One of the main reasons companies invest in a CNC mill is to be able to produce large numbers of parts or products with a minimum number of employees. The flexible and automated nature of CNC milling means that an individual or small company can take on production runs that would normally require a much larger shop because the CNC mill is able to repeat milling of parts with high accuracy and minimum supervision.
Because the mill is designed to run in a hands-off way, though, getting accuracy right is especially important. If the machine is not cutting accurately to specs, valuable material and hours worth of work can easily be lost due to parts made incorrectly. This kind of waste is unacceptable for the bottom line of your business, and CNC Masters considers it unacceptable as well. This is why we engineer our mills to work with extremely high accuracy. Our CNC MAX is the first mill of its kind to have true ball screw accuracy in all three axes of movement.
Why Ball Screw Accuracy Matters
The ball screw assembly moves the cutter along the part being milled, transforming the power of the motor into cutting force. Because the ball screw is what moves the spindle, accuracy in its operation clearly affects accuracy in the final part.
Ball screws are used because they allow closer tolerances than standard types of screw assemblies and with lower friction due to the use of ball bearings. But they still need to be correctly designed and engineered in order to ensure acceptable levels of accuracy when used in a CNC mill. While backlash (sometimes called āslopā) is typically minimized by using a ball screw rather than a traditional leadscrew assembly, if thereās any play in the assembly, the ball bearings can still slip, causing the spindle to lag behind the motor. This leads to inaccurate cutting on a CNC mill because the mill depends on all of the parts moving as expected in order to cut parts accurately according to the uploaded tool path. The machine cannot see backlash happening and respond appropriately the way an experienced machinist can. Fortunately, good engineering of a ball screw system can ensure that any backlash is minimized or eliminated, leading to highly accurate automated cutting. Combined with the hands-off nature of a CNC mill, this means hundreds of parts can be cut to close tolerances with minimal supervision of the mill.
Get the Most From Your CNC Mill
If you need a mill that can cut very accurately in all axes, take a look at the CNC MAX mill, which has true ball screw accuracy in all three axes. This mill is able to take on jobs ordinarily done by larger mills, without taking up the same amount of space in your workshop. Investment in the CNC MAX or any of our other CNC mills allows you to make parts in house, saving time and growing your bottom line.