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THE MILLING MACHINE

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1. The axes of a milling machine or machining center

2. General description

The milling machine is a motorized machining machine. Machining consists of shaping a component by removing material using a cutting tool on the raw material.

The milling machine consists of two main elements: the milling machine head, which holds the spindle, and the table, positioned perpendicular to the spindle, on which the material to be machined is secured. The rotating spindle holds the milling cutter (cutting tool). Unlike the lathe, here it is the tool that rotates while the material remains fixed.

3. Spindle axes

Depending on the complexity of the machine, the milling machine spindle can move on a number of axes ranging from 3 to 6 simultaneously. In all cases, the spindle can move on the three linear axes (X, Y and Z) and, sometimes, additionally, on one, two or three rotary axes (A, B and C). On most machines, the different working axes are distributed between the movements of the spindle and those of the table (e.g., X and Y axes on the table, and Z and rotary axes on the spindle).

4. Milling cutters

The shape of the Milling cutter can vary depending on the machining to be performed. It can be cylindrical, conical, spherical, toric, or a much more specific shape (for example for gear cutting).

5. Rotation and travel speeds of the Milling cutter / table

The rotation speed of the Milling cutter is determined and set according to its diameter and the nature of the Material to be machined. These two criteria also govern the speed of the tool’s axial movements.

Very versatile, the Milling machine can also perform drilling and tapping operations. The Milling cutter is then replaced by a Drill bit or a Tap (threading tool).

Simple machines as we consider them here do not have automation. The spindles of such Milling machines are moved manually by cranks operated by the operator.
Some machines sometimes combine a Lathe and a Milling machine, these are called combined lathes. Like Lathes, Milling machines became automated at the beginning of the 20th^th century, first with mechanical cam-driven controls, then with numerical controls starting in 1980. Most milling machines used in watchmaking today are integrated into versatile, numerically controlled machining centers.