Articles

Dr. Jeffrey Badger, who authors the Ask the Grinding Doc column, answers questions about barreling and scrubber nozzles.

Tiny medical parts, mass-produced automotive components and multiple-ton power generation parts share a common activity: inspection. Generally, inspection is seen as a nonvalue-added activity and most companies encourage the reduction of inspection time. However, because verifying that parts are made correctly is critical to maintaining profitability, inspection will never go away.

>Flame straightening is one of those old-timer skills everybody has heard of but few have had the opportunity to witness. The ability to straighten bent plates and shafts is almost magical in its simplicity.

Overcome excessive tool wear and poor surface finishes when machining flats on a steel truck shaft. A milling tool that exerts all cutting forces downward and cuts freely.

Eliminate excess coolant to improve shop floor safety and cleanliness. Minimum quantity lubrication systems.

Machine shops need lots of tangible assets to make parts: machine tools, cutting tools and real estate, among other items.

What is your company doing to replace its retiring workforce?

In a typical machine-tool-axis positioning system, the workpiece is mounted on a table that slides along flat, straight guide ways. The table may be supported on the guide ways by rolling elements or by a thin film of oil or grease. A screw controls the table position along the guide way.

The creation of superhydrophobic metals using femtosecond lasers.

New metamaterials that 'bend' acoustic and elastic waves.

Most manufacturers have made great strides in optimizing operations. Many have even standardized multiple facilities with the same on-premise software to create consistency across the enterprise. However, no matter how many procedures are put in place, each plant has its own idiosyncrasies, making it nearly impossible for systems to communicate with each other.

There comes a time when some chipmaking shops add wire EDMing to their repertoire. This is often done to reduce costs, because bringing what were once subcontracted, secondary EDMing operations in-house often makes good financial and logistical sense.