metal materials to be machined. In the process the workpiece is mechanically cut by power-driven machine tools, such as lathes, milling machines and drill presses to achieve the desired shape.

The principal methods of machining include turning, milling and drilling. Turning is done on a lathe that rotates the workpiece to move the metal against the cutting tool. In milling operations the cutting tool rotates to bring the cutting edges to lean against the workpiece. This process is implemented through a milling machine. The drilling, in turn, brings a rotating cutter with cutting edges into contact with the workpiece to produce holes in it. Drill presses as well as lathes and mills are used in drilling.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM), electro-chemical erosion, laser or water jet cutting are more recent and advanced machining techniques.

The above-mentioned machines and tools are used in traditional machining. They appear to be time consuming and require much skilled labor to carry out. Recent technological achievements made it possible to control the machining process by means of a computer. This new process is known as Computer Numerical Control (CNC).

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