Kip Hanson

Medieval soldiers did it to strengthen their armor, Civil War engineers did it to improve gun and cannon barrels, railroad men did it to locomotive axles before they rolled into the untamed West and Henry Ford did it to enhance parts bound for his new invention, the assembly line. More recently, aircraft manufacturers began doing it to virtually every square inch of their metal wares before sending them skyward. What shared action connects these warriors, inventors and manufacturers? The cold working of metal workpieces.

Let's say you want to machine your initials on your favorite Hummel figurine or cut the likeness of the school mascot on your daughter's Little League helmet. How are you going to grip them? A conventional way to grip fragile, difficult-to-hold workpieces is to encapsulate them in some sort of potting compound, a time-consuming and wasteful process.

Offline presetting maximizes machine availability, reduces scrap.

Tool management systems prevent mistakes and boost the bottom line.

Laser-assisted machining helps manufacturers cut hard materials.

Bandsaws turn high-tech with advanced control and cloud-based intelligence.

Some workpieces, like those that are oddly shaped, large or delicate, can be a real pain in the neck. What's the best way to securely grab a hold of them?

How shops can help keep groundwater clean and be green in other ways.

Chips ahoy: Move, shred or pack them -- moving chips doesn't have to be hard work.

Software developers raise the bar with improved toolpaths, integration and simulation.

Boring heads that improve productivity.

There comes a time when some chipmaking shops add wire EDMing to their repertoire. This is often done to reduce costs, because bringing what were once subcontracted, secondary EDMing operations in-house often makes good financial and logistical sense.