Articles & Columns

Welcome to the start of another year, where machine shops will be pushed to adhere to even stricter standards as customers deal with consolidation, relocation, certification, lean-system implementation and other versions of doing more with less.

Do you process existing jobs the same way every time? If not, you may be throwing money away every time those jobs are run by having to reinvent the process over and over. If a few weeks or months go by in between runs of the same part, you may forget some nuance, whether it's a specific cutter, a dedicated fixture or a unique method for locating the part.

Joe's struggling to package a truckload of parts before noon. Mary can't keep up on the painting line. Jimmy's in trouble with the boss because he can't make quota. These are just a few of the challenges faced by workers on the manufacturing floor, problems that, in many cases, can be solved with collaborative robots.

Imagine building a ship in a bottle, but instead of using a preexisting bottle, you build the ship along with the bottle while machining the ship's and bottle's surfaces as you go.

It's quite common for CAM software to come with built-in simulation to identify potential collisions and optimize virtual machining. However, most versions don't deliver the experience of programming in the context of the NC machine and instead rely on third-party machine simulation to connect the processes. To visualize a toolpath simulation in the context of the NC machine, the programmer must transfer a machine code (ISO or G code) generated from a post-processor to the simulation software.

Capacitance sensors are noncontact sensors used in machine tools to measure the distance between a noncontact probe and a target sensor. Because the probe does not physically touch the target, capacitance sensors are beneficial in instances where the target surface is moving, such as a rotating spindle, or delicate, such as a silicon wafer.

Streamline the digital parts library used to produce workholders. Strategic parts management software.

Deep holes can be difficult to define, but knowing the right tool for the job makes them easier to drill.

A technique I call roll grinding is used to finish corners to match bend radii. Long weld seams that need to be rounded can be handled using a rolling technique with the disc grinder. It takes a little practice, but once you've mastered it, the results look just like a formed corner.

Wedge, cam, square and pull-down clamps, micro vises and chucks, hexagons and rounds. These are just some of the workholding options available to shops that mill small workpieces. Finding the right clamps isn't a problem, but how they're utilized may be. This article examines some of the options and provides tips on how to use them.

Increase threading productivity while reducing scrap. High-performance, through-coolant thread formers.

New hybrid cermet inserts that significantly enhance abrasion and fracture resistance.

Tom Lipton offers more tips for part finishing in the December 2014 Cutting Tool Engineering Shop Operations column.

While many machine shops have an EDM, they still have to decide when it makes sense to outsource certain jobs.

Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings suggests that employees who demonstrate their lives aren't ruled by social media have an advantage.

Reduce cycle times and time spent loading and unloading parts into a machine. Use clamps to create custom fixture plates and gang more parts per machining cycle.

Reduce scrap and tackle challenging jobs. Adjustable finish boring heads.

Dr. Jeffrey Badger, Cutting Tool Engineering's Ask the Grinding Doc columnist, cautions readers not to be timid when slowing the workpiece speed to induce burn.

Reduce costs associated with inventory management. An industrial vending system.

It goes without saying that the heart of manufacturing is innovation. From the cotton gin to the steam engine to the assembly line to the CNC, the manufacturing process is always being reinvented, refined and reimagined. Today, a lot of the talk is about additive manufacturing, and justifiably so. Since its dawn in the 1980s, AM has moved from a “that's neat” tool for hobbyists to a valued tool for prototypers to making fixtures and long part runs.