Metalworking machines are used in modern industrial applications to prepare workpieces, then to profile, shape, and finish them. When used properly they are fast, effective, and uphold high standards for finished workpieces.
Before the modern era, craftsmen needed to labor by hand to finish a workpiece (whether it was made of metal or wood). In the modern day, CNC and IoT-linked machines improve workflows, processes, and quality.
This post will cover 7 of the basic types of metalworking machines and what they do.
- Turning machines (lathes). Commonly referred to as lathes, turning machines literally turn the workpiece at a high speed (hence the name) so that a fixed cutting tool can be applied to it to remove material. Turning machines are most effective when they are used to produce cylindrical items, such as shafts and bolts.
- Milling machines. Milling machines apply a rotating metal cutting tool called a mill, which has cutting flutes, to a stationary workpiece. Because of this configuration, milling machines are most effective at producing pockets, holes, and other such features in workpieces. However, milling can also be used for other applications such as contouring, profiling, threading and finishing.
- Grinding machines. A grinding machine removes stock material from a workpiece. Depending on the grinding abrasive used, a grinding machine can either be used to roughly shape the workpiece, or it can be used with a very high grit abrasive to produce a fine finish.
- Drills (drill presses). A drill or a drill press uses a drill to cut a hole, slot, pocket, or other similar feature into a stationary workpiece.
- Broaching machines. Broaching machines use a metal cutting tool with a series of teeth of increasingly larger sizes to cut material away from a workpiece in a single pass. They are commonly used to produce splines, keyways, lock profiles and transmission profiles in a single pass. Broaching is similar to milling, except broaching is more efficient because it accomplishes in one pass what milling would require several for.
- Shaping and planing machines. Shaping and planing machines are similar but not exactly the same. Shaping machines trim the workpiece, typically to produce a flat surface or basic grooves. Planing machines typically are used to produce a flat surface as well but move the workpiece rather than the tool. Planers are best used with large workpieces.
- Metal saws. Lastly, metal saws are used to trim material from a workpiece to cut it to a desired length or very rough shape before more precise cutting operations can be executed. Common machine saws include band saws and cold saws, which cut quickly and efficiently.
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