Lesson 5 Machining

Machining is a term commonly used in manufacturing, covering the process of sculpting materials into an intended design.  Most commonly used on metals, it involves techniques and technologies to remove unwanted pieces, producing your desired shape.  Often known as a common alternative to molding and casting, this system is widely used for creating finely detailed materials such as jewellery and metallic gears.  Complicated designs often involve metals that are dissimilar or have greatly varying diameters, which leads to excessive material waste with friction welding, so this alternative solution is called upon.

Types of machining techniques

There are several different techniques for metalworking operations.  Below are the most commonly used tools, which may be used separately or in conjunction with one another in order to achieve the best possible results.

1. Boring - Used to polish or alter pre-machined metals by enlarging existing holes, creating smoother and more accurate finished pieces.

2. Cutting – Often done to cut objects that have pre-determined sizes. The most popular tools are saws and shears.

3. Drilling – A basic form of machining, it involves the use of machinery that creates holes in metals. Drills have sharp, rotating parts that pierce through the material.

4. Milling - A milling machine uses a similar technique to a drill but is more flexible, with several rotating blades used to cut free-form shapes such as logos, unique patterns, etc.

5. Turning – Utilises a rotating equipment called the lathe. As it revolves, the metal is shaped with hand-held tools or specialty equipment.

6. Grinding – Requires a stone grinding wheel, which sharpens workpieces and polishes them to create a smooth finish.

These various techniques cover only a small scope of the entire manufacturing process.  The lifecycle of a product starts with the conception of a design, eventually brought to life through machining techniques and friction welding machines.  Depending on the desired output, machining may be used at any stage from creating basic shapes to improving final product appearance.

Vocabulary

molding – формовка

casting – отливка

gear [giə]– инструмент, инвентарь, оборудование

excessive – чрезмерный

welding – сварка

call upon – обращаться к чему-то, привлечь

boring – бурение, расточка

alter – преобразовывать, изменять, переделывать

shears – [ʃiəz] - ножници

drilling – сверление

rotating - вращающийся

pierce – пронзать, прокалывать

milling – выделка

turning  - обточка

lathe – [leið] – токарный станок

revolve - вращаться

grinding - [‘graindiƞ]- шлифовка

sharpen - заострять

scope – объем, поле, область

output – результат, продукт на выходе

Exercise 1

Find Russian equivalents to the following words in the text. Learn them by heart.

Удалять, форма, формовка, отливка, сложный, трата/отходы, сварка, металлообработка, орудие/инструмент, полировать, резьба, окончательно обработанный, сверление, сверлить, вращающийся, острый, лезвие, подвижный/гибкий, токарный станок, вращаться, придавать форму, шлифовка, колесо, заострять, гладкий, продукт на выходе, совершенствовать.

Exercise 2

Make the underlined sentences negative and interrogative. Use grammar references.

Exercise 3

Which of the following is the odd-one-out?

1) remove, obtain, delete, erase

2) complicated, easy, difficult, detailed

3) finish, improve, make better, advance, develop

4) drill, bore, pierce, grind

5) revolve, rotate, move, turn around