CNC equipment has many advantages in comparison with automatic machines. The main advantage of this technique is the production of complex parts of different sizes and thicknesses, according to the individual drawing of the customer. Moreover, to perform this high–precision work, only one person is required - an operator responsible for a clear statement of tasks for a metalworking machine.
Laser machine CNC heats and melts the material of the workpiece by exposing its surface to a beam of concentrated energy focused in a very small space. By changing the power of the beam, as well as its position, it is possible to process along a certain route and obtain complex three-dimensional shapes. The milling machine works differently. A milling cutter rotating at high speed with its sharp cutting edges cleaves off layers of material in the processing area and removes them in the form of chips. Moving the cutter along three to five independent coordinates allows you to process complex shaped surfaces, as well as the end planes of the workpiece, grooves, pockets, holes, etc. The design features of both types of machines determine their strengths and weaknesses in the processing of workpieces. Here we present the advantages of milling over laser processing.
Metalworking is one of the most striking advantages of milling machines. Laser machines for processing thick metal workpieces are real "industrial monsters" with huge emitter power and significant energy consumption. A desktop or floor-mounted laser engraving machine, as a rule, cannot carry out through-cutting of a metal workpiece. While a milling machine, even of insignificant power, with well-chosen cutting modes and the use of carbide cutters, is able to process metals very professionally.
Thus, the milling machine is more versatile — it can work with metals and non-metallic workpieces. While there are clear distinctions for laser machines — "small" machines do not work with metals at all, and "large" ones, on the contrary, are not capable of qualitatively processing thin non—metallic workpieces.