Milling machine mainly refers to the machine tool that uses milling cutter to process various surfaces of workpiece. Generally, the milling cutter is mainly in rotary motion. And the movement of workpiece and milling cutter is in feed motion. It can process planes, grooves, and various curved surfaces, gears, etc. The machining center is a highly automatic multi-function CNC machine tool with tool magazine and automatic tool change device.
Difference between milling machine and machining center:
Many CNC milling machines are gradually becoming full-protective processing mode. Of course, there are also many old CNC milling machines that still use open processing mode or semi-protective processing mode, which is somewhat different from the current processing center.
The common NC milling machine also has a NC operating system (such as FANUC, SIEMENS, GSK, etc.), and also has three feed axes and a rotary spindle. Their processing modes are almost identical, and they can basically achieve the same processing power.
In fact, the machining center is a CNC milling machine with a tool library. The machining center can complete the work of multiple machining processes, such as milling, drilling, tapping, etc. It can realize automatic tool replacement, and in the continuous processing of multiple processes, the operator does not need manual intervention, as long as the program is prepared and the tool and corresponding parameters are configured. The CNC milling machine can also realize multiple processes of clamping and processing at one time. The difference is that in the process of process conversion, the tool must be changed manually, so its processing process is discontinuous, and it is executed intermittently to many degrees. Such processing is slightly inferior to the processing center in terms of processing quality and processing efficiency.
This judgment standard is also a mobile standard based on the development process of processing equipment. Many new CNC milling machines, full protection and automatic chip conveyor are basically standard, which is not much different from machining centers. But for those old-fashioned CNC milling machines, this criterion is still valid.