Articles & Columns

Whether the surface-treatment task involves deburring, blending, grinding, polishing, finishing, dimensioning, patterning or shaping a metal workpiece, there's a coated-abrasive product available to get the job done. The products include belts, rolls, sheets, pads and flap discs and wheels.

Many machine tools are equipped with touch-trigger probes to measure parts while they are still on the machine. The probe is often stored in the tool magazine and can be installed in the spindle like any other tool.

Suppose your boss enjoys cooking shows. One day he hands you his design sketch for the latest and greatest pie tin. “Here, make me a prototype,” he says. “I'm entering a pastry contest.” How do you machine this?

Like many in the industry, when I started in the machining world it was on a manual lathe. I have a special place in my heart for lathes. That includes CNC lathes, the next step up for aspiring machinists. In my experience, I have found there is a lopsided ratio of CNC mill machinists to CNC lathe machinists, with about 10 times as many being mill machinists. My theory is this is partly because the CNC lathe is more difficult to operate.

Tucked into the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, Linda Tool, a family-owned machine shop, is adding to its capabilities.

When people ask why it's important to select a high-quality post-processor, I always liken it to building a house, reports Surya Kommareddy, with DMG / Mori Seiki USA Inc. in this month's issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

A tungsten carbide-based CVD coating that's an environmentally friendly alternative to hard-chrome plating.

I consider several factors when purchasing a drill and try to find the balance between price and performance that gives the best cost advantage while maintaining part quality and productivity, reports the Shop Technology columnist in the October 2013 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

When the world's biggest retailer pledged it would buy an additional $50 billion worth of U.S.-made products over the next decade, Cutting Tool Engineering Editorial Director Alan Rooks questions whether the news is cause for celebration.

A nanoscale metalworking fluid additive.

Achieve tightened tolerances and increase throughput when machining microholes and other microscale features. Two new machine tools, each with 0.5µm positioning accuracy and a 50,000-rpm maximum spindle speed.

Machinist's Corner columnist shares personal experience with purchasing tooling and fixtures for the shop.

During the summer, writes the Shop Operations columnist in the October 2013 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering, it gets pretty hot in a shop that's not air conditioned. With sweat running down my semibald head, I was trying to get a part set up in a CNC lathe. This particular part was giving me some trouble because of a tool compensation problem. I was hot and frustrated.

New technology has reduced the footprints of sinker EDMs and made them smarter, faster and more efficient.

A review of metalworking products as compiled by the editors of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Multisensor measurement can make part inspection for machine shops more efficient.

Cutting cycle time for a 3,000-piece run. Two wire EDMs.

The Machine Technology column in the October 2013 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering offers guidance for protecting spindles from contamination.

I'm a big a supporter of my local community college's machining programs. There's one facet of machine shop management a classroom can't prepare a student for, though: the constant, yet unexpected, gear shifting that goes on when you're running a shop.

Design for manufacturability is catching on among the more sophisticated clients of machine shops.