Articles

Articles • August 25, 2017 • Tom Lipton

Shop Operations: A fresh look at 1-2-3 blocks

Many machinists fondly remember their early training or apprenticeships when they made 1-2-3 blocks from scratch under the watchful eye of a master toolmaker. These young machinists carefully machined the blocks oversize, heat-treated them and then ground them to size. They quickly learned that precisely holding size and geometric features to close limits is more challenging than it seems at first glance.

Articles • August 24, 2017 • Patrick Kuhlemann

3D-printed bone drill improves surgeries

Metal laser melting has made possible a number of groundbreaking developments in the medical field. One example is a 3D-printed bone drill that, unlike some traditionally manufactured drills, is designed not to damage tissue during surgery.

Articles • August 23, 2017 • Alan Richter

Lead Angle: Targeting markets high and low

The boost in productivity that the latest cutting tools provide enables manufacturers to reduce the amount fracking companies pay for parts.

Articles • August 21, 2017 • Alan Richter

Productive Times: 5 days to ROI

END USER: Northeast Tool & Manufacturing, (704) 882-1187, www.northeasttool.us. SOLUTION PROVIDER: MachineMetrics, (413) 341-5747, www.machinemetrics.com. CHALLENGE: Reduce the time and manual inspection required to measure productivity. SOLUTION: A machine monitoring system.

Articles • August 18, 2017

Productive Times: Getting a grip on automation

END USER: Lowercase, (212) 510-7621, www.lowercasenyc.com. SOLUTION PROVIDERS: Axis Inc., (908) 429-0090, www.axisnewjersey.com; Robotiq, (888) 762-6847, www.robotiq.com; Universal Robots USA Inc., (844) 462-6268, www.universal-robots.com. CHALLENGE: Cost-effectively integrate automation into the production of eyewear frames. SOLUTION: A collaborative robot tooled with an easy-to-use, flexible gripper.

Articles • August 17, 2017 • Michael C. Anderson

Choosing a parts-marking method depends on the application

Until a couple of years ago, the Food and Drug Administration required a unique identifier on each distinct assembly of a medical device in human- and machine-readable forms. That rule has changed. Now, every individual component in an assembly must be marked as well. Traceability is becoming more and more prevalent, not only in the medical device sector but throughout manufacturing.

Articles • August 16, 2017 • Michael C. Anderson

Look Ahead: Trochoidal endmill (over)laps competition

Trochoidal milling is a relatively new cutting strategy that involves the overlapping of circular toolpaths with linear movement. It is well-suited for difficult-to-machine materials and thin-walled components.

Articles • August 15, 2017 • Michael C. Anderson

Look Ahead: Titanic robot, tiny tolerances

An item in the Look Ahead department of the August 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine features large-volume, high-accuracy robots.

Articles • August 14, 2017 • Kip Hanson

Low-wattage lasers: faster, gentler, eco-friendly

Low-wattage lasers are faster, gentler and more eco-friendly than traditional parts-cleaning methods. So why aren't they more prevalent?

Articles • August 11, 2017 • John A. Webster, Ph.D.

Factors affecting proper coolant application when grinding

Grinding is a thermally dominated process, meaning a high percentage of process heat initially enters the part before coolant quenches it. Unless the coolant is applied at the correct flow rate and pressure, and the proper input conditions are selected, this process can lead to undesirable rehardening burn, thermal softening and tensile residual stresses.

Articles • August 10, 2017 • Christopher Tate

Lessons learned from threading nuts, bolts for gas turbines

Spindle bolts are made from difficult-to-machine, high-strength superalloys. They have very tight dimensional tolerances, which makes thread cutting a challenge. As a result of facing several thread-cutting problems during process development, we have learned important lessons at Mitsubishi.

Articles • August 9, 2017 • Kip Hanson

Process creates steel that’s a-peeling

If you've ever watched a bar of red-hot metal emerge from the furnace at a rolling mill, you might wonder how that scaly chunk of material became the smooth, shiny and accurate length of steel you just loaded into a lathe's bar feeder. Machinists know it as cold-finished bar stock. It got that way thanks to a process known as bar peeling.