Machine tools are also called “work machines”. They are machines for manufacturing various machines and processing equipment. They play a key role in the development of the entire machinery industry, so they are called the “mother of machinery.”
Machine tool technology includes abrasives, casting manufacturing, transmission, electrical equipment, system integration, etc. On the contrary, machine tools are included in consumer electronics, automobile industry, machinery manufacturing, electrical equipment, railway locomotives, shipbuilding industry, defense industry, aerospace and other industries.
Define a machine tool
A machine tool is defined as a machine that pushes solid materials through a power source to form and process them by physical, chemical or other methods. Its definition can also be interpreted as a machine tool whose processing material is mainly metal workpiece.
Metal Cutting Machine Tool vs Metal Forming Machine Tool
Machine tools can be divided into metal cutting machine tools and metal forming machine tools according to their functions. The former uses debris, ash processing, discharge erosion, laser beam machining, and other methods to remove the part of the workpiece. The products include lathe (round processing). ), drill press (drilling), milling machine (plane processing), grinder (grinding), planer (plane cutting), electric discharge machine, etc.; the latter uses stamping to form the workpiece, and products include punching (pressing), shears Bed, forged bed, etc.
It is distinguished by the presence or absence of numerical control devices. Those without numerical control are called traditional machine tools; those who use a numerical signal operating system to control machine tool operators are called Numerical Control (NC) machine tools. Because most of the numerical control machine tools nowadays are performed by computers. Operational control, also known as Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine tool, and the current production method is developing towards a PC-Based machine tool. After the NC machine tool, a comprehensive processing machine was developed. A single model is suitable for the same processing needs. Also, to meet the current production process, the processing needs of speed and quality are more or less diverse. The automatic feeding and chip removal system are further developed. , Tool storage exchange system, automatic workpiece change system combined with other related peripheral equipment, combined with a single machine or multiple machine tools of the same function or different function to form a Flexible Manufacturing Cell (FMC) or Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS), set the program, After a succession of automatic processing, the workpiece will become the required shape. It needs to go through repeated upper and lower molds and correction processes to achieve stable quality and improve processing efficiency.
Read more: What are the Machine Tools?