What Is CNC Turning & What Parts Can Be Made?

Before precision engineering became commonplace in manufacturing, the forming of materials such as metals and plastics required constant oversight by operators. This is likely to frequently lead to inaccurate measurements and low-quality errors.

Thanks to advances in computer technology and improved operator skills, parts and assemblies can now be manufactured to the most exacting specifications with impeccable accuracy. Computer Numerical Control (CNC) turning is just one way of making this possible, leading to a boom in the precision engineering industry in the UK．

What is CNC turning?

CNC turning is a manufacturing process in which a rod of material is held in a chuck and rotated while a tool is fed into the workpiece to remove material to form the desired shape. A turret with a tool attached (shown in the picture) is programmed to move to the raw material bar and remove material to create the programmed result. This is also called “subtractive machining” because it involves material removal. If the center has both adjustment and milling functions, such as the one above, the rotation can be stopped to allow other shapes to be milled.

The starting material, although usually circular, may be of other shapes, such as squares or hexagons. Depending on the bar feeder, the bar length may vary.

This affects the amount of processing required for volume jobs. The tools of a CNC lathe or turning center are mounted on a computer-controlled turret.

The more tools a turret can hold, the more options for part complexity.

The CNC comes with a “live” tool option to stop bar rotation and add other functions such as drilling, grooving and milling surfaces.

Some CNC turning centers have a spindle that does everything from one side, while others

There are many different types of CNC turning centers with various types of tool options, spindle options, outside diameter limitations, and power and speed capabilities that affect the types of parts that can be economically manufactured on them.

History of CNC Turning

The process of CNC turning is actually based on the lathe, one of the oldest machining tools in the world. In fact, the use of lathes in production dates back to ancient Egypt.

Fast-forward a few centuries until, in the late 1940s, John T. Parsons, in collaboration with MIT, invented numerically controlled (NC) machining. Parsons was commissioned by the U.S. Air Force to find the most cost-effective way to produce aircraft parts to complex specifications. Thanks to his efforts, CNC machining quickly became the norm in manufacturing.

Then in 1967, the idea of ​​computer-controlled machining first started circulating. Exactly nine years later, the first 3D computer-aided machining system came out, and within 13 years, CNC turning and machining became the industry standard.

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