CNC Milling Archives | Staub Precision Machine, Inc.

Advancing Metalworking Precision with Cutting-Edge CNC Technology

Staub Precision Machine Inc. — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 19:28:14 +0000

Few tools have redefined modern metalworking so profoundly as the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) system. This technology has become the cornerstone of precision work at machine shops, enhancing accuracy and efficiency while producing superior quality. Advanced CNC precision metalworking now accounts for a significant portion of work in many industries that rely on the exactness inherent in this technology.

The Role of CNC Technology in Modern Metalworking

As industrial technology has advanced, CNC precision metalworking has largely replaced manual processes with automated systems that provide greater consistency and accuracy. Modern CNC milling and turning machines are designed to handle components with complex geometries and tight tolerances, reliably and quickly delivering finished workpieces with every production run. Cutting-edge CNC technology has become essential for industries where precision is essential, such as in the aerospace, auto, defense, and medical sectors. The use of advanced precision metalworking helps machine shops fulfill high-volume orders, while also ensuring the exactness that manual machining processes cannot readily provide.

CNC Milling Pushes the Boundaries of Precision

Since the initial development of numerical control systems in the late 1940s, and the computerization of this manufacturing technology in the 1970s, multi-axis milling has significantly advanced. CNC precision metalworking today requires machines that can perform on multiple axes to achieve tight tolerances and complex contours, which conventional methods would find difficult or even impossible. Such advanced control systems enable repeatable processes down to the micron level, with multi-axis milling equipment capable of producing flawless finishes and intricate geometries.

CNC Turning Results in Superior Operational Efficiency

CNC turning processes focus on cylindrical and rotating components, complementing modern milling methods. Advanced CNC precision metalworking relies on these turning processes to produce threaded, grooved, and other intricate features to produce high-quality parts quickly. High-volume production relies on the efficiency of CNC turning equipment, which optimizes cycle time and minimizes tool wear to deliver consistent quality. Advanced turning techniques reduce lead times and manufacturing costs, while also delivering precision parts on tight delivery schedules without compromising quality.

Meeting Diverse Requirements with Advanced CNC Precision Metalworking

The combination of CNC milling and turning allows machine shops to tailor their approach to producing precision parts by varying their processes to meet the needs of customers. This allows advanced CNC precision metalworking methods to meet diverse specifications, from single prototypes to large-scale production runs, and from simple parts to highly complex assemblies. Additionally, modern CNC equipment is adaptable enough to handle a range of alloys, including aluminum, copper, titanium, and other metals.

How Staub Pairs Precision Engineering with Innovation

Staub Precision Machine has continually invested in cutting-edge CNC technology, becoming a machine shop that’s become known regionally as one of the most advanced. CNC precision metalworking in our shop now incorporates real-time monitoring systems to ensure consistently exceptional results. Our company also integrates CAD and CAM software, which allows us to develop manufacturing processes that support seamless manufacturability from the design phase through final finishing work.

However, Staub’s commitment to quality goes beyond the technology we use. Behind our advanced CNC precision metalworking is our commitment to hiring and retaining skilled engineers and machinists who understand the nuances of CNC technology. Staub understands that no machine shop, regardless of its level of automation, can operate effectively without human expertise, which, when combined with cutting-edge CNC technology, yields an impeccable finished product.

Staub Case Study

Our capabilities are evident in how Staub addresses challenges. For example, a customer in the medical industry approached us when sales for one category of their products increased rapidly over a short period. It required significant agility to scale their production quickly to meet demand, which their existing supply chain couldn’t react quickly enough to satisfy. Additionally, the company’s upper management requested a reduction in the production cost per part.

Our Solution

When Staub engineers looked at the customer’s part, they suggested eliminating the forging process it used. Instead, they suggested machining it with our DMU-60 5-axis mill, pairing it with a robotic loading cell. After redesigning the part for optimum manufacturability, we demonstrated to the customer how the efficiency of our 5-axis machining process negated the advantages the forging route offered them. Staub was able to meet their demand in eight weeks, while adjusting to increased demand in just four weeks later in the year.

Results

The simplified supply chain, along with Staub’s automated processes, helped our customer fulfill a crucial order, enabling them to meet demand. Additionally, they reported better part quality, decreased costs, and an overall increase in profits.

