Articles

A new breed of 3D printers has begun producing parts made of engineering-grade plastics and fully dense metals suitable for long-term use in a variety of applications. These include jet engine components, engine mounts, medical implants and a host of other products that were once machined or fabricated by conventional means.

Government concerning itself with manufacturing? What would the Founding Fathers think? We know the answer: December marked 220 years since Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton submitted his "Report on the Subject Manufactures" to the House of Representatives.

More than 150 U.S.-based robotics researchers contributed to the 2016 edition of the report titled "A Roadmap for US Robotics From Internet to Robotics." Released Oct. 31, the document calls for improving policy frameworks to safely integrate new technologies, such as self-driving cars and commercial drones, into everyday life.

Although the James Webb Space Telescope isn't scheduled to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana until October 2018, NASA announced that the 18th and final primary mirror segment was recently installed on what will be the biggest and most powerful space telescope.

The tagging applications for radio frequency identification (RFID) are vast, including pets, property—and even people. Recently, Micro-Mechanics Inc., a Morgan Hill, Calif., machine shop, worked with process control equipment provider Caron Engineering Inc., Wells, Maine, to implement an RFID tagging system on its Okuma LB series CNC lathe.

High school manufacturing programs teach students to create production parts, preparing them for careers in industry. Those parts are primarily for terrestrial applications. However, unique and exciting opportunities to produce parts for use above the earth are available to partner-schools in a 14-year-old government program called HUNCH (High schools United with NASA to Create Hardware).

Sam Yu, president and owner of Corona, Calif.-based Machine Control Technologies Inc., said he builds specialty tool and cutter grinders in months—and at a fraction the price of competitors' custom grinders.

Shop Operations columnist James A. Harvey underscores the importance of his initial CNC training, which involved changing tools on a new mill. Just the act of changing a tool let him interact with the machine and controller in a way that gave him confidence.

END USER: Modern Machining Technology Inc., (303) 945-7570, www.destroked.com; SOLUTION PROVIDER: Industrial Coolant Systems LLC, (303) 968-1707, www.industrialcoolantsystems.com; CHALLENGE: Reduce the cycle time when drilling a large quantity of holes in a 1018 steel part. SOLUTION: A high-pressure coolant system.

Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings discusses the benefits of being the face of your company in the January 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Michael Deren, who writes the Machinist's Corner column for Cutting Tool Engineering magazine, explains why he now believes wholeheartedly in lean manufacturing.

Machine tools are big-ticket items, so it's no surprise that they're normally acquired using some sort of financing. In addition to banks, financing can be obtained from machine tool OEMs and nonbank lenders known as finance companies.