Metal cutting lathes first reared their head in the early part of the 18th century in Europe. In less than a hundred years, these lathes were common in England and Europe. The moment direct human effort was removed from the shaping and cutting process, the era of the machine tool was born. Jacques de Vaucanson could be called its inventor because he was the first to put a cutting tool on an adjustable holder, thus removing the human factor from the process of cutting.
Today, most machine tools are controlled by computers and contribute significantly to the automation of processes within a manufacturing unit. Metal is cut using lathes, milling machines or drills. The lathe shapes, the milling machine cuts through with a cutting wheel and the drill, as its name suggests, drills right through.
Metal cutting tools are made of newer and stronger alloys of hardened steel with materials like chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, cobalt and cemented carbides. These are called “high speed steel” and tools made from these have a low wear and tear factor. They need to be much stronger than the material that is being drilled or milled. Today, even stronger materials like carbide and stellite are being used by cutting tool manufacturers in order to make for better and faster metal cutting operations. The aerospace industry uses a rare metal called Tantalum, which has a high melting point and great corrosion resistance. This silver white metal is used in nuclear applications as well.
Metal cutting tools are used to cut, shape, drill, plane, grind and polish to perfection. Powerful motors ensure clean, precise cutting and mass production sees all parts produced are identical. The quicker all this is done, the lower the cost of production and higher the profits. These tools optimize the cutting function in the manufacturing process.
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