For the present time, it is very characteristic to use in various engineering industries parts of a complex configuration - the forming surfaces of dies, molds, gears, copiers and many others. The main methods for manufacturing such complex products are considered to be the following: casting, stamping and cutting. But only machining by milling allows one to achieve surface parameters close to the specified ones, which significantly reduces the finishing time.
Often, a vertical milling machine acts as the optimal and even the only possible equipment for processing flat products of complex configuration. This is especially true in modern conditions of the transition of most engineering enterprises to small-scale production.
The technological process in which the vertical milling machine is the main unit for the manufacture of parts of complex profile, in this aspect is also the most economically viable. This avoids unnecessary energy and production costs. Nowadays, there is generally a steady trend towards the universalization of any industrial production.
A typical technical process for surface treatment of complex configuration consists of the following operations: harvesting, milling and lapping. The latter, as a rule, is performed manually, which determines its extreme complexity. Therefore, the high class of surface cleanliness, which allows you to achieve a vertical milling machine, greatly facilitates the finishing operation and improves the quality of the product. Thus, this unit minimizes material costs, which is extremely important in a market economy.
The vertical milling machine is designed to perform various, mainly metal-working operations with end, cylindrical, shaped, angled and other multi-cutting tools (milling cutters). On such machines, various planes, grooves of any section, gears, models of dies, frames, angles and other parts from non-ferrous metals and their alloys, various grades of steel and cast iron are processed.
A vertical milling machine is characterized by the presence of a vertically spindle, which in many models is able to move along its own axis and rotate in a horizontal plane, which greatly expands the technological capabilities of the unit. The spindle head is located in the upper part of the bed, which also contains the gearbox. The main working movement of the machine is the rotation of the spindle.
The main structural units of a vertical milling machine include the following: gearbox, bed, slide, console, spindle and dividing heads. The latter is an extremely important element, since it is she who rotates the workpiece at the angle required for processing. In addition, the dividing head provides continuous rotation of the workpiece when milling helical grooves.
Nowadays, a vertical milling machine with CNC is increasingly used in industry. A distinctive feature of such modern equipment is that all types of feeds in them are controlled by signals that are recorded on magnetic tape. Arising in the windings of special coils, these signals are then fed through traction motors to the machine feed spindles . Such control provides jewelry precision processing.