Nowadays, milling and other drilling or cutting processes are routinely done by CNC machines that are computer operated. What you may not be aware of is that milling machine history stretches way back before the days of the computer. The process has come a very long way since the very early days, and the use of computers now means that there is a much higher level of productivity and precision. Companies that need a very complex part made will hand over their designs to CNC centers, with the finished pieces being made exactly to spec. It wasn’t always that way, though, so let’s take a little look back.
Milling machine history goes all the way back to the early 1800’s, with the first machines evolving from the process of rotary filling, which essentially involved running a circular saw on a lathe. Filling had been around for many years prior to the milling process being introduced. These early machines were not big on precision, and were used to create a rough cut. The finishing touches were done by hand. The machines of that period continued to develop, but it wasn’t really until the 1840’s that big changes really started to happen.
It was during this period that the Lincoln miller was brought into being. This machine is considered by many to be of major importance in milling machine history, as it was something of a hybrid contraption put together using many of the best pieces from a number of companies. While this was definitely a sign of progress in the industry, there was still one important aspect missing. Modern milling machines drill on 3, sometimes even 5, axis, but these early machines still only operated on two, with the vertical axis left out of the picture.
It was the 1860’s many of the biggest advances in milling were made, and it was a machine invented by Joseph R. Brown that pretty much opened the floodgates for new innovations. His was the first machine to properly incorporate 3-axis drilling. It was then that the axes were names XYZ, which is how they still remain to this day. More changes came after World War 1, and by the time the 1940’s rolled around, big changes were happening in the milling industry. This led to the first wave of automation, and by 1952 numerical control had been introduced into a machine.
From the 1970’s onwards, computers started to dominate the industry, with the NC machines of the past now being upgraded to CNC machines. As the technology grew and the software developed, the tasks that the machines could take on grew with them. There are now machines that operate on 5-axes, churning out incredibly complex pieces quickly and with the minimum of waste. The need for any kind of operation by hand, other than that of the programmer, is now pretty much gone. The amount of time and money that a manufacturing company can save by using CNC machines is off the charts, which is why the history of milling is still waiting for the next chapter to be written.
See http://www.cam-machine.com/cnc-machining/ for info on modern methods in milling machines.
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