Generation Y workers are a different bunch, and many may be reluctant to work in manufacturing. To recruit them, companies first must understand what makes Gen-Yers tick.
Learn when to apply motorized, hand-held drills; fine-toothed, diamond-cut routers; compression routers and veined PCD tools to machine composite materials.
Drag finishing—fixturing parts and dragging them through abrasive media—can prevent part-to-part contact, achieve tight edge tolerances, impart fine finishes and be used on parts with a number of characteristics: delicate, high value, complex geometries and multiple contours.
High-speed, vibration-free endmilling of aluminum workpieces requires cutting tools with certain features and requires certain types of toolholders. Also, it can be aided by cutting strategies.
Reliably drilling high-quality holes in ductile cast iron requires understanding the material's structure, avoiding problems such as core shifting, keeping machining temperatures down and other considerations.
Thinking about and managing the risks of operating a job shop and machining parts is a straightforward process when using tools such as risk matrices and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis.
Parts manufacturers can calculate the optimal parameters when grinding with superabrasive wheels to achieve high material-removal rates and more consistent results.
A small, Philadelphia-area shop is using a 55,000-psi, 2,000-mph abrasive waterjet to help grow its primary business: making parts for Boeing aircraft.
Choosing the right cast aluminum and aluminum alloys from among the hundreds of different grades and the many tempers in each grade requires understanding of the materials' designation system to know their compositions, tempers and properties.
Advanced ceramics' properties make them suitable materials for medical instruments and implants, as well as for parts in medical devices. Making ceramic parts, however, requires manufacturing techniques similar to those used to make P/M parts and may require applying diamond-impregnated tools and wheels.
When single-point boring, parts manufacturers can break and control the long chips from low-carbon steels by taking into account setup, cutting parameters, nose radii and insert shape and sharpness.
High-power laser machines—at least 5,000w—are more useful in machine shops because their power permits fast processing of thicker materials, materials more like the blocks machined by the metalcutting industry. Also, automation allows for more cost-effective laser machining.
It's not just for prototyping; additive, or rapid, manufacturing can be a cost-effective way of producing parts, especially when used for mass customization of parts and for low-volume runs of smaller, complex, net- and near net-shape parts.