The Staub Advantage: Driving Progress Through Precision

Staub delivers cutting-edge solutions that define the future of advanced CNC precision metalworking. By blending state-of-the-art automation with the expertise of our skilled engineers, we ensure innovation and excellence in every project. Discover more about our capabilities and what sets us apart.

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How Automated 5-Axis Milling Transforms Production

Staub Precision Machine Inc. — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 21:19:40 +0000

The quick pace of modern manufacturing requires that precision machining facilities achieve greater efficiency and precision. From the aerospace sector to makers of medical devices, industries are increasingly demanding complex components with tighter tolerances. To support advanced machining technologies like 5-axis milling, a high degree of automation must be utilized to achieve a level of precision and complexity not attainable through either means. The introduction of 5-axis milling techniques has revolutionized production by automating workflows and boosting performance to new levels.

Understanding How 5-Axis Milling Works

Less sophisticated CNC technology, like 3-axis mills, operates on the X, Y, and Z axes. At the same time, 5-axis milling incorporates two additional rotational axes, usually known as A and B or B and C. These two additional rotational axes allow cutting tools to approach workpieces from just about any direction. This capability enables operators to machine complex geometries with minimal downtime, and sometimes in a single setup. With milling machines that operate on fewer axes, precision machining will require repositioning the workpiece and using multiple tools to achieve the same results.

5-axis machining enables lights-out production, a manufacturing method that allows machines to run without immediate supervision. It transforms the machining process, allowing greater automation while increasing quality. For precision machine shops, 5-axis milling allows manufacturers to push the boundaries of what’s possible. Automated multi-axis machining also helps businesses reduce costs and machine more intricate workpieces, while making their operations more easily scalable and competitive.

Advantages of 5-Axis Machining

The main advantage of 5-axis milling is its ability to support automated processes. This alone gives these machines more versatility than machines that operate on fewer axes, and it’s what makes 5-axis milling a key machining technology for fully automated facilities. In fact, 5-axis machining supports a variety of capabilities, like automated tool changers and in-process metrology, along with software that uses real-time data to adjust tool paths.

The advantages of 5-axis milling include:

Better skill utilization: As repetitive tasks, such as quality checks and part handling, are automated, skilled workers can focus on more complex tasks, like programming tool paths, optimizing processes, and innovating in other ways.
Decreased labor costs: Automation naturally reduces the need for manual labor, thereby decreasing the need for human employees and lowering costs.
Fewer errors: The automation of 5-axis milling systems eliminates most human error, producing consistent results across batches.
Flexibility: The advanced software used for 5-axis milling allows operators to easily and quickly switch between projects with minimal downtime.
Less waste: Not only can automation be used to speed production, but the precision of 5-axis milling machines reduces the amount of scrap produced, in turn lowering the need to rework workpieces.
Lower cycle times: Automated equipment, such as robotic arms and pallet changers, minimizes the need for manual intervention, reducing downtime between batches and enabling lights-out production.
Precision: The software, integrated with 5-axis milling machines, allows for self-correction in real-time, enabling automatic realignment of processes and correction for tool wear.
Reduced setups: Even complex components can be machined in a single setup, dramatically cutting production time.
Repeatability: The programmed movements of a 5-axis milling machine enable production of identical workpieces, whether manufacturing blades for optical components, orthopedic implants, wind turbine blades, or some other product.
Scalability: From mass-produced products to the fabrication of a single unique prototype, 5-axis milling allows machine shops to scale their operations up and down quickly.

These advantages of 5-axis milling are what make it the future of smart machining.

The Future of Smart Machining

Known by phrases like Industry 4.0, the future of smart machining has arrived. The CNC techniques inherent to 5-axis milling machines are part of what makes intelligent manufacturing possible. 5-axis milling technology plays an integral role in this, supporting data-centric production on connected machine shop floors.

Playing a pivotal role in modern manufacturing, smart 5-axis milling systems utilize process probing to collect data from manufacturing processes, ensuring accuracy. They can also detect and manage wear to ensure a longer tooling lifespan. Smart systems also integrate automated subsystems, including autonomous robots that move workpieces, pallets, and fixtures between workstations.

5-axis milling allows machine shops to cut intricately shaped workpieces in just a single setup, each doing the work of 2-3 less sophisticated CNC milling machines as well as multiple skilled human workers per machine. Further, 5-axis milling machines do this work with greater precision and speed, enabling production of high-quality products more quickly.

