Articles & Columns

The importance of using dry compressed air.

Tips and tricks for performing layout work.

Cutting fluids make it easier to keep your cool when workpieces are difficult to machine.

Keep on the lookout for additional training opportunities.

The dynamics at play when a machine shop is a family affair.

Meditation helps develop cutting strategies.

Tap 100 2"-8 blind-holes without breaking the tap or scrapping a part. A tap engineered to effectively produce threads in holes more than ½" in diameter.

Gage repeatability and reproducibility studies improve measurement systems.

Ask any entrepreneur and he or she will tell you that getting from concept to reality isn't easy. It almost always requires a hellish amount of work, risks and disappointments.

Despite setbacks, a South Carolina shop thrives, develops winning production strategy.

When selecting a boring or reaming tool to finish a hole, the application is everything.

More of everything' boosts Swiss machining productivity -- and complexity.

Determining the appropriate time to implement new technology.

Boost productivity when machining keyways into a Nitralloy steel cutting tool head. Switch the work to a vertical machining center and obtain a custom 90° angle head.

The pressure to decrease costs and drive up profitability means getting every ounce of efficiency from machine tools and cutting tools. To this end, shops constantly strive to reduce cycle times and extend tool life. However, while pursuing these goals, it is easy to push tools past their useful life, allowing excessive wear and its corresponding problems to occur.

The rotating elements in machine tools often generate unacceptable forces due to unbalance, and manufacturers usually take corrective action to reduce the forces.

Increase productivity when parting off a component. A new parting and grooving tool that practically tripled machining parameters.

Overcome a CAM system's limitations when transitioning to machining more complex parts. New CAM software.

My first experience with welding was when my dad taught me to stick weld in the basement of our home. When I was about 9 years old, he came home with a new welding hood. I remember asking him who the hood was for and being mortified when he said it was for me.

An industrial-grade, wearable computing device.