This article commences with a schematic illustration of a wide range of cutter configurations available for use in milling operations. It describes the various types of milling machines classified based on the type of construction, such as knee-and-column type, bed-type, planer-type, and special type. The article discusses mechanical-electric, mechanical-hydraulic, mechanical-electric-hydraulic, and numerical control of milling machines. It describes various types of milling cutters, such as peripheral mills, face mills, end mills, and special mills. Milling cutters, such as solid milling cutters, inserted-blade cutters, and indexable-insert cutters, are also discussed. The article explains the capabilities and limitations of peripheral milling, face milling, and end milling methods. It concludes with a comparison of milling with broaching, planing or shaping, and grinding.

This article discusses the types of adaptive control (AC) systems for metal cutting according to the AC strategies used. These include adaptive control with optimization (ACO), adaptive control with constraints (ACC), and geometric adaptive control (GAC). The article details the milling and grinding systems based on the ACO strategy. It reviews the fundamentals of ACC systems followed by a description of a particular ACC system for a turning operation. The article also describes the basic characteristics of GAC systems and presents a particular GAC system for the turning of cylindrical parts. It examines the issues in the AC systems such as tool wear/breakage. Trends in the AC systems such as variable-gain ACC systems and integration of adaptive control into CAD/CAM/CIM systems are also discussed.

Thread milling is a method of cutting screw threads with a milling cutter in a thread mill. This article discusses the operational procedures of thread milling machines, namely, universal thread mills, production thread mills, planetary thread mills, and numerical control machines. It describes the classification of thread milling cutters, such as single-form cutters and multiple-form cutters. The article reviews the speeds and feeds for thread milling, which depend on a number of variables, such as the material being milled, tool material, and rigidity of the machine and workpiece. It tabulates the cutting speeds for climb and conventional milling.

This article discusses the evolution of computer numerical control and direct numerical control for machine tools. It describes the fundamentals and advantages of numerical control (NC) systems. The article reviews the manual or computer assisted off-line programming methods for programming the tools with the aid of the automatically programmed tool language. It also explains point-to-point and continuous-path or contouring of NC systems and the adaptive systems used for NC.

Machining is a term that covers a large collection of manufacturing processes designed to remove unwanted material, usually in the form of chips, from a workpiece. This article discusses the basic classes of machining operations, including conventional, abrasive, and nontraditional, and outlines the type of costs incurred by the process. It describes the types of machining equipment, including general-purpose machine tools, production machining systems, and computer numerically controlled machining systems. The article lists the common classes of metallic work materials, in order of decreasing machinability. It also shows the range of dimensional and surface finish tolerances in graphical form that can be achieved using various machining processes under general machining conditions.

This article reviews the methods of machining and finishing forging dies. It illustrates different stages in die manufacturing. The article provides a brief description on requirements and characteristics of high-speed machining tools, including feed rates, spindle speed, surface cutting speeds, and high acceleration and deceleration capabilities. It discusses electrodischarge machining process and electrochemical machining process. The article concludes with information on die-making methods.

The ultrasonic machining (USM) process consists of two methods, namely, ultrasonic impact grinding and rotary USM. This article lists the major ultrasonic components that are similar to both rotary USM and ultrasonic impact grinding. It also provides schematic representations of the components used in rotary USM and ultrasonic impact grinding. The article describes the operations of the components of the rotary ultrasonic machine and ultrasonic impact grinding machine. It discusses the applications of the rotary ultrasonic machine: drilling, milling, and surface grinding. The article concludes with information on machining characteristics of ultrasonic impact grinding.

The primary objectives of the rolling process are to reduce the cross section of the incoming material while improving its properties and to obtain the desired section at the exit from the rolls. This article illustrates a rolling sequence for the fabrication of bars, shapes, and flat products from blooms, billets, and slabs. It describes two methods for shapes or sections: universal rolling and caliber rolling. The article provides information on two-high mills and three-high mills. Specialty mills for thin sheets, namely, the Sendzimir mill and planetary mill, are discussed. The article analyzes the components of a computer controlled system for high-speed mills. Steels and nonferrous materials are also discussed. The article concludes with information on the defects in flat, bar, or shaped products due to heating and rolling practices.

This article provides an overview of the independent and dependent variables of a machining process. In