Most people have no idea about manufacturing in the US, so I am going to shed some light on to what goes into things we use every day. I feel machinist are some of the most skilled labors in the work force. The complexity of the machine, the tolerances that are met in machining, the gauges use to complete such tasks. There really is nothing in this world that a machine did not have something to do with it in some way.
I am going to start with the basics and work from there. This is going to be my version of Modern Marvels.
To start the two most common used machines are lathes and mills. There multiple makes and models of both from, in auto maker terms, from Kia’s to BMW’s. In a lathe the part turns and the tool is stationary, which produces a round part. In a mill the part is stationary and the tool rotates, which makes it possible to make almost anything. Both machines are capable of machining within .001 of an inch, 1/3 the thickness of a hair or piece of notebook paper. To make sure we are in tolerance we use instruments that measure to .0001 of an inch. You can tell the difference in the diameters of two hairs, and if they are round or oval shaped. The following pics are of CNC mills and lathes, CNC being Computer Numerical Controls. It has its own language use to program them to cut parts just like the languages in different software on computers.
CNC Mill
CNC Mill
CNC Lathe
This is a mill decking a head of a motor. Just a few thousanths are removed to make it flat with in .001 of an inch. One thousandth is .001 of an inch. This will also increase compression in a motor and increase horsepower. I will cover car motor stuff later.
This is a lathe turning a part.
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