Articles & Columns

As automation becomes more flexible and less expensive, work cells are propagating at smaller shops.

A recent report, “Global Ultra Hard Material Cutting Machines Market” by Transparency Market Research, forecasts a healthy compound annual growth rate of 10.8 percent for these machines for the years 2016 to 2024, with the total market reaching $1.8 billion by the end of that period. The report’s authors expect rising demand to lead to more competition and lower prices.

Are you being asked to quote secondary machining operations on a handful of 3D-printed metal parts? If so, how do you cut these parts? 

Cutting Tool Engineering Editor Alan Richter ponders the machine shop of the future in his Lead Angle column for the May 2017 issue.

Craftsman Jasper Röders set up shop during the early 1800s to make pewter tableware for his neighbors in Soltau, Germany. Six generations later, his descendants still produce pewter but have expanded into blow molds and CNC machine tools. 

New, ultraresilient workpiece materials with high strength-to-weight ratios have cutting tool vendors and CAM developers scrambling to design new tools and toolpaths to efficiently cut them. To succeed, the vendors and developers must collaborate with unprecedented frequency.

In an interview conducted by CTE Editor Alan Richter at a global press event held at the company’s headquarters in Sandviken, Sweden, Klas Forsström, president of AB Sandvik Coromant, discussed his new role, the state of the cutting tool market, the importance of attracting talent to manufacturing, tool recycling and the role of R&D.

Manufacturing microscale endmills and drills requires ultraprecise machinery and specialty grinding wheels—never mind extreme skill, the right carbide grade and abundant patience. Thankfully, a number of toolmakers have become proficient at this microscopic task, leaving shops to worry about just one thing: making parts. 

Proactive security measures become even more important as manufacturing software moves into the cloud, machine tool intelligence and automation continue to grow, and the Industrial Internet of Things makes big data an increasingly big deal.

Automation isn’t just a boon to complex, multiple-machine manufacturing processes. It can also give a major boost to processes that involve only a single machine.

When your primary market tanks to its lowest level in 30 years, the impact can be drastic, according to the Manager's Desk column in the May 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine. Is your shop well managed and in a position to overcome such a hit?

END USER: Urschel Laboratories Inc., (219) 464-4811, www.urschel.com. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Blue Photon Technology & Workholding Systems LLC, (855) 777-2040, www.bluephotongrip.com. CHALLENGE: Hold a near-net-shape casting for machining on five sides. SOLUTION: A system that uses grippers, adhesive and UV light to hold workpieces.

Machinist's Corner Columnist Michael Deren shares a cautionary tale for vendors and machine shops. Do your vendors realize how important they are to you? Do they appreciate your business or do they think they’re the only game in town?

Every person who works in a machine shop probably has at least one task they absolutely hate. For Tom Lipton, who writes Cutting Tool Engineering's Shop Operations column, one task stands out above most others: shortening small screws and fasteners. He says he just doesn't not like to do it. 

Just in time (JIT) manufacturing, by nature, increases setups and shrinks batch sizes. This puts shops in a bind, because more setups and smaller batches are typically less profitable; but saying "no" to work can be even more painful. The burden to search out creative ways to reduce cycle and setup time in order to realize a profit falls to the shops that commonly perform JIT work and on the shops that can’t afford to turn it down when the opportunity arises.

Three primary elements play a heightened role when machining molds for plastic injection molding of microparts compared to moldmaking for the macro realm: part size, feature size and dimensional tolerances. 

The Look Ahead column in the April 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine features a project to improve robot mobility as much as humanly possible.

The Look Ahead column in the April 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine features a portable 5-axis machine tool made from carbon composites.

END USER: Zodiac Engineering, www.zodiaceng.com. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Brush Research Manufacturing Co. Inc., (323) 261-2193, www.brushresearch.com. CHALLENGE: Reduce programming and cycle time, and eliminate the need to regrind or replace chamfering tools when deburring part edges. SOLUTION: Apply in-line abrasive nylon disc brushes.

A shop that cylindrically grinds steel shafts is having trouble keeping up with tighter and tighter surface-finish tolerances. Though the shop can hold the finish, roundness and size take a hit. So the shop seeks the Grinding Doc's advice.