Milling is the process of machining using rotary cutters to remove material by advancing a cutter into a work piece. This may be done varying direction on one or several axes, cutter head speed, and pressure. Milling covers a wide variety of different operations and machines, on scales from small individual parts to large, heavy-duty gang milling operations. It is one of the most commonly used processes for machining custom parts to precise tolerances.

Milling can be done with a wide range of machine tools. The original class of machine tools for milling was the milling machine (often called a mill).

Milling machine History

In 1816, Milling machine invented to reduce hand filing of intricate shapes. Later, in 1818, Whitney invented the first milling machine. A bit later in the year 1818 Eli Whitney (inventor of the cotton gin) invents a milling machine in New Haven Connecticut. Prior to the milling machine, a machinist’s tools were primarily files and required a highly skilled operator. The milling machine allowed a less skilled operator to make the same quality of parts as the skilled operator with the file. This milling machine found use making rifles for the government. The CNC (tape) machines started to show up around 1953, in the earlier past the wood milling machine made in England that was used in making patterns in a foundry. This machine had more axis than an octopus. The table had X-Y-Z, would rotate, tilt. All this motions were made by gear changes.

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