Classification of machining processes

Introduction to Machining
Introduction
All machining processes remove material to form shapes. As metals are still the most
widely used materials in manufacturing, machining processes are usually used for
metals. However, machining can also be used to shape plastics and other materials
which are becoming more widespread.

Basically all the different forms of machining involve removing material from a
component using a rotating cutter. The differences between the various types arise
from the relative motion between cutting tool and workpiece and the type of cutting
tool used.

Typically machining will be done using a machine tool. This tool holds the workpiece
and the rotating cutting tool and allows relative movement between the two. Usually
machine tools are dedicated to one type of machining operation, although some
more flexible tools allow more than one type of machining to be performed. The
machine tool can either be under manual or automatic (Computer Numeric Control -
CNC) control. Automatic control is more expensive because of the need to invest in
the necessary control mechanisms however it becomes more desirable as the
number of components produced increases and labour costs can be reduced.

The speed at which a machine tool can process individual components is a function
of the cutting speed of the tool and the downtime involved in changing the workpiece
and maintaining the tool (this will usually involve changing the cutting edges of the
tool). Some very flexible tools allow automatic changing of components and cutting
tools, however they greatly add to initial purchase price of the machine tool.

The cutting speed of the tool is usually dictated by the type of material being
machined, in general the harder the material, the slower the machining time.
Machining speed can be increased by increasing the rotational speed of the cutter,
however this will be at the expense of the tool life. Hence for machining processes
there is an optimum cutting speed that balances tooling costs with cutting speed.

In order to dissipate the heat generated between the workpiece and the cutting tool,
cutting fluids are sprayed onto the tool. The cutting fluid also acts to remove cut
material away from the cutting region and lubricates the tool - workpiece interface
but may require that the component is cleaned afterwards.
Advantages
• Machining processes allow high precision components to be rapidly
produced.
Disadvantages
• Machining processes are not suitable for removing large amounts of mateial.
• There can be a large amount of wastage.
Types of machining operation
There are a number of different types of machining operations available to for
removal of material. These include,

• Milling
• Grinding
• Turning
• Drilling

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Processes which remove metal from a workpiece can be broadly classified into three
main groups i.e Chip Removal, Chipless removal and metal removed by heat.

Chip Removal Processes..

Machining Processes

Process Notes
Name/link...

Automation Modern machine tools are generally controlled using CNC /DNC..
/CNC control
Drilling Drilling is the production of holes..
Turning The workpiece is rotated around its axis and a cutting tool is fed
parallel to the axis to create a cylinder or at right angles to the axis
to create a face
Milling Milling involves feeding the workpiece past a rotating cutter with
cutting edges on its side or end or both
Grinding Used to produce a good accurate surface finish...
Shaping Used to produce flat surfaces by reciprocating tool motion...
Planing Used to produce flat surfaces by reciprocating Workpiece motion...
Saws Saws are used to cut short lengths of long sections..

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Drilling
Drilling Process

The drilling machine (drill press) is a single purpose machine for the production of holes.
Drilling is generally the best method of producing holes. The drill is a cylinderical bar
with helical flutes and radial cutting edges at one end. The drilling operation simply
consist of rotating the drill and feeding it into the workpiece being drilled. The process is
simple and reasonably accurate and the drill is easily controlled both in cutting speed and
feed rate. The drill is probably one of the original machining processes and is the most
widely used.

Drilling machine -important features/dimensions

Notes on Selection of Drilling Machines

Normal pillar drilling machines (Drill Press) are specified basically by the size of hole the
machine can drill in Mild Steel i.e a 16mm machine can drill holes upto and including
16mm dia in mild steel. The speed range of a drilling machine is related to the size e.g.
machines for small holes down to 1mm can have speed ranges up to 8000rpm. Larger
drilling machines more suited for drilling holes. up to 25mm will have a more limited
range. A machine which is used to drill larger holes ( >15mm) is not generally suitable for
drilling small diameter holes (< 1 mm). Smaller machines are provided with permanent
chucks whilst larger machines gnerally include morse tapers for fixing the drills.

