Martin Eastman

Articles • October 1, 1999 • Martin Eastman

Human Touch

Industry professionals explain why manual machining skills are still necessary even in this age of CNCs. The article also describes the additional skills needed to program and operate computerized machine tools.

Articles • April 1, 1999 • Martin Eastman

Inserts Show Their True Colors

Insert manufacturers have devised color-coding schemes to help users select the right tool for the job. This article explores the thinking behind these schemes and the toolmakers' efforts to design tools for the specific applications defined in their selection systems.

Articles • March 1, 1999 • Martin Eastman

Frenzied Feeding

By changing the nose radius of their finish-turning inserts, toolmakers are producing wiper inserts that allow machinists to turn workpieces at increased feed rates. This article explains the theory behind this innovation and describes the specific wiper-style geometries employed by three manufacturers.

Articles • December 1, 1998 • Martin Eastman

Learning With an Edge

Using his students as researchers, an industrial-arts teacher sets up an experiment to test claims being made for tool resharpening using cubic boron nitride wheels. The experiment taught the students how to keep a log of tool conditions, use and sharpenings as they gathered data for their study.

Articles • August 1, 1998 • Martin Eastman

Crying for Help

This article discusses the reasons students are not choosing to become machinists, and it reviews some of the measures being taken to recruit and train workers for tomorrow's shops. The programs reviewed are designed to encourage an interest in manufacturing, teach shop basics and ensure the quality of those entering the workforce.

Articles • June 1, 1998 • Martin Eastman

All Together Now

This article looks at the close partnership forged between a toolmaker and a machine tool manufacturer. The alliance requires the two to share detailed information about proposed products as well as the customers each is working with. Such cooperation has made it possible to develop several new products and processes.

Articles • April 1, 1998 • Martin Eastman

Balancing on the Fly

With the introduction of high-speed milling, tool balancing has become increasingly important. This article describes a system that can balance tools while they are mounted in the machine tool's spindle and rotating.

Articles • April 1, 1997 • Martin Eastman

Shrink-Fit Toolholding

A toolholder that uses metal's natural thermal expansion and contraction to hold tools does not suffer from many of the drawbacks of other toolholding mechanisms, according to this article. In addition to outlining the benefits of this "shrink-fit" toolholding system, the article also explains the technology and describes how shops have benefited from it.

Articles • March 1, 1997 • Martin Eastman

Will Work for Sales

Machine tool builders and distributors are trying to distinguish themselves by selling customers complete turnkey packages that are ready to make good parts from the day they are installed. This article discribes the services being offered and the process that puts a turnkey system on a shop's floor.

Articles • August 1, 1996 • Martin Eastman

Quality Through the Tiers

Manufacturing customers have begun demanding that their suppliers institute quality-control processes. At the same time, they are expecting their suppliers to adopt more efficient processes so that suppliers can reduce their prices while maintaining profitability. This article discusses these pressures and how even subtier suppliers are being affected by them.

Articles • December 1, 1995 • Martin Eastman

The Real Price of Automation

While CNCs and part-handling equipment offer labor, time and money savings, they also require dramatic changes in the way a shop operates. This article looks at the investment in equipment, personnel and training that shops have to make over and above the cost of the automated machines themselves.

Articles • August 1, 1995 • Martin Eastman

It’s All Been Arranged

Managers at California's Dowty Aerospace take full advantage of computers to design parts, program machines and track jobs from beginning to end. This shop profile talks about how Dowty has combined this computer-based organization with cell-based manufacturing to maintain efficiencies and keep lines of communications clear.