Articles

Articles • February 22, 2017 • Michael C. Anderson

Machine tool school days

Jennifer Creamer, a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), conducts research into fixing flaws introduced when machining large components. Beyond her research, Creamer herself is worthy of attention in this era of concern about manufacturing jobs going unfilled because of a lack of interested or qualified candidates. She's female—still an underrepresented group in manufacturing—and she's chosen to go into manufacturing by way of Missouri S&T.

Articles • February 21, 2017 • Kip Hanson

Packaging with care

Most aerospace, defense and medical companies have packaging specifications their parts suppliers must follow to help ensure parts arrive undamaged. But should shops that don't have to follow such requirements ship parts in a similar way?

Articles • February 17, 2017 • Don Nelson

Design-software leader (and good talker) resigns as CEO of Autodesk

Forward-looking, funny, Cornell University mathematics major Carl Bass resigned his Autodesk post as CEO on Feb. 7, but he remains on the company's board.

Articles • February 16, 2017

Metalworking Product Review: February 2017

The Metalworking Product Review in the February 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering features: Heller Machine Tools, FP 4000 5-axis HMC with twin drives in the Z-axis; Seco Tools LLC, 150.10-JETI parting-off system with HSS blades, Jetstream Tooling technology and tool blocks with coolant inlets; Wayne Products, the Mini-Skimmer R.S. belt-type oil skimmer; Fagor Automation USA, the CNC 8060 T.

Articles • February 15, 2017 • William Bednarski

Thrufeed centerless OD grinding: Parameter relationships and troubleshooting

On many work parts, the outside diameter (OD) needs to be highly accurate. Tight tolerances are required for OD size, roundness, high and low frequency lobe patterns and taper. Thrufeed centerless OD grinding can achieve precise part quality at an economical processing cost.

Articles • February 14, 2017 • Michael C. Anderson

Look Ahead: Calibration celebration

Calibrating a multiple-axis machining center is one of those time-consuming but necessary tasks that parts makers have to accept. The task has gotten easier in past years, however, and has just gotten easier yet.

Articles • February 13, 2017 • Don Nelson

AI to guide cutting tool selection in the future

Engineers who currently ask humans for advice about cutting tool selection will one day direct their questions to advisers derived from artificial intelligence. So says MachiningCloud Inc. (www.machiningcloud.com), a single-source provider of digitized product data gathered from manufacturers of cutting tools and workholding devices.

Articles • February 10, 2017 • Michael C. Anderson

Look Ahead: Low-temperature PVD coating

The Look Ahead department covers a low-temperature PVD coating, free of charge, in the February 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

Articles • February 9, 2017 • Evan Jones Thorne

The age of aqueous cleaning

U.S. manufacturing industry is transitioning from solvent-based cleaning to water-based cleaning products.

Articles • February 8, 2017 • Christopher Tate

Successful threadmaking requires the right gages

Thread cutting is as close to artistic expression as one typically gets in a machine shop. Watching a machinist or toolmaker peel off perfectly formed chips with a precisely ground tool is mesmerizing.

Articles • February 7, 2017 • Alan Richter

Broaching a blind keyway with an inserted tool

Being able to broach a blind keyway while keeping the part on the same CNC machine tool used to perform the other machining operations provides a significant improvement in setup, reliability and accuracy, compared to moving the part to a dedicated broaching machine.

Articles • February 6, 2017 • Michael C. Anderson

Live tooling capabilities on the rise

Live tooling's capabilities have increased greatly in recent years. From the start, live tooling was added to increase a lathe's usefulness. What many users of lathes and live tooling don't realize is just how useful live tooling has become.