A workpiece is a piece, often made of a single material, that is being processed into another desired shape (such as building blocks). The workpiece is usually a piece of relatively rigid material such as

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

, plastic, or

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

. After a processing step, the workpiece may be moved on to further steps of processing. For example, a part can made out of bar stock and later become part of a semi-finished product. The workpiece is often attached to the tool being used via a jig or fixture, like for example to a

milling machine Milling is the process of machining using rotary cutters to remove material by advancing a cutter into a workpiece. This may be done by varying directions on one or several axes, cutter head speed, and pressure. Milling covers a wide variety of ...

via an angle plate, or to a lathe via a

lathe faceplate A lathe faceplate is a basic workholding accessory for a wood or metal turning lathe. It is a circular metal (usually cast iron) plate which fixes to the end of the lathe spindle (tool), spindle. The workpiece is then clamped to the faceplate, t ...

. A

vise A vise or vice (British English) is a mechanical apparatus used to secure an object to allow work to be performed on it. Vises have two parallel jaws, one fixed and the other movable, threaded in and out by a screw and lever. The jaws are ofte ...

is another example of a simple type of fixture used to fix workpieces.10 Things Beginning CNC Milling Machine Users Need to Succeed - CNCCookbook: Be A Better CNC'er
/ref> A workpiece may be subjected to various cutting operations, like truing, making fillets, chamfers,

countersink In manufacturing, a countersink (Engineering drawing abbreviations and symbols, symbol: Miscellaneous Technical#Miscellaneous Technical (2300–23FF) in Unicode, ⌵) is a Cone (geometry), conical hole cut into a manufactured object, or the Cutt ...

ing, counterboring, etc. It may also receive various surface treatments and finishes. The term "workpiece" has established itself within

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

s and the

manufacturing industry Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...

, and connects the work or treatment and the object to be treated. A

workbench A workbench is a sturdy table at which manual work is done. They range from simple flat surfaces to very complex designs that may be considered tools in themselves. Workbenches vary in size from tiny jewellers benches to the huge benches used by ...

is often used to hold a workpiece steady during work on it. Componente mecanizado.JPG, A mechanical workpiece made of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

Fillet.jpg, A workpiece with a filleted pole (right) and non-filleted pole (left) Countersunk and counterbored holes cross-section.png, A workpiece with a countersunk hole (left) and a workpiece with a counterbored hole (right)

References

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Video demonstration of workpieces being attached to faceplates and angleplatesVideo demonstration of different methods of filing a metal workpiece
Machining {{Mech-engineering-stub

See also

References

External links