Most pillar drills are manually fed using a rotating lever driving the vertical motion of the
spindle. Larger machines can have power drives feeds.

A belt driven spindle is often a convenient low cost option but there is a tendency in
modern times to use geared /inverter drives.

When drilling holes in a material a number of factors should be considered including

• Material being drilled
• Hole size
• Hole quality.
• Speed /Feed required
• Depth of hole
 • Through or Blind Hole
• Need for coolant
• Capacity of drilling machine
• Method of work holding. Hand held, vice, clamped
• Orientation of drill (horizontal , vertical drilling, angle
• Swarf control
Drilling Machines/ Machining Centres

The machines below are the classical designs. The modern trend is towards machining
centres which are CNC controlled machines with tool changing facilities and ability to
perform multiple machining operations including drilling.
Notes on Selection of Drilling Machines
Bench Drill

The most common form of drilling machine is the bench drill. As the name implies this
machine is normally bolted down to a bench. The workpiece can be clamped onto the
worktable or onto the base. Tee slots are normally provided for this function. The
worktable can be moved up and down the vertical column. The worktable can be clamped
at the selected height. The drill is normally located in a three jaw chuck which is rotated
by the drive system. The figure below shows a belt drive. Modern bench drills are driven
by more sophisticated arrangements. The chuck is moved up and down by a feed handle
which drives rotating spindle via a rack and pinion mechanism.

Pillar Drill

The pillar drill has the same features as the bench drill. This drill is however free standing
and is of a far heavier construction able to take larger drills. The larger drills normally
have taper shanks which are located within a taper bore in the spindle end. These tapers
are standardised as morse tapers.

Radial Arm Drill

The radial drill is a free standing and the workpiece is clamped in position on the base.
The drill head is positioned using motorised drives.
Drills

There are two common types of twist drills, high-speed steel drills, and carbide-tipped
drills. The most common type used for normal workshop practice is the high-speed steel
twist drill because of its low cost. Carbide-tipped metal drills are used in production work
where the drill must remain sharp for extended periods, such as in a numerically
controlled drilling machine. Other types of drills available include solid carbide drills, TiN
coated drills, diamond drills etc. etc.
Twist drills shanks are either straight shank or tapered shank (Morse taper). Straight
shank twist drills are usually 12mm or smaller and are gripped in the drill chucks.
Tapered shank drills are usually for the larger drills that need more strength which is
provided by the taper socket chucks.
Common twist drill sizes range from 0.3mm to 90mm in diameter. Larger holes are cut by
special drills that are not considered as twist drills.
Types of Drills Bits
 Typical Drilling Processes

Drilling Feeds and Speeds

The notes below ralate to HSS drills. For drills manufactured with more exotic material
combinations much higher feed and speed rates are viable

Drilling feeds range from 0,03m to 0,5mm rev the feed rate being higher as the drill size
increases from say 1mm to 60mm.

Table of drilling speeds

Material Drilling
speed
m/min
 Aluminium /alloys 35-65
Brass /Bronze 35-75
Copper 30-60
Malleable iron 20-40
Grey Cast iron 24-30
Nickel/Monel 12-20
alloys
Nimonic alloys 6-9
Mild Steel 20-30
Alloy Steel 12-18
Medium Carbon 14-20
Steel
High Tensile Steel 5-14
Stainless Steel 6-15
Aus. Stainless Steel6-10
Mart. Stainless 12-20
Steel
Zinc Based alloy 45-75

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Turning/ Lathes etc

Introduction The lathe is available in many forms as listed below. All lathes are based upon the
centre lathe as shown in the figure below; The basic operations that can be carried out on
lathes include:-Turning, Facing, Boring, Drilling, Reaming, Counterboring, Countersinking,
Threading, Knurling and Parting.

