What is CNC Milling Machine Used For?
Ever wondered how intricate shaped parts like bevel gears and gear shafts are made?
The answer is the beauty of CNC milling machine. When it comes to actualizing that new design concept sitting on your desk, a CNC milling machine comes handy.
What is CNC Milling Machine?
A CNC milling machines interprets codes fed into the machine and transforms the information into movement in different milling axes. As the tooling moves, it cuts materials part from the workpiece.
Given a part’s design information, the CNC milling machine reduces a workpiece by curving it out to conformity.
Uses of CNC Milling Machine
Since the CNC milling machine utilizes fed data to undertake the machining process, you find the results highly accurate. As a result, they find use across various industries thanks to their capacity to accurately produce complex parts.
Let’s look at common uses of CNC milling machine:
1. Prototyping
Prototyping is the creation of an early model of a product prior to embarking on full-scale production. It allows you to conceptualize your design, test and evaluate its functionality and usability. Full size models of parts with complex geometries like engine components are fabricated from metal or plastic and put to test.
2. Custom Manufacturing
Here, you make parts or components to order and not for mass production. These parts or components may possess unique features that distinguish them from their standard equivalents. For instance, you can utilize CNC milling in making custom car parts for improved performance or purely for aesthetics.
3. High Precision Parts
With CNC machines, you can achieve high degree of precision even when fabricating complex parts. You can observe the marvel of CNC milling machines in:
- Aircraft parts like fuselage, turbine blades and other engine components like housings.
- Automotive engine components including gear boxes, cylinder heads and engine blocks.
- Medical implants such as knee replacements and hip joints as well as surgical instruments and prosthetics.
- Weapon components like gun parts, radar components and missile war heads.
- Construction fixtures and hardware like brackets and fittings.
- Energy infrastructure like wind turbine blades and gears as well as solar panel frames, mounts, and connectors.
4. Mass Production
Use of CNC milling machines in high volume productions allows for the fabrication of identical parts with minimal variation. There are many industries which have benefited from CNC milling machines – from toys, electronics and many small gadgets.
Depending on the parts you wish to makes, you can adopt different milling techniques such as end milling, thread milling, or dynamic milling.
- Art and Design
CNC milling machines can replicate many designs. With these machines, you can achieve high degree of precision. Some common examples include:
- Creating detailed architectural models used for presentations, planning, and analysis.
- Making artistic pieces in modern art like sculptures owing to the accuracy of the process.
- Engraving objects like watches and jewelry.
Conclusion
When faced with intricate part and component designs, CNC milling machines are one of the most reliable machining tools. Other than the accuracy, another reason CNC milling machines are ideal is the ability to repeat machining operations to identical results.
