
Machine tools can be powered from a variety of sources. Human and animal power are options, as is energy captured through the use of waterwheels. However, machine tools really began to develop after the development of the steam engine, leading to the Industrial Revolution. Today, most are powered by electricity.

Machine tools can be operated manually, or under automatic control. Early machines used flywheels to stabilize their motion and had complex systems of gears and levers to control the machine and the piece being worked on. Soon after World War II, the NC, or numerical control, machine was developed. NC machines used a series of numbers punched on paper tape or punch cards to control their motion. In the 1960s, computers were added to give even more flexibility to the process. Such machines became known as CNC, or computer numerical control, machines. NC and CNC machines could precisely repeat sequences over and over, and could produce much more complex pieces than even the most skilled tool operators.
Before long, the machines could automatically change the specific cutting and shaping tools that were being used.
Today, it is possible to design a complex part on a computer, put a bar or rod into a machine center, and have a finished part within a matter of minutes.
- - Drill (like mill, but optimized to make holes)
- - Gear shaper
- - Hobbing machine
- - Lathe (work rotates, single-edge cutter is fixed)
- - Milling machine (work is fixed, multi-edge cutter rotates)
- - Shaper Stewart platform mills
- - Grinders
- EDM (electrical discharge machining)
- Grinding
- Multiple edge cutting tools
- Single edge cutting tools
Other techniques are used to add desired material. Devices that fabricate components by selective addition of material are called rapid prototyping machines.
Workshop with various Machine Tool
High Tech 5 Axis Machine