What is a Machine Shop?
There is a little confusion when the words ‘machine shop’ comes up; some people believe it is where a machine is produced. Nevertheless, that’s not true. A machine shop is merely a location, place, building, business, or area where machining is performed. Machining is in reference to the cutting of raw materials to transform them to the wanted size and shape.
Machining is carried out on metallic parts in addition to plastics, ceramic, wood, and different composites. An individual that carries out machining is known as a machinist. Various kinds of hand tools, power tools, cutting tools, and machine tools are utilized in machine shops. It can be carried out as a business, hobby, or both. A machine shop can be an individual shop or a part of a larger factory in which manufacturing happens.
The final product of a machine shop is a piece in which can be made of metal, wood, plastics, ceramic, etc. The pieces are then sold to other manufacturing industries like the automotive, aircraft, power generation, or shipbuilding industries.
What Does a Machine Shop Comprise of?
A machine shop usually comprises of the below types of machines for producing parts.
- Milling machine
- Metal lathe machine
- Multitasking machine
- Machining center
- Grinding machine
- Drill press
- Welding machine
- Inspection equipment
Machine shops usually also contain the raw materials “in-house” required for manufacturing the specific piece, for instance, bar stocks. It also keeps a stockpile of the pieces that have been finished.
Machine Shop as a Business
Establishing a machine shop is pretty demanding. It requires a lot of funding as the vast majority of the machinery is costly. Additionally, it requires skilled workers, particularly if you are operating as a shop that specializes in repairing/producing the parts for engines, for instance.
You might be picturing 100’s of workers arduously working in a machine shop; well, the vision is slightly accurate, but it doesn’t really hold true in today’s world. Today’s machine shops do not have multitudes of workers; a lot of the operations are automated and regulated by computers such as robotics, microprocessors, control chips, and programable logic controllers. An instance is a CNC machine typically used in a machine shop.
East Valley Precision – Custom Machinery Specialists
East Valley Precision offers custom CNC Turning in the Chandler, Arizona and surrounding areas. When you need precision CNC turning and milling contact East Valley Precision. Call us at 480-288-6601 for more information or use our form for a quote.