Mill

A milling machine is used to shape metal into a variety of complex shapes. It shares its basic form with a rotating cutter and has a bit that rotates around an axis, much like a drill bit. Unlike a drill machine, however, the worktable beneath a milling machine is usually capable of moving along three dimensions. One notable brand-name product is the Bridgeport milling machine.A milling machine can be operated manually or by way of CNC--computer numerical control. The advantages of using computer numerical control is that less manpower is needed to create the products, and the computers can efficiently create uniform pieces--which is often difficult to achieve manually. Because of this, many shops use CNC to operate their machines.There are a few different types of milling machines: end mills, form cutters and facing mills. End mills are used to cut pockets, steps and slots into the metal, while form cutters can create bevels and dovetails. Facing mills are primarily used to cut flat surfaces. In addition to these differences, there are also horizontal and vertical machines. The horizontal machines are considered a specialty machine, and are much more expensive than their vertical counterparts. While the vertical machines are quite similar to drill machines, the horizontal machines are much different. The cutters on the horizontal machine are located along the horizontal plane and are used to create slots and grooves in the material. The cutter on this type of machine shares similarities with the circular saw.