Forms of Metal Forming Machinery – Shaping Machine, Slotting Machine, Milling Machine, Lathe Machine
Different kinds of metal working machineries are used to form the metals into required shapes and sizes. These include the metal shaping machines, metal cutting machines, the slotting machines, milling machines and lathe machines.
The metal shapers and cutters are the basic forms of machineries used in industries for metal fabrication tasks. Both of them are employed to give the metals desired forms or shapes. The metal piece is brought to a specified geometry by removing excess material from it using various kinds of tooling with these machines. The final product obtained from these metal shaping and cutting machines are the finished parts that meet size and shape specifications of the user.
Slotting Machine
One of the widely employed forms of metal cutting and shaping machinery is slotting machine. A slotting machine is used to slot and shape the metals. It can make slots on hard-to-cut metal parts like heads of blank machine screws, wood screws, bolts, automobile components etc. The operation employed in these slotting machines is carried out using a mounted cutting tool in conjunction with a movable table that moves metal back and forth to create the different shapes. The tasks like the creation of grooves, T-slots, dovetails, and curved surfaces on the metals can be easily and efficiently be carried out on slotting machines.
Shaping Machine
On the other hand the shaping machine is good when machining flat metal surfaces is the purpose. Especially when a large amount of metal has to be removed for shaping machines are really very efficient. The milling machine is just one of the forms of metal shaping machinery that is used when complex metal shaping tasks with much accuracy are needed to be carried out. The milling machine is comparatively much expensive and better for the tasks where shaping can be achieved by removing smaller amounts of metal.
CNC Lathe Machine
Producing cylindrical or axis identical parts is yet one of the most common requirement in industries like power plants, steel rolling mills, tool rooms, ship building, repairing shops, paper mills, workshops, textile, oil, mining industries etc. To meet this requirement often CNC lathe machines are used. These lathe machines turn the metal work piece producing a cylindrical or axis-symmetrical surface by employing cutting, or deformation tools. The headstock, the carriage, and the tailstock are the three main components of these metal forming machineries that are used to produce an object which has rotational symmetry about an axis of rotation. The headstock secures the work piece, tailstock holds the cutting tool to be used to cut the metal and the carriage moves the cutting tool around the rotating work piece, gradually shaving the material from the work piece to give it the desired shape. In the recent times CNC lathe machines have been developed which are advanced and automated forms of the traditional lathe machineries. These are computer controlled machines which are designed to automate most of the metal forming tasks which were earlier performed by the user himself for metal fabrication.
