What is machining?

Even if you know little about manufacturing, you've probably heard the term "machining." It is widely used by manufacturing companies to convert raw materials into finished products. From the name alone, you might think that processing simply means the use of any machine. While machining certainly requires the use of machines, this is not the actual definition.

We will guide you to know the machining as the following:

• Casting, Forging, and Machining

• Machining history

• Common machining tools

1. Casting, Forging, and Machining

There are several main forms of creating metal shapes.

Casting is the process of filling a mold with a molten alloy and cooling it.

Forging processes metals to change the properties of a material by applying pressure to change the crystal lattice of the metal. Bending, twisting, striking, and folding are common operations in forging.

Machining can be loosely defined as the process by which material on a workpiece is shaped into the desired design using an electric machine tool. Most metal parts require some form of machining during the manufacturing process. Other materials, such as plastics, rubber, and paper products, are also commonly manufactured through machining processes.

In the modern era, machining is usually the last step in forging or casting a product to bring the forged or cast object within precise tolerances. Milled sheets, billets, and bars can also be machined from their original geometry.

Casting and forging are usually carried out before processing. The finished object may undergo further processing before the metal object is finished. The work may be joined with fasteners or welds, subjected to heat treatment or other surface treatment.

2. Machining history

The first machining tools were made by hand. Bow lathes and drill bits are used for grinding or drilling wood, ivory, or soft metals such as lead.

In 1774, an inventor named John Wilkinson designed a lathe that was driven by the continuous rotation of a water wheel. He called the invention the "boring and milling machine". It was the first real machining tool in the modern sense to accurately measure the thickness of "thin-worn shillings". However, this boring and milling cutter cannot create spiral notches like a thread, because each notch needs to be manually repositioned. In 1800, Henry Maudslay improved the design for repositioning and, propelled by the steam engine, rapidly developed the modern machining tool, which required Wilkinson's boring machine to work efficiently. Thus, the history of machining is one of the iterative designs in which machines are used to build and perfect themselves.

3. Common machining tools

Common machine tools are:

• Lathe - the place where the metalwork rests against the cutting tool

• Drilling press - pushes the drill bit across the metal surface

• Grinder - Rotates the abrasive or grinding wheel onto the metal workpiece

• Band Saw - uses a continuous saw blade to cut metal products

• Milling machine - the use of a rotary cutting tool on the surface to form metal products

• Broaching machine - file objects to remove only a small amount of material

• Laser cutting and etching - beams of light are used to cut, drill or etch objects

• Ultrasonic Machining - Ultrasonic and abrasive slurry removal of metals

• Electron Beam Processing - Electron beams generate high heat and vaporize metals

• Chemical and electrochemical methods - the use of chemicals to remove and shape metals

The lathe is the ancestor of many present-day machine tools. Thus, the lathe can be used for boring, drilling, thread cutting, milling, and grinding: as long as metal products can be rotated, the lathe can be used in place of other tools.

Machining is an important process, we use machining to produce the products. We supply a lot of hardware such as wheels, caster wheel, gate guide roller. Please contact us when you need it.