Aluminum machining is a process that involves cutting and forming metal parts from aluminum. It’s used for a variety of purposes, such as creating components for aircraft, computer equipment, and automobiles. With its unique properties, aluminum is often the ideal material for precision metal fabrication.
This article explains why machining is so important and how you can use it to create parts:
Benefits
Aluminum is widely used in machining due to its unique characteristics. It’s lightweight yet strong enough to withstand high temperatures and pressures. When compared to other metals such as steel, aluminum has a low melting point, making it easier to machine than other metals.
Additionally, its malleability allows you to produce complex shapes with relative ease.
Aluminum also has excellent corrosion resistance and can be processed with different finishes such as anodizing or electroplating. Aluminum is also non-magnetic and thermally conductive, making it perfect for electrical applications and heat transfers.
Finally, aluminum machined parts are easy to weld which means they can be easily joined together when creating larger components or structures.
Different Types of Machining?
There are many different types of aluminum machining processes used in manufacturing today. Each type of process has its own advantages and disadvantages depending on your needs.
For example, CNC milling is great for producing complicated parts quickly and accurately while CNC turning provides greater accuracy when working with large-size parts or materials that require finish work on the outside diameter (OD).
Drilling is ideal for creating holes in materials such as wood or plastic while tapping works best on softer metals such as aluminum where threads need to be created in a hole already drilled into the material.
Grinding and sanding are used when working with very small details or tight tolerances where exact dimensions are required; however, these processes can be time-consuming depending on the complexity of the part being produced.
