Articles & Columns

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.

Cutting Tool Engineering Contributing Editor Kip Hanson offers insight into choosing the best method for marking parts.

The cover story for the December 2014 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering examines the unique requirements of machine tools used for cutting composite materials.

The pros and cons of turning with the "perfect" insert.

Cutting Tool Engineering Senior Editor Evan Jones Thorne interviews Fauston Tool Corp. Vice President Heidi Hostetter about the company's reputation for innovation.

The Machine Technology column in the December 2014 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering discusses the essentials of tapered spindle connections.

The Shop Technology column ponders the value that turnkey solutions may bring to the table.