CNC milling machine is a type of machine which is used to machine the solid materials. According to the spindle’s orientation this machine can be divided broadly into two subgroups and they are- vertical and horizontal. This machine also varies in sizes. It can be bench mounted or can be of a size of a room. They are manually operated but with the help of the advanced technologies now most works are being done through robotic hands using CNC Programming. The CNC Machinist mainly goes for the later one as it gives a great accuracy.
The CNC Milling Machine comprises of rotating milling cutter. This milling machine makes the work piece to move radially unlike the drill press where the movement of the drill is along the axis of the work piece which remains stationary. The movement of the cutter and the work piece are controlled in a precise manner with the help of lead screws and ground slides. Now-a-days most of these machines are CNC Milling Machine which uses a computer for its control. The machines can now either be manually operated or can be mechanically operated, but latest technology. Uses CNC Machines which is far better.
The Milling Machines perform different activities which range from a simple task with a complex one. The orientation of the mill determines the types of Milling Machine available and there are mainly two basic configurations- horizontal and vertical. But there are other methods of classification too taking power source, size, control and purpose into consideration. Now if one has to choose between the horizontal and the vertical machines, one has to be concerned about the size and shape of the work piece. Again the CNC Milling has the CNC software which is used to write programs on the computer for controlling the milling process.
Different variants
The following are some of the variants of cnc machines for used for milling:
Bed mill and Box mill- The machines have the spindle on the pendant in a bed mill but in the box mill the machine is bench mounted. C-Frame mill and Floor mill- In the floor mill a row consisting of rotary tables are there but in a C-Frame mill it has a fixed spindle and a knee which is mobile in nature. Gantry and Ram type mill- While in a gantry mill the milling head is placed between 2 rails unlike in ram type mill where the cutting head is mounted basically on sliding ram.
Uses of these machines
For different milling purposes there are different standardizations. But mostly all the milling machines fulfill the same purpose by just being guided mechanically, manually or digitally. In the Injection Molding Machine milling is an important part. The CNC Lathe Machine is used for the associated purpose. In a nutshell we can say that the CNC Milling Machine is being used to serve many purposes which constitute of a major factor in our daily lives.