Medical & Healthcare

The increasing complexity of modern tool, die, mold and medical part designs call for a new level of 5-axis machine performance. The Makino D200Z 5-axis vertical machining center reportedly answers these challenges by combining the quickness of machine movements and accuracies with the latest software developments for high-precision, high-speed motion control.

This precision machine from Guyson Corp. was designed and built for grit blasting of medical implant devices. The expanded, two-station RXS-400 system has a small footprint and offers simultaneous dual operation.

According to MTD Micro Molding, nothing is more frustrating for micropart designers than to spend countless hours on a new drawing, only to get to the manufacturing phase and find out they need to make significant revisions or compromises. Their tooling department provides eight recommendations to help improve the manufacturability of your next micropart design.

Marposs has announced the availability of its new WRP60P and WRP45P high-accuracy touch probes with multichannel radio transmission. The se probes are for high-accuracy 5-axis machining centers and milling machines, which address high precision industries such as die and mold, aerospace, aeronautics and biomedical.

MBFZ toolcraft GmbH reports that 3D printing is developing at an increasingly rapid pace. While plastic parts can already be 3D printed on home printers, metal 3D printing remains in the hands of innovative industrial companies. Here, the transition has already been made from rapid prototyping to rapid manufacturing. Both the ability to produce titanium bone implants and the growing interest in the technology shown by politicians are clear indications that the manufacturing method is ready to be used for series production. To improve its additive manufacturing processes, toolcraft has invested in new laser melting machines from TRUMPF.

Building on its PS-Series product line, Makino announced the next-generation PS65 and PS105 vertical machining centers. Both models feature enhanced design characteristics and next-generation technologies that expand upon the capabilities of their predecessors.

A new range of Thulium-doped fiber optic components from Coherent | Nufern enables construction of fiber lasers and oscillators operating at ~ 2 µm with higher output power than was previously possible. Specifically, advances in Thulium doping technology deliver significantly improved pumping efficiency, yielding higher power output (>1 kW) for gain fibers.

TRIBOS polygonal clamping technology has been setting standards in high-precision micromachining for many years. Numerous companies in medical and dental technology, watchmaking and jewelry, as well as moldmaking and optical engineering have put their confidence in SCHUNK's patented toolholding system. Due to the high demand, SCHUNK has further expanded the line of precision toolholders.

As automation becomes more flexible and less expensive, work cells are propagating at smaller shops.

A growing number of manufacturers in the medical industry are seeing the light when choosing a machining option for micro parts and features. The light they're seeing emanates from laser micromachining systems.

Manufacturing microscale endmills and drills requires ultraprecise machinery and specialty grinding wheels—never mind extreme skill, the right carbide grade and abundant patience. Thankfully, a number of toolmakers have become proficient at this microscopic task, leaving shops to worry about just one thing: making parts.

Three primary elements play a heightened role when machining molds for plastic injection molding of microparts compared to moldmaking for the macro realm: part size, feature size and dimensional tolerances.