Menu

Jim Peterson

About Jim Peterson

Posts by Jim Peterson:

CNC Turning example

What is the purpose of a CNC turning center

An overview of CNC Turning and its applications

CNC Turning is one of the most widespread types of manufacturing, due to its production speed and accuracy. Like CNC milling, CNC turning involves shaping a workpiece by removing material from it, and thanks to its computer-guided tools, CNC turning machines can produce incredibly tight tolerances.

How does CNC Turning work?

Within the machine, the workpiece is held on a chuck and then rotated at speeds. A tool or tools are then fed to the rotating piece to remove material and achieve the desired shape. Common operations performed by CNC turning equipment includes boring, drilling, facing, grooving, knurling, and parting. While CNC Turning is not as good at conserving material as other operations, it’s much more versatile and allows for more complex design options.

Other benefits of CNC Turning include:

  • Increased production speed and efficiency
  • Cost-effectiveness
  • Safer manufacturing operations
  • Higher accuracy
  • More operation flexibility
  • High repeatability

The applications of CNC Turning

Because of its versatility and its production speed, CNC Turning has a wide range of applications in many industries. It’s often used to manufacture highly precise metal parts for the inner workings of vehicles and Automotive related applications. It’s also popular in prototyping because of its flexibility and the many types of operations available.

CNC Turning centers are most often used to machine parts that are rounded, or symmetrical on their axis, adding features such as holes, grooves, threads, tapers, and contoured surfaces. It’s mainly used to machine metals such as aluminum, alloy steel, stainless steel, and copper, to name a few, but it can also work with other materials as well.

Some common market applications include:

  • Firearm components
  • Industrial equipment components
  • Mechanical components
  • All-terrain vehicle parts
  • Small metal components for electronics

Looking for a precision manufacturing company for your products?

Rapid Precision Manufacturing is your partner in precision when there’s no room for error. We have over a quarter century of experience in CNC turning and Swiss turning operations, and we offer several secondary and finishing services as well to provide you with finished, ready-to-use metal parts. For more information about RPM, check out our website today!

Contact Us
Precision Machining

Machining Basics, Part 1: What is Precision Machining?

0

If you’ve ever been involved in the manufacturing industry in some way, then you probably already know what precision machining is. However, if you’re new, or you need a refresher, then we’ve got you covered! This new blog series, Machining Basics is exactly what it sounds like–we’ll be outlining the basics of the different machining processes as well as the benefits of each.

In this first post of the series, we go over the basics of precision machining.

What is precision machining?

Precision machining is just the shaping of large pieces of raw material into smaller, more accurate parts in order to meet very exact specifications. Precision machining includes processes like cutting, milling, turning, drilling, and EDM–all of which shape a component material by removing excess material.

Over the years, as technology has advanced, so have precision machining processes. These days, ‘precision’ machining always implies the use of computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment behind the process. Computer numerically controlled equipment machines parts with more precision and consistency than manual machining. Parts can be machined up to tolerances unattainable by manual machining, and at far greater consistency and efficiency as well.


The benefits of precision machining

From tools and welding equipment to surgical devices and aircraft parts, the benefits of precision machining can be found in every industry. Almost all of the technology in our everyday lives–vehicles, appliances, electronics, and more–is the result of precision machining.

CNC precision machining is an excellent tool for any project. As mentioned above, it can create tighter tolerances, producing parts with tolerances as small as ±0.0001, and it can do this consistently with little to no errors between parts. A lot of CNC equipment can also handle a range of production volumes, from small, prototype runs to high-volume production.

Precision machining is also a highly versatile process, able to manufacture simple and complex parts from a variety of materials such as:

  • Aluminum
  • Brass
  • Various types of steel
  • Copper
  • Various plastics
  • Bronze
  • Stainless steel
  • Metal alloys
  • Titanium

Precision machining is also a much safer, and more cost-efficient manufacturing process overall. Operators can safely run the equipment from the machine interface, and the accuracy of the CNC controls makes for less waste, less downtime, and higher quality products.

Looking for a partner in precision machining?

Founded in 1997, Rapid Precision Machining has the technical and operational expertise to handle a range of product complexities and tolerances, as well as production capacities from 1 to 100,000 units. With over a quarter century of machining expertise, and a focus on CNC turning, RPM delivers fast, precise parts to companies in industries ranging from agricultural and filtration components, to firearms and industrial equipment. For more information on how we can serve you, check out our website today.

RPM Homepage Screenshot

Rapid Precision Manufacturing–Our name says it all

Rapid Precision Manufacturing, Inc. (RPM) is proud to celebrate 25 years of delivering quality precision machining services and value-added operations with the launch of our new website. Our new site better reflects our manufacturing capabilities, as well as the services that we can offer to our partners.

RPM Homepage Screenshot

For more than a quarter of a century, RPM has been providing high precision and high quality parts to our partners in industries such as Agricultural, Archery, automotive, firearm components, filtration components, fuel systems, industrial and cylinder components, hydraulics, motion control, welding, and all-terrain vehicles.

Our state of the art equipment and expert team of technicians and operators can achieve parts with tight tolerances while still adhering strictly to your drawings and specifications. Since RPM’s beginning, we are proud to have maintained a product return rate of less than 1%.

RPM–your partner in precision

RPM uses cutting edge equipment to deliver tight-tolerance parts. Our family-owned company offers a wide range of services such as:

  • Milling
  • Boring
  • Tapping
  • Drilling
  • Turning
  • Threading
  • Reaming
  • Vibratory Finishing

 

We also offer several in-house, single-solution secondary services: light assembly and qualified second-tier sourced finishing (anodizing, heat treating, passivating, powder coating, plating) in order to make sure all parts are ready to be used.

At RPM, there’s no room for error

RPM has the technical and operational expertise to handle a wide array of lengths, widths, heights, weights, thicknesses, tolerances, and die clearances with production capacities from 1 to 100,000 units. We regularly handle a variety of materials, like aluminum, brass, copper, different types of iron and steels, castings, monel, most plastics, and much more.

If you’re looking for a manufacturing partner who can consistently deliver quality, tight tolerance parts, get in touch with RPM. Our project managers are ready to help you select the ideal process and develop a plan to manufacture your designs.