Types of Lathes
1. Centre lathes
• Engine lathes
• Bench lathes
• Toolroom lathes
• Speed lathes
• Duplicating lathes
• Production lathes
• Vertical lathes
2. Capstan/Turret lathes
3. Automatic lathes

Center Lathes
All of the important features of the lathe are shown on the above figure.
The headstock spindle which is hollow to allow bar stock to be fed through is generally
provided with a special male thread to allow chucks etc. to be easily fitted and removed. Some
of the different work holding units which can be fitted onto the headstock spindle are shown
below.

Work Holding Devices

Cutting Tool Terms
• Face ..top surface of cutting tool
• Cutting Edge ..The part of the cutting tool which actually cuts the metal comprises the
side cutting edge and the end cutting edge
• Flank ..The side of the cutting tool below the side cutting edge
• Nose ..Point to the tool
• Nose Radius ..The radius of the nose - 0,4mm for heavy cuts ,0,4-1,5mm for finishing
cuts
• Nose Angle ..Plan angle between the side cutting edge and the end cutting edge
• Side Cutting Edge angle ..Angle between the side cutting edge and the line of the shank
side
• End cutting edge angle ..Angle between the end cutting edge and a line drawn 90o to the
shank side
• Side Relief/clearance Angle ..The angle between the tool flank and the original side of
the tool
• End Relief/clearance Angle ..The angle between the end of tool and a line drawn 90o to
the Centre line of the Lathe
• Side Rake ..Angle between the tool face and the horizontal Plane parallel to the axis of
the lathe
• Back Rake Rake ..Angle between the tool face and the horizontal Plane 90o to the axis
of the lathe

Cutting Speeds
The cutting speed is the speed at which the work surface passes the cutting tool. This is mainly
dependent on the material being turned and the cutting tool material. The table below indicates
some approximate cutting speed for turning on a lathe.

For information on cutting materials refer Cutting Materials. For information on cutting fluids
refer Cutting Fluids

Material Cutting Tool Rough Finishing

Material Cut Cut
m/min m/min
Free Cutting Steel H.S.S 35 90
Cast Alloy 75 145
Carbide 125 205
Low Carbon Steel H.S.S 31 80
Cast Alloy 65 130
Carbide 106 190
Medium Carbon Steel; H.S.S 30 69
Cast Alloy 58 107
Carbide; 92 152
High Carbon Steel H.S.S 24 61
Cast Alloy 53 91
Carbide 76 137
Cast Iron Grey H.S.S 24 41
Cast alloy 43 76
Carbide 69 125
Brass / Bronze H.S.S 53 110
Free Cutting Cast Alloy 105 170
Carbide 175 275
Aluminium H.S.S 40 90
Cast Alloy 55 115
Carbide 75 185
Plastics H.S.S 30 75
Cast Alloy 45 115
Carbide 60 150

Milling Machines
Introduction
A milling machine is a machine tool that cuts metal with a multiple-tooth cutting tool called a
milling cutter. The workpiece is fastened to the milling machine table and is fed against the
revolving milling cutter. The milling cutters can have cutting teeth on the periphery or sidesor
both. The cutting teeth can be straight or spiral.

Milling machines can be classified under three main headings:..

1. General Purpose machines - these are mainly the column and knee type (horizontal &
vertical machines)
2. High Production types with fixed beds- (horizontal types)
3. Special Purpose machines such as duplicating, profiling, rise and fall , rotary table
,planetary and double end types
Milling attachments can also be fitted to other machine tools including lathes planing machines
and drill bench presses can be used with milling cutters.

Additional Notes
Cutting Tool Materials... Cutting Tool Materials..
Cutting Fluids... Cutting Fluids..

