CNC Mill Service
The Basics Of CNC Mills
CNC mills are automated cutting machines using a rotating spindle-head to cut away unwanted material. CNC milling machines come in a variety of sizes and different axis configurations. They are mainly utilized to cut harder metals but can work with workpiece materials ranging from plastic and aluminum to stainless steel and titanium.
How CNC Milling Works
CNC mills excel at profile cutting harder materials.
Like all CNC machines, a CNC mill is controlled with G-Code created through CAM
software. The Gg-Code instructs the machine where to move the tool head, how
fast to spin the tool, how deep to cut, how to move the workpiece, and other
factors relating to speed, feed rate, and coordination. The G-Code complexity
depends on how many axes the milling machine has.
Mills can still be used for profile cutting of softer materials, but are not as
cost-effective for that use as CNC routers. The main difference between these
machines is that with a CNC router the workpiece remains stationary while the
router cutting head is directed around the piece, while a CNC mill may move both
tool head and workpiece. CNC mills are mainly used in industrial manufacturing,
while CNC routing is more common for lower output manufacturing like
woodworking.
Types of CNC Mills
3-Axis
The most widely used type of CNC milling machine. The full use of the X, Y, and Z directions makes a 3 Axis CNC mill useful for a wide variety of work.
4-Axis
This type of router allows the machine to rotate on a vertical axis, moving the workpiece to introduce more continuous machining.
5-Axis
These machines have three traditional axes as well as two additional rotary axes. A 5-axis CNC router is, therefore, able to machine 5 sides of a workpiece at in one machine without having to remove the workpiece and reset. The workpiece rotates, and the spindle head is able to also move around the piece. These are larger and more expensive.
Other Benefits Of CNC Milling
CNC milling machines are built for precise manufacturing and repeatability which makes them perfect for rapid prototyping and low-to-high volume production runs. CNC mills can also work with a variety of materials from basic aluminum and plastics to more exotic ones like titanium — making them the ideal machine for almost any job.
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