Six of the Most Common CNC Machines

In this article, we will introduce 6 common types of CNC Machines.

CNC Milling Machine

One of the most common types of CNC machines, a CNC mill utilizes computer controls to cut various materials. Mills can translate specific programs of numbers and letters in order to move the spindle in various ways.

Many mills use what is known as G-code, which, as mentioned, is a standardized programming language recognized by most CNC machines. A CNC mill can have a wide array of functions, such as face milling, shoulder milling, tapping, drilling and turning. Most CNC mills come in three to six-axis configurations.

A CNC mill is very large compared to other tools and can be quite costly.

CNC Plasma Cutter

The process of plasma cutting involves the cutting of a material using a plasma torch. This method is most commonly used to cut heavy materials, such as steel and other forms of metal.

With a CNC plasma cutter, gas is blown at a very high speed from a nozzle. While this is being done, an electrical arc forms through the gas coming out of the nozzle to the surface that is being cut.

This converts some of the gas into plasma, and these plasma temperatures range from 10,000-50,000 degrees. The plasma is hot enough to melt whatever material is being cut, and it blows away any molten metal from the site of the cut.

In terms of shape and size, CNC plasma cutters are very similar to CNC routers. These machines only work with two-dimensional shapes.

CNC Router

A CNC router is a machine that is very similar to the commonly used handheld router utilized for cutting various materials. This type of CNC machine can aid in the cutting of steel, wood, aluminum, composites, plastic and foam.

A CNC router is similar to a CNC mill. It comes with the ability to use computer numerical control to route tool paths that enable the machine to function. CNC routers reduce waste and increase productivity by producing various items in a much shorter amount of time than other machines.

Most routers can operate on a particular material in all three dimensions, and are great for smaller projects and the creation of prototype models and complex designs. You can also find three axis, four axis, five axis and six axis routers.

CNC Lathe

A lathe is a CNC machine that functions to cut work pieces as they are rotated. CNC lathes can make precise cuts quickly by using various tools.

These CNC machines are quite effective in the precision they offer compared to manual lathes. They often have fewer axes than CNC milling machines, and are therefore smaller in size and more compact.

CNC lathes come with similar controls to those of CNC mills and can read both G-code and other proprietary programming languages. The framework of CNC lathes is similar to manual lathes.

CNC Electric Discharge Machine

Electric discharge machining, or EDM for short, involves creating a specific shape within a certain material by using electrical discharges, or sparks.

In this process, the material is removed from a specific work piece by a series of recurring electrical discharges between two electrodes. These electrodes are separated by a dielectric fluid, which often receives an electric voltage. In this machine, the material is placed in between two electrodes and the machine then calculates to see the amount of electrical discharge each electrode needs to produce.

CNC Laser Cutter

Last but certainly not least, there are CNC laser cutters.

CNC laser cutters are machines and equipment that use laser technology for cutting. Laser is a beam of light with a very high release capacity, which can achieve fast cutting in a short time. Metal laser cutting machine is mainly for cutting carbon steel, silicon steel, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, galvanized sheet, aluminized zinc sheet, copper and many other metal materials for fast cutting.

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