Medical

To the public at large, the word “counterfeit” mostly brings to mind so-called “funny money” or, more recently, low-priced CDs and DVDs that violate copyright laws. What is less widely known, but more threatening to public safety is the counterfeit parts and products that have found their way into the supply chains of critical industries, including aerospace, automotive and medical.

During the summer, writes the Shop Operations columnist in the October 2013 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering, it gets pretty hot in a shop that's not air conditioned. With sweat running down my semibald head, I was trying to get a part set up in a CNC lathe. This particular part was giving me some trouble because of a tool compensation problem. I was hot and frustrated.

Cutting cycle time for a 3,000-piece run. Two wire EDMs.

I'm a big a supporter of my local community college's machining programs. There's one facet of machine shop management a classroom can't prepare a student for, though: the constant, yet unexpected, gear shifting that goes on when you're running a shop.

New and traditional part grinding technologies combine to control vibration and improve precision.

Tucked into the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, Linda Tool, a family-owned machine shop, is adding to its capabilities.

Multisensor measurement can make part inspection for machine shops more efficient.

Tom Lipton, the author of Cutting Tool Engineering's Shop Operations column, shares a trick he learned that reveals an interesting use of relatively crash-proof soft metal or plastic bed plates on a milling machine.

Debating the need for CAM systems on Swiss-style machines.

The use of conversational programming is growing and may influence tomorrow's conventional machine controls.