Milling machine mainly refers to a machine tool that uses milling cutters to process various surfaces of workpieces. Usually, the rotary motion of the milling cutter is the main motion, and the movement of the workpiece and the milling cutter is the feed motion. It can process planes, grooves, and various curved surfaces, gears, etc.
A milling machine in a manufacturing facility is a machine tool that uses a milling cutter to mill a workpiece. In addition to milling planes, grooves, gear teeth, threads and spline shafts, milling machines can also process more complex profiles, with higher efficiency than planers, and are widely used in machinery manufacturing and repair departments.
A milling machine is a versatile machine tool that can process planes (horizontal, vertical), grooves (keyways, T-slots, dovetails, etc.), toothed parts (gears, spline shafts, sprockets), Helical surfaces (threads, helical grooves) and various curved surfaces. In addition, it can also be used to process the surface of the revolving body, the inner hole and the cutting work. When the milling machine is working, the workpiece is mounted on the table or on the accessories such as the indexing head. The rotation of the milling cutter is the main movement, supplemented by the feed movement of the table or the milling head, and the workpiece can obtain the required machining surface. Due to the multi-blade interrupted cutting, the productivity of the milling machine is high. In simple terms, a milling machine is a machine tool that can mill, drill, and bore a workpiece.
Development History
The first milling machine was a horizontal milling machine created by American E. Whitney in 1818. In order to mill the spiral groove of the twist drill, J.R. Brown created the first universal milling machine in 1862, which was the prototype of the lifting table milling machine. The gantry milling machine appeared around 1884. In the 1920s, semi-automatic milling machines appeared, and the worktable used stops to complete the automatic conversion of “feed-fast” or “rapid-feed”.
After 1950, milling machines developed rapidly in terms of control systems, and the application of digital control greatly improved the automation of milling machines. Especially after the 1970s, the digital control system and automatic tool change system of the microprocessor were applied on the milling machine, which expanded the machining range of the milling machine and improved the machining accuracy and efficiency.
With the continuous development of the mechanization process, CNC programming has been widely used in machine tool operations, which has greatly released the labor force. CNC programming milling machines will gradually replace manual operations. The requirements for employees will also be higher and higher, and of course, the efficiency will be higher and higher.
