workpiece — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A partially finished object (often composed of a raw material) which is subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.

   Related words

   pieceworkwork product

   Examples

   Make sure the workpiece is properly secured in the chuck before turning on the lathe.

   Scantling s[ubstantive] (prescribed dimension of a work[-]piece).

   More examples (6)

   We see that in every case the body to be worked upon becomes itself a kinematic element or the part or whole of a kinematic link. […] We shall therefore give this body, to which we shall often have to refer, a special name, calling it the work-piece of the machine. […] Our analysis therefore leads us to the following proposition: In form-changing machines the work-piece is a part or the whole of a kinematic link, and is paired or chained with the tool by so arranging the latter that it itself changes the original form of the work-piece into that of the envelope corresponding to the motion in the pair or linkage employed.

   Such cam plates are very often used in machines in which it is necessary to communicate to a lever or rod from a uniformly rotating shaft a motion of a perfectly determinate kind such as is prescribed by the nature of the process of by the form to be given to the work piece.

   The work pieces are held in clamps or vises, attached to or carried upon the terminals of the single-turn secondary circuit.

   In connexion with the machining of the more modern alloy steels with heavy cuts at low speeds, it is often found that there is a building-up effect on the cutting edge of a high-speed steel tool which is not very different from that which occurs with plain carbon-steel tools working with lighter cuts on plain carbon-steel work-pieces. […] [A] point is always reached when the real cutting edge of the tool is too blunt to sustain the built-up edge, with the consequence that efficient cutting ceases. Before this point is reached, however, if the tool is withdrawn from the work-piece, it is generally found that, if the cutting edge shows signs of a real blunting effect jointly on the flank and lip surfaces, the cutting action of the tool cannot be restarted to produce satisfactory results with the cutting edge in that condition.

   It is theorized that when the surface velocity is below certain minimum values the material at the interface between workpieces WP-1 and WP-2 rolls up and extrudes from the interface in the form of long twisted cylindrical projections which are sometimes referred to as "dingle-berries."

   It is important for robots and humans to perform the right action, at the right time and in the right place. […] If the operator violates this instruction and, for example, tries to slightly move the workpiece while the robot is screwdriving it, then the execution may be interrupted—hence prolonged—of, worse, the operator could get hurt.

Noun

1. work consisting of a piece of metal being machined

   Broader terms

   workpiece of work