Machining

Eliminate excess coolant to improve shop floor safety and cleanliness. Minimum quantity lubrication systems.

What is your company doing to replace its retiring workforce?

In a typical machine-tool-axis positioning system, the workpiece is mounted on a table that slides along flat, straight guide ways. The table may be supported on the guide ways by rolling elements or by a thin film of oil or grease. A screw controls the table position along the guide way. The rotation of the screw in the nonrotating nut that is fixed to the table drives the table left or right. The rotation of the motor translates into linear table position through the pitch of the screw.

A shop I once worked at had a beautiful cast iron welding table. It was 5' wide × 12' long and had started life as a surface plate for assembling diesel engines. The owner bought it at auction for $100. With a screen in the middle, two guys could work on it at once.

Efficiently machine stainless steel parts without breaking endmills. 6-flute, solid-carbide endmills.

The cutting zone in a machine tool is dangerous. Hot chips and large quantities of coolant are often safety threats, but a tool rotating at a high speed is an even greater one.

Efficient removal of heat from the tool/workpiece interface is the main route to high-productivity machining. Several conventional methods are available to accomplish that -- dry machining, minimum-quantity lubrication, flood coolant and high-pressure coolant -- but cryogenic machining can be added to the list.

A technique I call roll grinding is used to finish corners to match bend radii. Long weld seams that need to be rounded can be handled using a rolling technique with the disc grinder. It takes a little practice, but once you've mastered it, the results look just like a formed corner.

Increase threading productivity while reducing scrap. High-performance, through-coolant thread formers.

Streamline the digital parts library used to produce workholders. Strategic parts management software.