Milling Cutters
There are a wide range of milling cutters as illustrated in BS 122-1. these include
• Plain cutters ( most types have straight or helical teeth)
• End mills (taper or parallel shank, slotting or shell)
• Cylindrical side and face slotting,screw slotting
• Single,double and equal angle cutters:
• T-slot, convex, single and double corner rounding cutters
• Metal slitting saws:
• Hollow Mills
Typical Milling cutters

Tee Slot Milling Cutter

Shell End Mill

 High Helix Cylinderical Cutter

Slotting Cutter

Relevant Standards
BS 122-1:1953..Milling cutters. Milling cutters
BS 122-4:1980..Milling cutters. Screwed shank end mills and slot drills
BS 122-5:1986..Milling cutters. Specification for mounting dimensions and accessories
BS 122-6:1995, ISO 240:1994..Milling cutters. Specification for dimensions for
interchangeability of cutter arbors and cutter mandrels

Column and Knee Machine -Vertical Milling Machine

Vertical milling machines have their cutting tool spindles vertical and are characterised by by
their heavy overarms which are integral with their columns. This provides rigid support for the
spindle housing which is set at a fixed distance from from the column. The milling head can be
adjusted vertically
 Column and Knee Machine - Horizontal Milling Machine
This is the basic milling machine configuration. The workpiece can be fed in all three axes and
is suitable for short production runs but it is not as rigid as a fixed bed machine and should not
be used for heavy duty work. Because of the large number of controls it is relatively slow to
operate.
Fixed Bed Milling Machines
Fixed bed or production type machines are designed for rapid metal removal requiring the
minimum of operator involvement. On this type of machine the table is fixed permitting
machine table movement in one horizontal direction only. the workpiece has to be fixed in one
location on the table and all vertical movements for feeds and lateral positioning are by moving
the spindle in the spindle carrier mounted on the headstock. A plain machine has just one
spindle and a duplex machine has two spindles. this type of machine can have one column or
two columns providing more rigidity.
Cutting speed HSS cutting tools , Roughing
The table below provides some very approximate cutting speed for different materials using
HSS cutters on roughing cuts. For finishing cuts the speeds would increase 20% to 50%. For
cermet (cemented carbide)tipped teeth significantly higher cutting speeds are possible see table
below.

Surface Speeds Feeds

Material Rough Feed per tooth (mm) for HSS and Different Milling Cutter Forms
Cut Cutter Type -> Plain Plain Face Side End Form Slitting
m/min Heavy light
Low Carbon 24-30 Material v
Steel Steel Low Carbon 0,15 0,1 0,08
Med. Carbon 23-30
Steel Steel-Low Carbon 0,2 0,13 0,25 0,13 0,13 0,08 0,08
Annealed
Steel-Med Carbon 0,2 0,13 0,23 0,13 0,1 0,08 0,05
High Carbon 18-25
Steel Steel -High Carbon 0,05 0,05
Annealed
Tool Steel 18-25 Stainless steel Free 0,2 0,13 0,25 0,13 0,1 0,08 0,05
Annealed cutting
Stainless Steel 18-25 Stainless steel 0,1 0,08 0,15 0,1 0,05 0,05 0,05
Annealed Cast Iron-grey 0,3 0,2 0,36 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,1
Grey Cast 18-25 Cast Iron-medium 0,25 0,15 0,3 0,15 0,15 0,1 0,08
Iron Cast Iron - Malleable 0,25 0,15 0,3 0,15 0,15 0,1 0,08
Malleable 25-30 Brass /Bronze 0,25 0,2 0,33 0,2 0,15 0,1 0,08
Iron Aluminium/alloys 0,41 0,2 0,51 0,3 0,25 0,18 0,1
Brass 60-90
Bronze 30-60
Aluminium/ 120-
Alloys 300
Cermet Surface Speed /Feed Rates
The table below provides some indicative values for the surface speeds and feeds (mm/tooth)
that can be achieved using cermet type e.g cemented carbide tipped milling cutters.

