Articles & Columns

This month's Talking Shop turns its attention to an Indiana shop that makes family a priority.

The accurate positioning of the cutting tool with respect to the workpiece partly controls the accuracy of a machined part.

Shop Operations columnist Tom Lipton offers tips for enhancing the operation of a manual milling machine.

Verify and optimize machining operations, including ensuring that cutting tools avoid interference. CNC machine simulation software.

This month's Get With The Program column in Cutting Tool Engineering looks at the benefits of nesting software for shops that make parts from flat raw materials.

Laser-assisted sheet metal machining.

Choosing a multitask machine from a bewildering array of options can be challenging, but the right one can be a shop game changer.

New developments in superabrasive grinding wheels help eliminate the need for dressing them.

The January 2013 Manager's Desk column ponders what it takes to achieve your shop vision.

AMT's latest Global Forecasting & Manufacturing Conference found reasons for both caution and optimism.

The 'thickest' PVD coating for cutting tools.

Extend tool life and boost productivity when milling Inconel 718. A 6-flute endmill programmed to follow a trochoidal milling toolpath.

A fixturing system for enabling ceramic coatings to be efficiently deposited via cathodic arc evaporation.

Combustion components from Mitsubishi Power Systems had never been built outside of Japan until Savannah Machinery Works opened its doors in November 2010. We were in the unique and challenging position of having to develop every manufacturing process from scratch while maintaining a tight production schedule.

Dear Doc: I grind fine threads into hardened stainless steel with a fine-mesh aluminum-oxide wheel. The threads are 0.8mm deep in a 5mm-dia. ID. There are three threads per part. This operation just chews through the wheel, and I get only one part before I have to dress a 0.2mm depth in my 4mm-dia. wheel. What am I doing wrong? 

The moving elements of a machine tool have mass. Forces from the actuators cause the masses to move and accelerate. As the speed of the machine tool motion increases, the ability of the actuators to cause acceleration becomes more important.

Lightweight and easy-to-program robotic arms.

END USER: 1-866-Dial-EDM, (866) DIAL-EDM, 1866dialedm.com. CHALLENGE: Produce a high volume of 0.006"-dia., 1/16"-deep blind-holes in an exotic material. SOLUTION: An EDM drill. SOLUTION PROVIDERS: Britton Machinery Sales Inc., (585) 241-3267; GF AgieCharmilles, (800) 282-1336, www.us.gfac.com

END USER: David Buchberger, (585) 208-7382, www.hispeedcorp.com. CHALLENGE: Efficiently machine lightweight components for an “extreme” racecar. SOLUTION: High-performance cutting tools, including a drill and endmill. SOLUTION PROVIDER: WIDIA Products Group and Services, (724) 539-5000, www.widia.com

END USER: Continental Motors Inc., (800) 718-3411, www.genuinecontinental.aero. CHALLENGE: Boost productivity when rough and finish milling cast aluminum crankcases. SOLUTION: PCD-tipped, cartridge-type facemills. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Ingersoll Cutting Tools, (866) 690-1859, www.ingersoll-imc.com