Common Cutting Operations
1. Abrasive machining - The use o abrasives rather than
high-speed steel or tungsten carbide cutting tools.
2. Broaching - Finishing surfaces by drawing or pushing a cutter
called a broach entirely over and past the surface. A broach
has a series of cutting teeth arranged in a row or rows, graduated
in height from the teeth that cut first to those that cut last.
3. Reaming - To widen the opening of a hole, Countersink: to
enlarge or dress out a hole with a reamer, to enlarge the bore of a
4. Drilling - Cutting holes in metal with a twist drill. Drills also use a
variety of other cutting tools to perform the following basic
(4) countersinking, and
(5) tapping internal threads with the use of a tapping
5. Planing - Metal-cutting machining in which the workpiece is firmly
attached to a horizontal table that moves back and forth under a
single-point cutting tool. The tool-holding device is mounted on a
crossrail so that the tool can be fed (moved) across the table in
small, discrete, sideward movements at the end of each pass of
6. Boring - Producing smooth and accurate holes in a workpiece by
enlarging existing holes with a bore, which may bear a single
cutting tip of steel, cemented carbide, or diamond or may be a
small grinding wheel.
7. Milling - Cutting metal by feeding against a rotating cutting tool
called a milling cutter; milling machines cut flat surfaces, grooves,
shoulders, inclined surfaces, dovetails, and T-slots. Various
form-tooth cutters are used for cutting concave forms and convex
grooves, for rounding corners, and for cutting gear teeth.
8. Turning - Turning operations involve cutting excess metal, in the
form of chips, from the external diameter of a workpiece and
include turning straight or tapered cylindrical shapes, grooves,
shoulders, and screw threads, and facing flat surfaces on the
ends of cylindrical parts.
9. Shaping - Shaping and planing operations involve the machining
of flat surfaces, grooves, shoulders, T-slots, and angular surfaces
with single-point tools.