Machined parts are everywhere. From tiny metal fasteners to aircraft engine components, all sorts of parts have been built using the process of machining. When we talk about machined parts, we mean something more specific than objects built using machinery. We mean specifically parts fabricated using cutting machines such as mills, lathes, and routers. These machines all work in different ways, but their fundamental purpose is the same: using a sharp cutting tool, they cut sections away from a block of material known as the workpiece. Even within that definition, machined parts can be formed in different ways. The process of machining can be manual, whereby a machinist (a skilled professional operator of machining equipment) handles a machine like a mill to manually cut the workpiece into the desired shape. Or it can be digital, in which case a motorized CNC machine automatically cuts the machined parts according to computer instructions. Nowadays most complex or custom machined parts are made with CNC machines, but machinists still do manual machining for certain jobs, since it can be faster than creating a digital design and programming the digital machinery. Machined parts can be metal or plastic (sometimes other materials too), but they must be made from a material that can be cut without drastically deforming. Sometimes parts are machined after being built with another manufacturing process. For instance, cast or molded items may have certain details or features machined into them at a later stage. These may be described as partially machined parts or post-machined parts. machined parts have excellent strength, as they are built from solid blocks of material, and they can be made into a wide range of shapes and thicknesses. They can have very detailed features, and they can be made from a very wide range of materials. Small quantities of machined parts can be made quickly, since they do not require tooling, and tolerances can be very tight if machining speeds are reduced. Companies may also use machined parts because machining is a tried-and-testing manufacturing technique that has been an industry standard for decades. Machined parts are therefore likely to meet industry-specific standards and certifications. Machined parts can have a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This is because CNC machining is not subject to extreme molding design constraints like thin walls and tapering; machined parts can be thick and robust, but their features can also be fine and detailed.Although machined parts have some limitation when it comes to, for example, internal sections and deep channels, machining still represents one of the most geometrically flexible manufacturing processes.Molded parts, on the other hand, must have thin walls and conform to more strict design criteria generally.Machined parts can be made to a very high standard. Perhaps more importantly, customers can specify tolerances which need to be met by the machinist. This means the machinist or machine operator can take extra time on tight-tolerance parts and individual features.While injection molds can also be made to tight tolerances, each individual molding cannot be held to such high standard. Moldings produced toward the end of the mold lifespan may lack the definition of earlier units.
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