Material Surface Feed /tooth

Speed (mm)
(mm/m)
Aluminum 450-550 0,12-0,18
low silicon ( < 8% )
Aluminum, 250-350 0,13-0,2
Aluminum-bronze
high silicon ( > 8% )
Bronze 300-330 0,13-0,2
Cast Iron,Malleable 120-220 0,08-0,15
 Cast Iron Gray 180-360 0,1-0,4
Cast Iron Nodular 180-260 0,1-0,2
(ductile)
Copper 370 0,18
Inconel 30 0,08
Stainless steel- 500-800 0,05-0,15
Ferr/Mart
Stainless steel- cast 150-250 0,08-0,15
Stainless steel-304 120 0,08
Stainless steel-316L 90 0,08-0,1
Steel, unalloyed 250-430 0,003-0,006
Steel, low alloy 180-360 0,08-0,15

Steel, low alloy 120-220 0,05-0,15

hardened
Steel, high alloy 120-220 0,076-0,15
annealed
Steel, high alloy 76 0,05
hardened
Steel, cast 180-360 0,1-0,2
low alloy
Steel, cast 120-220 0,08-0,15
high alloy
Titanium 30-64 0,05-0,08
Tungsten 120 0,05-0,1

Grinding /Abrasive Machining

Abrasive Machining
Abrasive machining uses hard non-metallic particles to machine the work surface.
Relevant processes include grinding, honing, superfinishing / abrasive belt machining
and honing. The first three processes uses abrasive particles (grit), rigidly held in a
wheel, stone, or belt. Lapping is based on the abrasive particles being retained in a
fluid.
Grinding
The grinding process is used to produce a high surface finish with a close tolerance
and for machining hard materials. The process is a variation of polishing using
abrasive materials held together by an adhesive generally in the form of a solid wheel.
The wheel is rotated at high speeds and the circumferential surface of the rotating
wheel is brought into contact with the material being machined.

Reasons for grinding:

 1. Removal of surplus material
2. Production of high quality surface finishes
3. Machining very hard materials
The two main abrasives used for grinding wheels are
• Aluminium Oxide (for use on materials with a high tensile strength.
• Silicon Carbide (for use on materials with a low tensile strength
The grinding wheel variables including: abrasive material, bonding material,
abrasive particle size etc are selected depending on: required surface finish, metal
removal rate, material, wheel speed etc.
Different Grinding Processes

Surface Grinder
The surface grinder is used in the toolroom for the production of accurate flat
surfaces. This machine has a similar layout to the horizontal milling machine but only
removes small thicknesses of material on the grinding passes.
The Cylindrical Grinding Machine
This machine is use to generate cylindrical surfaces and is similar to a centre lathe in
appearance. The main difference is that the tool is replaced by a rotating grinding
wheel.
The Vertical Grinding Machine
Information to be added...
The Centreless Grinding machine
This type of grinding machine is for pure cylindrical prism shapes which do not
required mounting. The workpieces are fed through two parallel rotating wheels: a
conventional grinding wheel and a rubberised regulating wheel. The regulating wheel
is inclined at a slight angle to facilitate axial movement (like a screw thread).
Shaping Machine Tools
The shaping process was used in the early days of machine tools. Shaping machines are not
widely used now. Shaping produces flat surfaces by moving a single point cutting tool in a
recprocating motion. The forward stroke is the cutting stroke the backward movement is
completed at a faster velocity and includes the sideways feed motion.
The shaping machine is a versitile machine able to produce flat surfaces , grooves, T-Slots,
dovetails, and may be used to produce curved surfaces.
The size of components that may be machined is normally limited by the length of the stroke of
the shaping machine which can vary up to a maximum of about 1500mm. (750mm is normally
the maximum stroke. The shaping machine is not generally used as a production tool because
of its slow cutting speed and the unproductive return stroke.
SHAPING MACHINE
Planing Machine Tools
Planing is used for the production of flat surfaces. The workpiece is clamped onto the
worktable and the worktable is reciprocated while the tool is held stationary. The tool is only
moved to provide a feed when the workpiece is moving on the return stroke.
The worktable moves on hardened ways and is designed for large size work. As the tool post
and the bedplate are designed to be very rigid the planer can take very heavy cuts and can
machine very accurately. (0,5mm to 0,075mm).
The largest length of workpiece is limited by the table stroke and the largest section is limited
by the size of the toolhead. The width of worktable can be up to 2,5m and the length of
strokecan be up to 7m.

Planer Millers
The planer millers have all the features of planing machines but include a milling cutting head
in place to the single point cutting tools