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Guides That Could Help You Work With CNC Turning Machines

By John Hill


Turning machines are used for cutting a rotating material while using a non rotary bit while moving linearly. Their movement axes have either angles, straight line or curves but are linear essentially and applied to external surfaces. Boring is what you called to that process applied to internal surfaces and together, lathing is their categorization.

These processes are manually done traditionally with an operator to supervise them while the recent ones will be automated with no supervision needed. The latter are performed via CNC turning machines in CT which their operations are controlled by computer programs. Their early versions creates geometric figures that are complex although creating them now is very rare.

Turning processes are usually executed by lathe with four varying types like external grooving, profiling, taper and straight. These can produce different shapes of workpiece such as grooved, curved, conical and straight. If you have a small machine at home and want to try this process for your personal projects then follow these guides that could help you.

Buy high quality carbide cutters from trusted brands to achieve better results rather than buying inexpensive ones with no names. They tend to break easily specially when used with metals resulting to more expenses for constant replacements. You will not need the most expensive ones but those from a reputable brand with favorable reviews.

Buy calculators for speeds and feeds, or cutting speed and feed rate respectively, to make sure they are set with precision. The latter is velocity of the tools when being advanced along and the former is speed difference of workpiece surface and cutter. Tough materials need them precised correctly and calibrating them without calculators is not possible.

Determine the correct depth and width of cut which is important in avoiding tool deflection or its bending that causes accuracy problems. This would add to chipload, or the removed material thickness, and largely contributes to early breakage. The deflection reduces CNC accuracy also because the instrument will not be where the code expects its exact location is.

Small machines have common issues of moving around easily when they work using powerful force because their weight is lacking as required. Larger ones are unlike them which can handle jobs using high power like stainless steel cutting. Reduce the force your cuts are using according with their size so when used, they would stabilize.

Some consumer grade machines have toolholders which are cheap that would not endure pressures from tough materials. Toolholders are those steel bar with shanks clamped to a machine while the other side has a clamp to hold interchangeable tools. If cutters break often, either you need to reduce the chip load or have your toolholders upgraded.

Ensure that coolant is used which can reduce several related issues in cutting various tough materials such as material hardening or heat retention. Using one when working on difficult materials is a great idea to have. Some more guides are available that can help you and visit your local shops if you still have more questions.




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