These systems also enable predictive maintenance, allowing operators to perform maintenance tasks more efficiently. 5-axis milling techniques utilize IoT (Internet of Things) technology, which involves connected sensors linked to monitoring software that work in tandem to gather production data. In turn, cloud-based analytics programs collate this data to adjust production in real-time, thereby enhancing performance and optimizing processes.

Real-World Application: A Staub Precision Machine Case Study

Staub Precision Machine has extensive expertise in 5-axis machining, which enables us to help our manufacturing partners produce their products more efficiently. One example of this can be seen in how we approached a medical client who was unexpectedly receiving many orders for 6061 aluminum manifolds. Their established suppliers couldn’t respond to this additional business quickly enough, so they asked Staub to step in to fill the gap.

Previously, this client had these manifolds forged rather than machined, though we knew that the efficiency and precision offered by our 5-axis milling machines could deliver a superior product more quickly. On top of this, the medical company’s upper management also demanded that the per part cost be reduced.

Our solution aimed to eliminate the forging operations, instead machining the component with our DMU-50 5-axis mill. Staub’s engineers also redesigned the part to more optimally machine it. This resulted in an increase in efficiency compared to the previous forging process. In fact, we reached the initial order of 250 parts per week after just eight weeks, and later in the year, we adjusted this upward again to produce 400 parts weekly after just four weeks.Staub Precision Machine continues to invest in advanced technologies to support our 5-axis milling and other automated machining. We constantly strive for greater efficiency and the highest quality in all our work. To learn more about how we can assist with your project, contact Staub today.

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Applications for CNC Machining in the Military and Defense Industries

Staub Precision Machine Inc. — Wed, 15 May 2024 11:54:50 +0000

Defense contractors and military equipment suppliers depend upon CNC machining. Industries that manufacture products for military uses need to fabricate reliable components while often requiring incredibly tight tolerances. Many critical components within military aircraft, radar systems, vehicles for the armed forces, warships, and weapon systems are made via CNC machining. Industries that also make products for civilians, like the aerospace, automotive, and maritime sectors, benefit from this technology, much of which eventually gets co-opted. This shows how CNC machining is used, offering a versatility that keeps the members of our military safer and improves non-military products.

CNC Machining for Industries: 5 Applications for Military & Defense

Though military requirements for equipment and supplies can vary, products manufactured for the defense industry must be able to operate effectively in the harshest environments. This requires that equipment be rugged enough to withstand conditions regularly that most civilian gear cannot handle. Because of the specialized nature of CNC machining, industries in the defense sector often seek to outsource the production of precision parts they make for the military.

A subtractive manufacturing process developed in the mid-20th century, CNC machining for industries has advanced considerably, with CNC technology having firmly arrived in the 21st century. The use of computerized controls that manage machine tools to form a workpiece is aided by modern manufacturing methods like DFMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) that help optimize machining processes. This involves preprogramming CNC machines to produce components, which is done without any manual intervention. CNC machines follow these computerized instructions, working at high speeds to perform various machining operations. Five areas in which CNC machining for industries that manufacture for the military include aerospace, detection systems, naval craft, military vehicles, and weapons systems.

Aerospace

Regarding CNC machining, industries like aerospace require tight tolerances for components, regardless of whether an aircraft is civilian or military. However, for fifth-generation military planes like the F-35, stealth is also important to avoid detection by radar systems. Stealth aircraft require even closer tolerances than civilian or non-stealth military planes, as even minor mismatches between parts would allow an F-35 to show up on radar, potentially leading to it being targeted and shot down.

This is why Lockheed Martin, the maker of the F-35, relies on CNC machining. Industries like the aerospace sector depend on precision manufacturing for their components, which other fabrication methods can’t match. For example, Lockheed Martin uses a 5-axis milling machine for precision-machining operations on the composite skin of the F-35 and other military aircraft it makes. These machines can also work with the complex geometries of carbon fiber composite parts reinforced by fibers, with a single machine programmed to build multiple parts.

