Machine tool

A power-driven machine that holds and moves a workpiece or tool to shape material through cutting, forming, or other processes. Its defining feature is controlled relative motion between the tool and workpiece.

Workholding: The methods and devices used to secure a workpiece during machining or other manufacturing operations. A rigid, repeatable setup keeps the workpiece from shifting under cutting forces.
Machining: A manufacturing process that removes material from a workpiece to create a desired shape. Machine tools provide the controlled motions and power used in machining.
Lathe: A machine tool that rotates a workpiece against a cutting tool to produce rotational shapes. Turning is the defining operation for this common machine-tool type.
Industrial Revolution: A period of major economic and technological transformation beginning in Britain in the eighteenth century. Industrial demand and factory production accelerated machine-tool development.
Numerical control: The automated control of machine-tool motions through encoded instructions. It shifted machining from direct manual operation toward programmable production.
Cutting tool: A tool with one or more edges that removes material from a workpiece by cutting. Its geometry and material govern the chip formation and surface produced.
Kinematics: The study of motion without considering the forces that cause it. Axis arrangements define which tool and workpiece motions a machine can produce.
Milling machine: A machine tool that removes material with a rotating cutter moving relative to a workpiece. Milling illustrates how a machine tool can generate flats, slots, and complex surfaces.
John Wilkinson: An English industrialist and engineer known for precision boring machinery and iron production. His boring machine helped produce more accurate cylinders for steam engines.
Computer numerical control: Numerical control implemented with a computer to direct machine-tool operations. CNC made complex, repeatable machining programs practical across industries.

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