Machine Tools, Precision, and Engineering

Welcome to alliedmachinetool.com, we are an informational site dedicated to bringing you some of the latest and greatest innovations in the field of precision milling machines and other engineering tools. Because our goal is to provide information, we do not advocate a specific brand or product line, but rather seek to provide information to allow you to make your own decisions. If you have any questions about our site, or want to know more about any of our topics, please feel free to contact us. And don’t forget to check back often, we are always adding new information.

The advent of machine tools is unquestionably the industrial revolution. During this time period, we discovered that we could automate large portions of the production process for many of our day to day goods. Why pay a seamstress to make cloth by hand when an industrial loom can do it at hundreds of square yards per hour? Best of all, an industrial loom could be operated by anyone with a few hours of training, rather than the lifetime of learning that went into making cloth by hand.

In the beginning all machines had to be directly overseen by a person, but within the last century we have seen the rise of machines that can be fully automated and perform their duties without direct supervision. The industry term for these machines is CNC, or computer numerical controlled. This is a reference to the first models which were created to perform simple repetitive tasks with the help of rudimentary numerical programming.

There are applications where automated machine tools can far outperform humans. When the environment is not suitable for humans is the first example of these applications. In dealing with extremely hot temperatures necessary in things such as auto manufacturing, humans are at a natural disadvantage. No human can pick up a car door while it’s over 200 degrees Fahrenheit, no matter how well trained they are. They would require special protection, and implements to carry the door at a distance from their body. A robotic arm on the other hand can simply pick up the door and move it to the next phase of the assembly process.

Another instance where machines are more suited to the work than humans is repetitive precision motion. If every microchip on thousands of computers needs a line etched into it exactly 1354 micrometers long with a specific curvature; a human would never be able to achieve the precision necessary to repeatedly make the line. A computer program on the other hand can be given a coordinate system with the necessary tolerances built into it, and etch hundreds of thousands of lines without even needing a break.

As with all things new, there is resistance to automated machinery taking over tasks once performed by humans. But in the end it makes good business sense, as a machine can perform many tasks much more efficiently than a human can. There will always be things a machine cannot do, and the creative spark of humans is our greatest gift. The more people employed to use that spark rather than perform menial tasks, the better off we will be as a species.

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