Military applications are nearly endless regarding CNC machining processes for industries manufacturing for the sector. Take Northrop Grumman, another aerospace defense contractor and iconic B-2 stealth bomber maker. The company also uses 5-axis CNC machines for drilling holes and trimming parts for fuselage skins, with new technology that allows work to be completed in about a third of the time. The defense contractor even conducted their research on the functions of CNC machining in industries that manufacture aerospace parts and products for military applications.

Northrop Grumman found CNC manufacturing for military aerospace applications requires:

Exact repeatability of processes by machine tools
Quick responsiveness of machine tools
Reliable and robust CNC machine design
Stability of the machine’s foundation
Tight control of temperatures and environmental conditions in the facility

Advances in CNC machinery have made modern CNC machines indispensable for military applications, as there’s no other technology that can match the accuracy combined with the quickness and efficiency of the process. This precision extends even to unmanned aircraft. General Atomics, makers of the Predator drone, enthusiastically endorses CNC technology. The company used a 5-axis CNC machining for core cutting requirements for the aircraft.

Detection Systems

In contrast CNC machining in industries like aerospace, radar, and other detection systems seek to identify and track aircraft. Radar systems also have civilian use and are used to control and track the flights of commercial airliners. In defense applications, these detection systems are integral for defending military facilities against airstrikes from enemy aircraft and missiles. To work flawlessly, radar dishes and radomes, the structures that protect radar systems in inclement weather, must feature smooth finishes.

Radar systems benefit from the cutting-edge manufacturing methods provided by modern CNC machining. Industries in the civilian sector also require components with uniquely curved dimensions like those used in radar systems, but military radar systems need to withstand even more rigorous applications on the battlefield. Often, radar systems are made from various metals and alloys, which require CNC machines to be versatile enough to handle their machining.

CNC milling is also often used to fabricate the casings surrounding these detection systems, with many integrated into military vehicles or naval craft. Modern warfare also uses sophisticated electronic systems that track and prevent drones from operating correctly. CNC machining techniques are used in the production of circuit boards, microwave antennas, and waveguides, along with other components for radar systems.

Military Vehicles

In recent military conflicts, armored vehicles have played an important role in combat. Main battle tanks like France’s main battle tank – the Leclerc – rely heavily on CNC machining. Industries that manufacture vehicles for the military often use CNC technology to fabricate components such as the tank’s gun cradle, gun mantlet, turret ring, and engine components. All these parts require tight tolerances to fit closely with others so that the tank drives and functions correctly. Though armored vehicles are most heavily reliant on CNC machining, industries like the automotive sector also use this technology, so it can serve in producing unarmored military vehicles as well.

Naval Craft

Modern warships and other naval craft use CNC machining for key components in communication, propulsion, weapons systems, propellers, radar arrays, shafts, and turbines. As CNC machines can be used for a wide range of metals, composites, or alloys, they can be used to customize complex components more easily. Additionally, CNC machining can be used in multiple types of surface finishes that help components of naval craft withstand corrosive maritime conditions.

Weapons Systems

Though the modern defense sector uses CNC machining, industries have used this technology for decades to manufacture weapons systems. In fact, both the US Navy and UK’s Royal Navy use the Tomahawk missile system, which was first used in the Gulf War in the early 1990s. The original missile manufacturer, General Dynamics, used 4-axis CNC machines. For modern iterations of the Tomahawk, now made by Raytheon, multiple-axis machines can fabricate the missile’s skin in a single session without stopping.

Such large weapons systems require durable materials that can withstand the torque of missile launches. They also need to endure conditions on the ocean-going vessels they normally use, including tolerating high underwater pressures in submarines. These days, Raytheon uses a 6-axis robot to fabricate these 20-foot-long missiles on its own. This negates the need for most manual labor in the process, which such heavy manufacturing could prove hazardous. Using automation results in weapon systems that are more precise and inexpensive while it also speeds up production.

A Look at Staub Precision Industries’ CNC Machining Capabilities

There are many different methods of CNC machining. Industries use CNC milling and turning techniques for cutting and drilling operations, which can be done on 3-axis, 4-axis, and 5-axis machines, though some machines can work on even more axes for more complex components or to speed production. Staub’s production facilities and machinery allow us to conduct CNC turning, milling, and even EDM (electrical discharge machining) operations, among other services.

