Articles

Even with a good fourth quarter and my natural optimism, reports from contacts at some of our larger customers concern me, reports the Manager's Desk columnist in the October issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

CTE Editor Alan Richter visited the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute at Chicago's Goose Island in September for a peek into the future of manufacturing at an event coordinated by Blaser Swisslube Inc.

As children, we likely all learned the hard way that drastic temperature changes cause objects to change size—whether it was leaving a soda in the freezer too long to get it cold or breaking your turtle's terrarium by cleaning it with hot water after it had been resting on the cold ground (sorry, Mom and Dad!). However, in the realm of precision measurement, even minute differences in atmospheric conditions can have huge impacts—to the point that parts manufactured within spec can fail inspection and be needlessly reworked or even scrapped.

In the market for a rotary table? The checklist of requirements starts with speed, accuracy and rigidity. CTE spoke with multiple rotary table manufacturers to discuss market trends, product innovations and add-ons that can improve overall machine tool performance.

Running a successful machine shop takes more than having advanced machine tools, high-performance cutting tools and machinists that boost productivity. A manufacturer of precision metal parts might also need a strategic partner that has the network, expertise and — last but not least — capital to penetrate new markets, overcome capacity constraints and make investments to help the business grow.

Medieval soldiers did it to strengthen their armor, Civil War engineers did it to improve gun and cannon barrels, railroad men did it to locomotive axles before they rolled into the untamed West and Henry Ford did it to enhance parts bound for his new invention, the assembly line. More recently, aircraft manufacturers began doing it to virtually every square inch of their metal wares before sending them skyward. What shared action connects these warriors, inventors and manufacturers? The cold working of metal workpieces.

Let's say you want to machine your initials on your favorite Hummel figurine or cut the likeness of the school mascot on your daughter's Little League helmet. How are you going to grip them? A conventional way to grip fragile, difficult-to-hold workpieces is to encapsulate them in some sort of potting compound, a time-consuming and wasteful process.

Many options are available for removing stock and shaping workpieces. Broaching is one of the most productive, underutilized -- and least understood.

This column, which is my final installment, is like that special odds and ends drawer in your toolbox, the one with all the weird stuff in it for which you can't seem to find the perfect storage space.

Minimize tool runout, extend tool life, reduce scrap and prevent fixture damage. An offline cutting tool presetter.

Apply modern manufacturing methods to grow a custom motorcycle business. Automate production and improve part quality and machining efficiency with a CNC machine tool and CAM software.

You never know when a simple comment will have a significant impact; sometimes that's not even the source's intention.