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CNC milling is one of the most impressive technologies of this century. Due to the reliability and versatility of CNC milling, the technology has rapidly expanded into new industries such as musical instrument manufacturing, electronics industry, medical treatment, and automobiles. This is an ideal method for rapid prototyping and mass production of plastics and metals. Although most CNC milling is suitable for metal processing, these tools are extremely versatile and can produce customized precision parts for various industries.

Even though the process and use of CNC milling are well known to those in the industry, people outside may not be familiar with its application and even how it works.

Therefore, we will study milling in depth, focusing on various aspects of the process itself and machinery. This will help you understand whether you need CNC milling services to produce parts.

What Is CNC Milling
People often request CNC machining when looking for milling. Machining is divided into milling and turning, but there is a clear difference between the two. Mechanical machining refers to mechanical cutting technology, which uses a variety of tools to remove material through physical contact. CNC milling is one manufacturing method that uses a computer numerical control system to automate the process.

Before the advent of computing technology, milling was performed manually or Mechanically operated. Nowadays, it is carried out by computer numerical control milling machine. CNC milling computer numerical control milling) is a processing process that uses computer control and rotary cutting tools to gradually remove material from the workpiece and produce custom-designed parts or products.

These machine are called machining centers, and they are horizontal or vertical according to the direction of the cutting tool spindle. A machining center consists of a tool magazine, turntable, automatic tool change system, computer control, housing and coolant. Now milling is integrated with turning and vice versa, which can provide greater flexibility and increase productivity. The process is suitable for machining various materials, such as metal, plastic, glass and wood, and producing various custom-designed parts and products.

Computer-controlled CNC can achieve unparalleled accuracy, and convert specific digital codes into Cartesian coordinates, thereby ensuring that each part is produced with absolute accuracy to the smallest detail, which is almost impossible to perform manually.

For the production of precision parts, CNC milling is indeed unmatched. Assure buyers of the extremely high precision of CNC milling parts, which is unmatched by traditional milling methods. Part production can provide a high degree of repeatability, whether it is a single part or multiple parts, can provide high quality, precise accuracy.

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CNC Milling Operations
CNC Milling is suitable for many different functions, including thread, chamfers, slotting,pockets, etc. This allows complex designs to be produced with enviable precision on a single CNC milling center. The tolerance is about +/- 0.1 mm. SANS high precision tolerance within +/-0.003mm. The most common CNC milling operations include:

Face Milling
Surface Milling
Angular milling
Form milling
Face milling

Face Milling
Face milling refers to milling operations in which the axis of rotation of the cutting tool is perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece. This method uses an end face cutter, which has teeth on both the outer periphery and the tool surface. The outer periphery teeth are mainly used for cutting, while the end teeth are used for finishing, and are responsible for the surface finish. Generally, face milling is used to create flat surfaces and contours on finished parts, and can produce higher quality finishing than other milling processes.
The types of face milling include end milling and side milling, which use end mills and side mills, respectively.

Surface Milling
Plain milling, also known as surface or slab milling. It uses a horizontal milling cutter and the rotation axis of the cutting tool is parallel to the surface of the workpiece. Depending on the necessary results, it is possible to use wide or narrow surface tools for surface milling.

Depending on the specifications of the milling application, narrow and wide knives can be used. Narrow knives can make deeper cuts, while wide knives can be used to cut larger surface areas. When using wider knives, slow cutting speeds and fast feed speeds produce the approximate geometry of custom designed parts.

Of course, the surface finish of this cut may not meet the requirements. The operator then introduced finer toothed cutters, faster cutting speeds and slower feed speeds to produce more accurate details of the finished part. Therefore, from an economic perspective, the combination of the two is a good choice.

Angular Milling
Angular milling, also known as angle milling. Through this milling operation, the rotation axis of the cutting tool is at a certain angle with respect to the workpiece surface, we can create chamfers, grooves, etc.
Use a single-angle milling cutter (the angle is determined based on the specific design being processed) to produce angular features such as chamfers, saw teeth, and grooves. A common application of angle milling is the production of dovetails, which use 45°, 50°, 55° or 60° dovetail tools according to the design of the dovetail.

Form Milling
Form milling refers to milling operations involving irregular surfaces and contours. Special tools are required to produce more complex surface contours. Convex, concave and round chamfering knives are all examples of tools used here. These tools can help create circular grooves, circular edges, etc., such as parts with complex designs with curved and flat surfaces or fully curved surfaces. These tools must have the correct parameters to achieve the desired results.

Profile Milling
A common milling operation, the machine tool creates a cutting path on the vertical or inclined surface of the workpiece. This process uses contour milling equipment and cutting tools, which can be parallel or perpendicular to the workpiece surface, used to produce convex and concave parts. The process includes 3 steps-roughing, semi-finishing and finishing.

Such work will greatly benefit from CNC milling, because 4-axis and 5-axis technology can greatly speed up the operation and provide higher quality.

Other Milling Operations
In addition to the above operations, the milling machine can also be used to complete other specialized milling and machining operations. Examples of other types of milling machine operations available include:

Straddle milling: Straddle milling refers to milling operations in which the machine tool processes two or more parallel workpiece surfaces in one cut. This process uses two tools on the same machine tool mandrel, which are arranged so that the tools are located on either side of the workpiece and both sides can be milled simultaneously.

Gang milling: Gang milling refers to the use of two or more tools (usually tools of different sizes, shapes or widths) on the same machine spindle. Each cutter can perform the same cutting operation or different cutting operations at the same time, thereby producing more complex designs and complex parts in a shorter production time.

Gear milling

Yes, milling can also be used to produce gears. The first is gear milling. The flexibility of the material makes it easier to manufacture parts, while achieving large tolerances. Then, the gear undergoes a heat treatment process to harden the surface. After that, CNC turning will be responsible for the final result.