Staub’s military capabilities extend to CNC machining military components such as:

Actuator arms for night vision goggles made with wire EDM machining methods
Blade cutters for cutting safety cable made with 5-axis CNC milling
Load sleeves for cable clamps made via 5-axis CNC milling
Paddles for actuator arms that utilize 4-axis CNC machining
Parachute wire cutters made with 3-axis CNC milling methods
Pawls for carriage lock using 4-axis CNC milling techniques
Pawls for the leg locks on antenna bases made via conventional milling methods
Pivot balls for military aircraft using CNC turning techniques and spot welding
Plenum bases to assist with fuel flow made via wire EDM machining
Read heads for signal encoders made via 5-axis CNC milling and grinding
Release clips for weapon system pivot assemblies made with 3-axis CNC gang milling
Shell receptacles for heat-resistant connectors fabricated via 3-axis CNC milling

And these are just a few examples of Staub’s capabilities – we can handle just about any CNC project needed. If you want to learn more about the advantages we bring to the table with our CNC machining for industries that manufacture defense-related products, contact the machining experts at Staub today.

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How 5-Axis CNC Milling Machines Can Improve Customer Production Capabilities

Staub Precision Machine Inc. — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 12:22:59 +0000

The more intricate a product’s design, the stricter the specifications and the tighter the tolerances their components will need to be. Additionally, many industries also require highly accurate machining that must meet specific requirements, meaning the machining technology to fabricate these products needs to be advanced and highly capable. Precision 5-axis CNC milling machines offer just that, not only meeting the product requirements but allowing businesses to expand the kind of work they can do.

What Is a 5-Axis CNC Machine & How Does It Compare to Similar Technology?

Precision 5-axis milling machines work similarly to 3-axis and 4-axis machines, using rotary tools in a subtractive process to shape materials into the manufacturer’s desired shape. The most common type of CNC milling machine used in machine shops today operates by moving the tool along three linear axes. Though they work well for lower-cost components with simple geometries, 3-axis milling machines are limited in what they can do. A 5-axis CNC milling machine can additionally speed production and make tooling last longer, as its greater accuracy allows shorter cutting implements to be used.

Like 3-axis or 4-axis machines, 5-axis CNC milling machines also require programming so that they do the work automatically, though they’re more capable of working with a minimum of human involvement. This software allows the operator to translate computer-aided design (CAD) models into G-code or CNC alphanumeric language to support computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Because they require less setup, they can be made to run without an operator’s direct supervision, which translates to lower labor costs and allows a single operator to run several machines simultaneously.

Turn the Benefits of 5-Axis Machining Into Greater Profits

This ability to approach a workpiece in five different ways and across multiple axes makes them more versatile than other CNC machines, enabling them to work on multiple surfaces at the same time. The benefits of 5-axis machining include more accurate parts, fewer setups, smoother finishes, reduced secondary machining, and quicker production times.

Another advantage 5-axis machining provides involves the setting up and orienting of workpieces. 5-axis technology largely eliminates the need to make fixtures to hold a workpiece, as the machine rotates the component on multiple axes to carve out the necessary geometry, ultimately reducing errors, creating less excess, and shortening the time it takes to complete a part component.

Using a 5-axis CNC milling machine gives parts manufacturers a technological advantage over competitors by cost-effectively running production jobs and providing quicker turnaround times. With more advanced capabilities at their fingertips, a manufacturer can take on more jobs, leading to higher profits. One key way in which to do so is through lights-out manufacturing.

Lights-Out Manufacturing

One of the greatest advantages of 5-axis machining is often referred to as lights-out manufacturing. This advanced machinery allows machining shops to operate production runs sans human workers, such as overnight or through weekends, without needing anyone to remain on the premises. Lights-out machining enables machine shops to perform intricate work that entails tight tolerances or complex geometries more quickly and efficiently, making the shop more productive overall.

Advanced 5-Axis CNC Milling Capabilities from Staub Precision Machine

For those who want to produce high-quality components with tight tolerances and complex geometries, the advantages of 5-axis machining are clear. Staub Precision Machine is proud to offer cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions that give customers more efficient production of precision parts.

If you want to automate more of your production, we have the tools and expertise to make it happen efficiently and cost-effectively. As a leader in CNC machining automation, Staub can point the way to greater productivity and higher profits. Want to know more about what our 5-axis CNC machinery capabilities are? Contact the experts at Staub to speak with our experienced team today.

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