In the metalworking industry, milling machines are incredibly adaptable tools. From cutting different shapes, drilling holes, and making grooves on ferrous and non-ferrous metals, milling machines were designed to create a consistent, uniform product over and over again.
What Is a Milling Machine?
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Present-day mills offer the opportunity to thread, rabbet, route, and drill under manual or digitized controls, but the early milling machines were far more basic.
A standard milling machine consists of a table, a milling arbor, multiple horizontal and vertical drawbars, a rotary plate, a rotating base, and the main spindle. The rotating base sets a milling machine apart from a lathe.
When Was the First Milling Machine Invented?
The inventor of the first milling machine is unknown, but the development of the mills was documented. Samuel Rehe created an early machine but left little information about the details of the machine. A decade later, Eli Terry modified the design and used mills to manufacture interchangeable clock parts. The development of the milling machines was slow and steady. Each step in the development of the machine made producing identical products easier.
In 1818, Eli Whitney, also known as the inventor of the cotton gin, created what has been referenced as the first milling machine. Yet, his milling machine was merely an updated and improved version of the machine invented by Rehe and Terry. Whitney wasn’t the only one who saw a need in the manufacturing industry and strove to fill it. Inventors John Hall, Robert Johnson, and Simeon North all designed a machine that created consistently identical items.
So why is Eli Whitney credited with inventing the milling machine? Because Eli Whitney created a successful milling machine in New Haven, Connecticut that produced interchangeable rifle parts. His invention changed the industry.
Before Whitney, all firearms were hand-crafted by highly skilled machinists. Not only did the process take a lot of time, but it also meant that exchanging gun parts was impossible. Whitney’s invention got the mass production of guns in the US underway.
Given a high order volume from the US Government, Whitney established a futuristic machine tool factory in New Haven that created identical parts for guns. He made individual templates for reproducing the gun parts. A worker would take the template and cut the metal according to it on the milling machine.
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Often there was a high margin of error. It prompted Whitney to invent a new version of mill that would replace mechanical skills in gun manufacturing. This new version was relatively more accurate.
Whitney developed several models of the milling machine over the years. But mills with CNC technology were not here until 1952, courtesy of Richard Kegg.
Becoming a Useful Industrial Machining Tool
The early milling machines still had one big error: A machinist had to clamp a workpiece to the bench and then secure the template on top. A cutting tool, usually a chisel, was used to cut the excess metal. While filing intricate shapes by hand, measurements were often off the mark. It slowed down the manufacturing process. This setback eventually led Whitney to invent a more advanced milling machine.
He designed an iron wheel with curved teeth protruding from its circumference. The teeth were honed to a razor-sharp cutting edge and then hardened for impact.
Once the wheel moved, the teeth came in contact with the metal plate. Only this time, each tooth acted as an individual chisel, and each stroke was the same. A full rotation of the wheel ensures a steady cutting speed. When he drove the wheel at the edge of a template, it neatly cut the metal plate to size.
Remodeling the Milling Machine
The engineering of the Whitney’s mill appears uncomplicated. But it took Eli Whitney about eight years to fulfill the gun order. Issues with the machines, detail work, and more made the process take longer than planned and the majority of guns were completed in the final two years.
Years later, inventor Joseph R. Brown showcased his modified milling machine at the 1867 Paris Exhibition. It had spiral flutes for a certain type of twist drills, and a formed cutter was added later on. The milling machine continued to evolve.
In the early 1800s, the lathe was more popular for its simplicity, power cross feed, and well-defined gearbox. Thanks to Brown’s significant addition, the milling machine was able to compete with lathes around 1864.
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The First Machine to Be Operated Numerically
From 1940 onwards, there were multiple attempts to automate the milling machine. The manual operation didn’t require mechanical skills, but the goal was to automate the entire process in line with modern technology.
There were several other reasons to opt for Computer Numerical Control (CNC) milling machines; the first one being the irregularity in data, output, and the products themselves.
Once numerical programming was installed on a milling machine, it systematized their operations and made them faster, more precise and efficient than manual machining.
The Evolution of Modern-Day Mills
CNC mills have a modern approach to machining raw materials, but the core functions are the same. The custom parts are often created with the help of a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.
It enables milling machines to mass-produce different parts from a variety of metals and plastics. Today’s mills include:
- Horizontal Milling Machine
- Vertical Milling Machine
- CNC Bed Milling Machine
- Bed Milling Machine
- Boring Mills
Today’s milling machines also have a cylindrical cutting tool that can rotate across multiple axes and create intricate detailing in your mechanical parts; a detail that the early machines could only dream about.
Final Words
Milling machines were invented over two hundred years ago. From the history of milling machines, you can see that mills were developed by clockmakers, professors, private arm makers, and more. Today’s mills are used by many in the same industry, making milling machines a link to the past and an opportunity for future advancement.
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