CNC Vertical

Milling machines are machine tools which are used to machine solid materials. There are two basic types of these machines and they are vertical milling machine and horizontal milling machine. The two different types are referred to horizontal and vertical because of the orientation of the main spindle. Milling machines can vary in size from small bench mounted machines to much larger room sized machines. Milling machines operate by moving the workpiece around and against the cutter, and the sides of the cutter are used to cut material as well as the tip. The workpiece and cutter are very precisely controlled to thousandths of an inch ( 0.001 ). Milling machines may be mechanically automated, manually operated or computer numerically controlled ( CNC ). The manual operation of some types of precision engineering machine such as the lathe or milling machine are very often controlled by computer or numerically controlled.

CNC Vertical Milling Machine

Numerical control or NC, or computer numerical control CNC refers to the automation of machine tools which are operated by programmed commands that are encoded on a storage medium.

Milling is a machining operation in which a workpiece is given the desired shape by the action of a rotating cutter, while the workpiece performs linear movements. In its simplest form the milling cutter is a circular disc whose rim is provided with specially shaped teeth (cutting edges). The cutters are of many different kinds and shapes. The work is fed against the teeth of the cutter, while the feed motion is longitudinal, transverse or vertical, depending on the type of milling machine and the nature of the work. Milling machines are of the horizontal or vertical type.



Today many CNC milling machines are computer controlled vertical mills, and have the ability to move the spindle vertically along the Z axis. In CNC milling and turning, end to end component design is automated using CAD/CAM programs. The program is put into the lathe or milling machine and the machine is then ready for production. Some machined components will generally require a number of different tooling applications such as drilling, reaming and tapping etc, and most modern machines will combine tools within a single cell. This cell will move or rotate to apply the required tooling application, and this will also be controlled by the CNC system. With todays modern and complex machines, the machined part or workpiece can be moved from machine to machine automatically with the use of computer controlled robots, or human intervention, but in either case the steps needed to produce any part is highly automated and the finished part will closely match the CAD design.

CNC machines were first built in the 1940s and were programmed by using paper tape with holes punched into it at specific points. These early systems were soon overtaken with the augmentation of analogue and digital computers. There is a range of CNC systems that can be fitted to previously manually operate machine tools, and these systems provide a selection of features which can significantly improve the productivity of the machine and the quality of the work that is produced.

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