Medical

Shops have many choices when texturing—rather than smoothing—part surfaces.

Vacuum workholding is catching on in new and different applications.

Jet-engine manufacturing typically requires through-holes that accommodate fasteners for various components and subassemblies. These through-holes must be chamfered, free of burrs and have radiused edge transitions.

Five shops use different lights-out machining strategies, but all are focused on creating stable processes.

Manager's Desk column for the September 2010 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Get With The Program column for the October 2010 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Shop Operations column for the October 2010 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Better technology boosts use of EDMs for production applications.

After a wrenching 2009, when parts manufacturers saw precipitous sales declines and orders and sales of machine tools and cutting tools also dropped sharply, the U.S. metalworking industry experienced a relatively strong recovery in 2010. Demand for manufactured products in developing markets, a rebound in the domestic auto market and inventory rebuilding by companies that had been holding off on orders helped fuel the recovery.

More flexible grinding machines allow part manufacturers and toolmakers to fine-tune their production processes.