What's in a Modern CNC Machine Shop
Depending on size and activities, modern CNC machine shops may have a whole fleet of CNC equipment, or just a handful of versatile machines.
CNC lathes and mills make up the majority of CNC machines. You'll find at least one in just about every machine shop.
- CNC lathes spin a workpiece and apply cutting surfaces to it in order to remove metal
- CNC mills spin a tool to cut the metal, while leaving the workpiece stationary.
Another large portion of equipment in machine shops is related to metrology, or the science of measurement. A vital companion to precision machining is precision measurement. Without it, machine shops would have no way of guaranteeing tight tolerances–many of which are smaller than +/- .00001", far beyond what the human eye can judge.
In past decades, machinists and metrologists relied exclusively on mechanical hand tools, like calipers and micrometers, to measure dimensions. While these tools are still widely in use today, Computer Numerical Control has expanded the horizons of measurement.
Computer-aided Measuring Machines, or CMMs, are also standard stock in any modern machine shop. Coming in a variety of forms, CMMs essentially remove the human element from taking measurements. Once they're set up and calibrated, CMMs move independently and take measurements along a workpiece.
In addition to these high-tech tools, machine shops can still make use of