machine shop

• enPR: mə-shēnʹ shŏp'

machine shop (plural machine shops)

1. A facility that has machine tools for working with metals or other relatively hard materials, such as some polymers. Various kinds of machine shops make and repair all types of metal objects, from machine tools, dies, and molds to mass-produced parts such as screws, pistons, or gears.
   • 1961 March, ""Dalmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 148:

     There is a very large and comprehensive machine shop, beautifully clean and with a wealth of modern machinery - wheel drops, hoists and all the usual running shed maintenance equipment, as well as supersonic axle testers.

• General machine shops are public businesses that perform work for customers.
• Dedicated machine shops are part of a larger company. They perform work for the company and are not open to the public.

Machine shops use a wide variety of metal-working tools, including:

• drills
• lathes
• milling machines
• presses
• cutting and welding equipment
• grinding and polishing machines