Today, not a single manufacturing enterprise can do without machine tools. Whether it is a small private company or a large plant - in one form or another, processing equipment is involved in all sectors. Another thing is that there are many classifications of machine tools, functional features, as well as individual optional content. These and other factors make it possible to determine different types of machines by specific signs and characteristics.
What are called machines?
The main distinguishing feature of this equipment in the general category of industrial units and construction tools is the presence of a bed on the basis of which a working body or organ system is arranged. The processing element can be a small abrasive wheel, and a drill, and a diamond crown - this depends on the operation being performed. Most often, the general view of the machine is presented as a massive structure with working equipment, a feeding platform, clamps, an engine, etc. But in household and small-scale workshops, modest-sized installations are also quite suitable. Moreover, if earlier only stationary units were necessarily referred to machines, today there are many mobile devices among them. Moreover, the line between a hand-held power tool and a small-sized machine is not always clearly defined even by manufacturers. And yet, the presence of a bed, a power plant and processing bodies allows you to attribute the equipment to full-fledged machines. Which ones exactly is another question.
Lathes
One of the most popular categories of production machines, which cover all operations related to turning of parts. The lathe allows you to adjust the shape of the workpieces, originally having bodies of revolution, to carry out cutting, grooving grooves and in some cases drilling. We can say that the target area of work of such equipment is servicing workpieces in the form of bodies of revolution, which during the turning process receive a conical or cylindrical shape. There are different types of lathes that are involved in various industries. For example, woodworking factories can use large machines to create rounded lumber. In the furniture industry, turning units are used to form legs, stair balusters, handles, etc. Such machines are also divided according to the type of placement - floor or table.
Sawing machines
In this category, units are presented that realize the cutting of workpieces into two or more parts. Allocate circular, that is, disk machines, and tape. The former carry out cross-cutting of products, as a rule, in line mode. Circular models are also widely used in the household, since such operations are quite in demand. Band types of machines allow for longitudinal cutting. For example, a single-saw unit can divide a long board into two parts that are similar in length. Two-sawn, in turn, simultaneously cut in two levels, allowing you to get three from one board. Special modifications also make it possible to form a curved cut or even cut at a certain angle. These are units with automatic feed control, performing high-precision processing.
Milling machines
This type of operation is focused on the formation of profiles of a certain type. Most often, milling processes flat workpieces by removing the edges to a certain height. Machines of this type are mainly used in furniture production, where they receive shaped elements and accessories that bear primarily a decorative function. High-grade building materials are also produced with the help of a milling cutter - lining, plinth, spikes, platbands, etc. More modern types of milling machines support template processing. These are copy-milling units, the cutting parameters of which are selected automatically in accordance with the dimensions of the template part.
Hole Machines
Drilling machines are no less in demand both in private workshops and in large industries. They allow you to create blind and through holes, due to which assembly can be carried out in the future. Unlike electric drills, machines with a drilling function provide higher accuracy and differ in power. The most popular vertical types of machines, since they imply an upper spindle arrangement and give freedom when handling a working platform table. Some models are able to perform inclined drilling - it is also realized due to the possibility of changing the position of the table on which the workpiece is fixed. A separate category is drilling and mortising machines. In addition to directly drilling, they are also capable of milling operations. Milling is not traditional, but narrowly targeted. Such models usually carry grooved niches, technological sockets and other structural recesses for connection.
Surface Finishing Machines
A wide range of machine tools is presented in the segment of models for surface treatment of parts. Such operations are generally positioned as grinding, but this is only the main part of their functions, and related tasks also occur. What type of processing a particular machine will perform depends on its structural design. So, drum machines are guided by grinding boards, board and sheet materials on the surface. In fact, a shallow cleaning of the material from burrs, protruding irregularities and other defects is realized. Edge grinding models perform finer processing. At first glance, the same types of functions are performed by the main types of lathes, which carefully adjust the surface of the workpieces to the desired shape. However, in this case, edge processing is emphasized not only on cylindrical parts. This operation is often used to correct the edge along the length. But there are machines in this group that also focus on cylindrical parts. These are oscillatory models of grinding machines, but they are not used for decorative improvement, for example, balusters, but for the preparation of building materials in the form of logs of a certain size.
Classification by processing material
Production machines often receive a specific purpose in terms of material processing. Wood and metal are the main materials such equipment works with. For wood billets, not so high power is laid in the machines, but on the other hand, more flexible settings for work operations are provided. Machine tools for metal parts obviously require a higher level of power load, as well as a reliable elemental base. The most popular types of machine tools for metal are turning, milling, drilling, etc. Screw cutting machines, which have almost no analogues in the group of woodworking machines, form a special category. These are units that produce threading. In addition, there are special machines for working with stone, plastic, composite and other less popular building and raw materials.
Classification by type of management
Manual machine tools are gradually becoming a thing of the past. Such models are found only in small workshops that work with piece blanks. Large enterprises tend to switch to semi- or fully automated installations. In this segment, there are also different types of machines with different degrees of automation. The most developed machines with CNC and computer control make it possible to accurately control the processing settings without constant monitoring by the user. The operator is assigned only the function of the source data loader in the electronic control panel.
Conclusion
Most of the machines that are currently used in various industries are mechanical processing units . Cutting, drilling, trimming, grinding - all these operations are carried out by exposure to metal nozzles. But they are gradually being replaced by high-tech alternative machines. In production, the types of traditional mechanical units as such do not have special significance. The main thing that is taken into account is the ability to maintain the pace of processing with due quality assurance. Fundamentally new opportunities in this context were opened by hydroabrasive, laser and thermal machines with higher operational properties. Their return from various points of view is more than justified, but so far the massive transition to such machines is hindered by the issues of the complex organization of their use and the high price.