Where and How Hybrid CNC Machine Tools Thrive

The hybrid machine tool is an idea that continues to advance. Two important developments of recent years expand the possibilities for this platform.

by: Peter Zelinski, Editorial Director Modern Machine Shop

The hybrid CNC machine tool is an idea that continues to advance.

This is worth seeing. The term, “hybrid,” refers to a machine tool that is also something more — usually it connotes combining additive manufacturing (AM) and the machine tool’s normal work of “subtractive” machining within a single machine able to mix both operations in a single cycle. As a working concept, the idea is a decade old. Applications are not so widespread that hybrid machines are found in typical job shops, but applications are numerous enough to offer an expanding market that continues to be served. The hybrid machine tool is, in one sense, a niche technology. In another sense, it is something more, because there is a diversity of niches in which the technology offers promise.

At a distance, the hybrid machine tool seems just provocatively useful. The machine offers the chance to begin with an empty work zone, and not only create a part the way a 3D printer can, but also machine it to its required tolerances as part of the same cycle. Considered more closely, the hybrid model poses some challenges. But the matter of when to use a hybrid and what it can do is not at an end. In the last several years, I have seen at least two major developments that seem to me to have opened wider the extent of how useful a hybrid machine can be.