Articles

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.

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?

In an interview conducted by CTE Editor Alan Richter, Kennametal Inc. President and CEO Ronald De Feo discusses the past year, the business outlook for Kennametal, Pittsburgh, the cutting tool industry and the company's modernization efforts.

At the National Tooling and Machining Association Plant Managers Roundtable, held Feb. 8 in Phoenix, Jeff Estes, director of Partners in THINC at Okuma America Corp., Charlotte, N.C., discussed the advantages and challenges of shop-floor automation.

One of the activities I enjoy most in connection with my job is visiting production facilities, because I get a chance to see how parts and products are made and have face-to-face interactions with talented metalworking professionals—not to mention that it gets me out of the office now and then.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

END USER: North Bucks Machining Ltd., +1908-611-669, www.northbucksmachining.co.uk. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Open Mind Technologies USA Inc., (888) 516-1232, www.openmind-tech.com. CHALLENGE: Efficiently rough-machine a mountain bike frame from a solid piece of aluminum stock. SOLUTION: A CAM software's high-performance roughing module.