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Beyond grinding: the other machining processes

Grinding is our specialty — it's in the name. But no shop runs one process, and a machine purchase in any category follows the same rules. This page is a plain-language map of the other processes: what the machines are called, who builds them, what they cost, and how sourcing and service work.

CNC milling — machining centers

Milling removes metal with a rotating cutter. The machines are vertical machining centers (VMCs), horizontal machining centers (HMCs), and 5-axis machining centers that tilt or rotate the part to reach complex geometry in one setup. Builders people search for: DMG Mori, Mazak, Makino, Okuma, Haas, Hurco. New VMCs run roughly $60,000–$300,000; production HMCs and 5-axis machines $250,000 to well past $1,000,000 (industry estimates). Common searches: "5-axis machining center price," "horizontal vs vertical machining center," "machining center service near me."

CNC turning — lathes and mill-turns

Turning rotates the part against a stationary tool. Modern CNC lathes add live tooling, sub-spindles, and Y-axes until they become mill-turn centers that finish a part complete in one clamping. Builders: DMG Mori, Mazak, Okuma, Index, EMAG, Nakamura-Tome. Typical range: $80,000–$400,000 for production lathes, $500,000+ for full mill-turns (estimates). If your part is round and comes off finished, this is usually where it starts — grinding enters later, for the diameters that have to be perfect.

Swiss-type and multispindle lathes

Swiss-type (sliding headstock) lathes feed bar stock through a guide bushing so the cut happens right at the support — the way to make small, long, slender parts (medical screws, implants, fuel-system and connector components) in volume. Builders: Citizen, Star, Tsugami, Tornos. Multispindle lathes (Index, Traub, Schütte) run six or eight spindles at once for very high-volume turned parts — camshaft and fitting territory. These are production machines with production economics: cycle time is measured in seconds and setup in hours.

EDM — wire and sinker

Electrical discharge machining erodes conductive material with sparks — no cutting forces, cuts fully hardened steel like it's soft. Wire EDM cuts profiles through the part (dies, punches, extrusion tooling); sinker EDM erodes shaped cavities (molds, dies). Builders: Sodick, Mitsubishi, Makino, Fanuc (Robocut), GF Machining Solutions. New machines roughly $80,000–$400,000 (estimates). EDM and grinding are frequent partners: EDM roughs the hardened shape, grinding finishes it.

Honing

Honing finishes bores — size, roundness, and a crosshatch surface that holds oil. It's the final step for hydraulic cylinders, engine bores, gears, and fuel-system components, and the closest neighbor to internal grinding: grinding gets the bore close, honing perfects it. The name in this field is Sunnen; Nagel covers production honing. Searches: "honing machine," "bore finishing," "honing service."

Lapping and flat finishing

Lapping produces the flattest, finest surfaces in machining — seal faces, gauge blocks, valve components, optical and semiconductor parts — by rubbing the part against a charged plate with abrasive slurry. Slow, quiet, and unmatched for flatness. Builders: Lapmaster Wolters, Stähli, Melchiorre. If a print calls out flatness in light bands, this is the process.

Broaching

Broaching pulls or pushes a toothed tool through or across a part to cut a finished shape in one pass — keyways, splines, gear teeth, irregular profiles. Nothing beats it for volume; nothing is worse for one-offs, because the broach itself is a custom tool. Builders and tooling sources: Colonial Tool, American Broach, Nachi. Most shops outsource broaching to specialists; high-volume plants bring it in-house.

Gear cutting and gear grinding

Gears are their own world: hobbing and gear shaping cut the teeth, shaving and honing refine them, and gear grinding (profile and generating) finishes hardened gears to the quietest, strongest result. Builders: Gleason, Liebherr, Kapp Niles, EMAG. Gear grinding is where this category meets ours — and where the tolerance conversation sounds exactly like the rest of this site.

Sourcing and servicing any of these

The rules don't change with the process. Start with the application, not the machine. Run your own parts before you buy. Price the whole relationship: spare parts availability, who answers the service phone, control support in ten years. The sticker is the smallest part of it. And when a builder disappears, the machine doesn't have to: independent service technicians, control retrofits, and surplus parts keep orphan machines running for decades, provided you keep the manuals and parameter backups. That support question — "who keeps this running?" — is worth more than any single specification, on a $60,000 VMC or a $600,000 mill-turn.

If you're sourcing a machine in any of these categories and want a second set of eyes on the application, tell us what you're making. Grinding is our home ground; if your project sits outside it, we'll say so plainly and point you the right way.

Common questions

What is the difference between grinding and milling or turning?

Milling and turning cut metal with defined cutting edges; grinding removes metal with abrasive grains. Cutting processes shape the part; grinding finishes it — holding tolerances around ±.001 mm and surface finishes cutting tools can't reach, especially in hardened materials.

What does a 5-axis machining center cost?

New 5-axis machining centers typically run from about $250,000 for entry production machines to $1,000,000 and up for large or high-specification machines (industry estimates). Vertical machining centers start well below that; horizontal machining centers and mill-turns price higher.

What is a Swiss-type lathe used for?

Small, long, slender precision parts — medical screws and implants, watch and connector components, fuel-system parts — in high volumes, holding tight tolerances on parts that would deflect on a conventional lathe.

What is the difference between wire EDM and sinker EDM?

Wire EDM cuts through a workpiece with a traveling wire electrode — profiles, dies, and punches. Sinker EDM lowers a shaped electrode into the part to erode a cavity — mold and die work. Both cut hardened material without cutting forces.

Who services a machine tool when the builder is gone?

Independent machine-tool service companies and control specialists cover most orphan machines: technicians who know the control (Fanuc, Siemens, Heidenhain), control retrofits that replace obsolete electronics, and parts through surplus dealers and successor companies. Keep your manuals and parameter backups — they are the machine's lifeline. Our manuals archive exists for exactly this reason.

Related

Sourcing a machine — grinding or otherwise?

Tell us the parts, materials, and tolerances. We'll match you where we can, and tell you plainly where we can't.

Start with your application