Cutting Tools

Earlier this summer Fastenal installed an additional FAST Solutions industrial vending machine within the Terex Mixer manufacturing plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Given how many vending devices (machines and lockers) Fastenal installs during a typical business day, it was a commonplace event — except in one regard: that particular machine represented the 50,000th FAST Solutions device concurrently installed at Fastenal customer sites worldwide. 

Machine tool builder Okuma America Corp. has launched a new web-based machine selector tool at okuma.com/machine-selector. The tool is designed to take the guesswork out of selecting a machine by providing users with a convenient method of finding the Okuma machine tool that best suits their specific manufacturing needs, according to the company.

Machine tool supplier Methods Machine Tool, Inc., Sudbury, Mass., has expanded its Southern California operation, increasing the number of sales/application engineering and service personnel by eight and offering a full range of machine tool solutions from all of Methods' partner brands. In addition, Robert Serrano has been added to the leadership team as sales manager, bringing 25 years of machine tool experience to the position. 

Ceratizit SA has acquired German solid carbide toolmaker Klenk GmbH & Co. KG, augmenting the Ceratizit Group's product portfolio with custom solutions for solid-carbide round tools, according to the company. With the addition of Klenk, the Ceratizit Group aims to further strengthen its position in the solid-carbide tool market, according to Thierry Wolter of the Ceratizit Group's executive board. "It is our aim to be perceived as a global premium player for all cutting tools," he said.  

Toolmaker SGS Tool Co., Munroe Falls, Ohio, has completed and held a grand opening of its new 76,000 sq. ft. endmill facility in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The new plant was constructed next to the company's existing manufacturing facilities and creates increased toolmaking capacity.

MSC Industrial Supply Co., Melville, N.Y., a distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services, is expanding its portfolio of metalworking products from Accupro, Davidson, N.C. The new line adds more than 3,000 new precision-engineered metalworking tools to the existing 20,000 Accupro products MSC currently offers. 

Intrepid Tool Industries, Surprise, Ariz., has released its new 2015/2016 full-line catalog, showing the company's current offering of drills, reamers and countersinks for machining composites, aluminum, titanium and other aerospace materials. Additions include a new series of "W" point drills, combination drill/countersinks, porting tools with through-tool coolant holes and a full line of PCD drills and countersinks. For more information, call (800) 998-6565 or visit www.intrepidtool.com. 

KAISER Precision Tooling Ltd., Rümlang, Switzerland, reports that it has strengthened its long-term partnership, BIG Daishowa Seiki Co. Ltd., Japan, by agreeing to be acquired by the BIG Daishowa group as of April 15. KAISER Precision Tooling, a supplier of modular boring tools, and BIG Daishowa Seiki, a producer of toolholders and measurement devices, have had a technology and distribution partnership since 1980.

BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling, Hoffman Estates, Ill., has enhanced its BIG Profit Maker, KAISER and Unilock repair services by bringing services in-house that, until recently, were performed overseas. The company is also eliminating charges for some commodity parts, as well as offering same-day services.

Azure MicroDynamics Inc., Lake Forest, Calif., is a manufacturing, machining and assembly facility specializing in small and micro components with tolerances as tight as 0.0002" for medical devices and other products. Incorporating micromachining processes that include multi-axis milling and turning, Azure is capable of producing low-volume prototype quantities as well as high-volume production, according to the company.