Manufacturing and the Milling Machine
Defining "Milling" according to the most basic description could be as follows:
Milling is the process of grinding, cutting, pressing, or crushing a material in a special machine.
Defining "Milling" according to the most basic description could be as follows:
Milling is the process of grinding, cutting, pressing, or crushing a material in a special machine.
Machine tools, or tools used for shaping metals and hard surfaces to create table legs, gun barrels, musical instruments, candlesticks, and other materials, aren’t exactly inexpensive. Most are pretty large, and nearly all of them contain delicate features or parts.
It’s safe to say that machine tools are pretty important. They play a vital role in producing, forming, and shaping a variety of materials — anything from furniture legs, musical instruments, and candlesticks to gun barrels.
American Machinist reports that U.S. sales of machine tools dropped for the month of August by 10.2%. The sales figures represented the second consecutive month of decline for sales of everything from lathes to arc welding equipment, coming in at only $285.92 million for August.
The most recent numbers for U.S. machine tool orders are in, according to American Machinist, and it appears things are steady but not outstanding.
The cost of rebuilding tools is already staggering, but to add on top of that the cost and hassle of transporting them to a machine shop? It can make you want to forget about ever owning the tools in the first place.
Machines have been the backbone of industry for over a century, and despite recent advances in technology, it’s safe to say that humans will depend on machines for centuries to come.