Many industries rely on precision and accuracy. Thanks to the improvements in modern technology, and especially to the advanced techniques like laser cutting, the much required precision is possible. Laser cutting has gained much popularity over the last few years and it’s not hard to understand why. It is a technique described as a thermal process. A laser beam focused on a certain material will melt it with very high precision. You can move the laser to dictate the direction of cutting, or you can use a CNC (computer numerical control) to cut materials without dealing with high temperatures and staying out of harms way.
Why is steel so massively used in a vast range of industries? If you give it a thought, there’s no industry in the industrially developed modern world that doesn’t rely on this metal: automotive, naval, air transport, medicine equipment, computer hardware, buildings and other industries. Whether it’s for the tools used in these industries, or the machines that produce them, steel is used in both small and large appliances as well as in small and large construction sites. It all comes down to its amazing properties and its eye-appealing look.
With so many new great things that have been happening with 3D printing in metal and plastic, we’ve decided to pay homage to the more traditional CNC machining techniques and tools. After all, it is still the most common method that is used in the modern world and we are sure CNC milling company will be around for a long time to come. In no particular order, we’ll touch on some history and the machining techniques that make our top list.
Plastic machining is not an easy task. Plastic as a material is known for being easy to change its shape, its size, a whole lot more when you try to work with it. It can chip or melt while you are trying to cut it, it can crack if you try to decrease it, a whole lot of things can go wrong. There is a large range of problems and strange behaviours that can come with nylon machining. Each plastic has it’s own unique way of which you must work with it, so below is a brief guide on things you should know if you are already or considering working with plastic.
The first factor is thermal expansion. This is basically the term used for something that grows when heat is applied to it. This is not something you will see when machining metals, plastics on the other hand, can expand a lot. Some plastics can expand five times the rate of metals and more. A great example of this is aluminum and UHMW. UHMW otherwise known as ultra high molecular weight polyethylene will expand up to 10 times the amount that aluminum would when exposed to the same temperature.
