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Turning

Turning services at Midwest Metal Fabrication.

Turning is another of the old line, basic, machining processes. Turning is also a material removal process in which a single point cutting tool is held parallel to the axis of rotation of a rotating workpiece. Facing is a special case of turning in which the major motion of the cutting tool is at right angles to the axis of rotation of the rotating workpiece.

Turning involves the creation of holes that are right circular cylinders. This is accomplished most typically by using a twist drill.

To view details about Midwest Metal Fabrication’s turning services, select one of the links below:

• Turning overview
• Turning process characteristics
• Materials
• Workpiece geometry/shapes
• Tool style
• Workholding methods
• Tool materials
• Part size
• Tolerances
• Complementary services

Turning overview

Midwest Metal Fabrication utilizes the turning process to fabricate large metal pins and shafts that act as pivot points.  We use turning commonly for customers requiring cylindrical shaped parts or components.

We utilize facing processes to remove of material from the flat end of a cylindrical part. We also use the facing process to improve the finish of surfaces that have been parted.

We can turn parts with plain/face, taper, contour, or radius/fillet shapes.

Turning process characteristics

The turning process:

• Produces cylindrical external surfaces,
• Produces flat surfaces during facing operations,
• Uses a single-point cutting tool,
• Utilizes tool motion that is parallel to the axis of rotation during turning,
• Utilizes tool motion that is at right angles to the axis of rotation during facing, and
• Produces fine helical feed marks.

Materials

Midwest Metal Fabrication operators turn various types of steel and aluminum.

We can also turn T1 and T2 aluminum, brass, copper, galvannealed, high strength, low alloy, steel, and hot rolled steel, stainless steel, and various steel alloys.

Workpiece geometry/shapes

Midwest Metal Fabrication can turn parts with plain/face, taper, contour, or radius/fillet shapes.

The surface finish that we can provide will depend on the material and the properties of the material turned, the cutting speed, the feed rate, and the tool nose radius.

Tool style

Midwest Metal Fabrication uses a number of different turning and facing tools, as they are available in a wide range of styles. The tool styles we most commonly use include:

• Transangular insert
• Square insert
• Round insert
• Diamond insert
• Form tool

We use the transangular inserts for plain turning and facing, the square inserts for roughing, finishing, and chamfering, the round inserts for roughing filleting, and contouring, the diamond inserts for only contouring, and form tools for radiusing and forming the part or component.

Workholding methods

Midwest Metal Fabrication uses the some of the most common turning workholding methods. These include:

• Three jack chuck
• Four jack chuck
• Collet chuck
• Faceplate
• Drive center

We utilize three jack chucks both regular and irregular shapes.  We utilize a faceplate, drive dog, and mandrel to turn and face gear blanks. We use drive centers when we need to machine the entire length of the workpiece

Tool materials

Midwest Metal Fabrication uses a variety of different tool materials during our turning operations.  These include:

• High speed steels
• Carbides
• Ceramics, and
• Diamonds

We can grind high speed steel and carbide tools to various shapes, as required by our customers’ part and component specifications.

Part size

Midwest Metal Fabrication’s machining operators are capable of turning 1/2” to 6” pins or shafts with a maximum groove depth of 1/2”.

Tolerances

We can maintain a dimensional tolerance of +/- 0.005”.

Complementary services

Midwest Metal Fabrication offers drilling, tapping, milling, and grooving among other complementary machining services for our custom fabricated metal parts or components to complement our turning and other machining processes.

Call us today at 1-219-931-3131, email us at sales@midwestmetalfabrication.com, or send a fax using 1-219-844-8512 to get a quick quote to help solve your heavy gauge steel fabricating problems.

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