Autolathing Engineering Ltd

WE USE OUR CNC MACHINING CENTRES TO PRODUCE A WIDE RANGE OF MILLED COMPONENTS

A CNC Mill is a Computer Numerical Control Mill automated to perform a complex material cutting task. Once a component is designed, for example an aircraft part, a CNC mill is programmed to machine that part out with high precision into the required material.

Typically customers come to us with a SolidWorks design which allow us to produce cost-effective parts on our CNC Mills, including high-quality base, tube and capping chucks for bottling.

Another application is machine tooling off customer drawings, for example components used in wine bottling lines. We also modify existing plastic cases for electrical cases on the CNC Mills.

CNC Milling components

THE PROCESS

Milling is the process of cutting and drilling material, including most metals and engineering plastics. A milling machine, regardless of whether it’s operated manually or through CNC, uses a rotating cylindrical tool called a milling cutter. It is held in a spindle and can vary in form and size.

The main difference between a milling machine and any other drilling machine is the ability to cut in different angles and move along different axes. For this reason, there are several kinds of milling machines, which are designated by number of movement axes:

2-axis milling machines can cut holes and slots in the x- and z-axes. In other words, this machine will only cut vertically and horizontally (but only in one direction).
3-axis milling machines add the y-axis. This is the most common variety of milling machine. You can cut vertically and in any direction, but an object like a sphere will need to be done one half at a time. This is because, even with three axes, it’s not possible to cut from below.