Medical & Healthcare

Articles • February 1, 2013 • Kip Hanson

Finding a 5-axis solution

Tim St. Martin knew there had to be a better way of fixturing parts on his company's 5-axis machine tools. "We'd visited some of our suppliers and saw how they were holding parts on their 5-axis machines," said the senior manager of manufacturing engineering for Carlsbad, Calif.-based orthopedic implant manufacturer Alphatec Spine Inc. "They were mounting the blanks into a 'picture frame' and then screwing that frame to a tombstone-mounted fixture. This basically limited access to one side of the workpiece per operation. Many in our company thought we should hold them the same way."

Articles • February 1, 2013 • Tom Lipton

Still more tips for a manual mill

Continuing and concluding the theme of my previous two columns, this month's installment provides additional tips for enhancing the operation of a manual milling machine.

Articles • February 1, 2013 • Alan Richter

Coolant filtration enhances grinding precision

Provide centerless grinding machines that can produce parts with continually tightening size and surface finish requirements. Customized coolant filtration equipment.

Articles • February 1, 2013 • Kip Hanson

Why so cross?

Drilling cross-holes in some parts is no big deal. These are often simple parts, such as aluminum valve bodies, where the holes aren't too deep and meet on-center, and the customer can live with a small burr at the intersection.

Articles • February 1, 2013 • Alan Richter

X-ray specs

X-ray scanning a part with internal features is useful because it creates 2-D images of those features in a nondestructive manner. Industrial computed-tomography, or industrial CT scanning, which is based on X-ray scanning technology, takes it a step further by providing a complete 3-D view for internal and external analysis.

Products • January 13, 2013

Segen Quick change system

Tooling Technology in Fort Loramie, Ohio, is marketing a line of quick-change devices aimed at lean manufacturing. The Segen Quick change system replaces old-fashioned nuts, bolts, fasteners and hand tools, which significantly reduces the time wasted on industrial setups, changeovers, workholding, clamping, fixturing and alignment.

Products • January 13, 2013

Equator 300 Extended Height Gage

Renishaw extends the product line, and the height, of its Equator gaging system with the new Equator 300 Extended Height comparative gage.

Products • January 13, 2013

Mikron HSM 20U LP

GF AgieCharmilles' Mikron HSM 20U LP (linear performance) milling machine is available in 3- and 5-axis versions and can produce parts via simultaneous 5-axis high-speed machining. The machine's 50,000-rpm, 11.4-hp Step-Tec spindle assists in imparting surface finishes as fine as 0.05µm R_a. The machine has linear motors for the main machine axes and direct-drive motors for the B and C axes.

Products • January 13, 2013

MaxLock Vises

Kurt announces the expansion of its 5-axis vise offering with the addition of two new MaxLock models.

Products • January 13, 2013

M8 Cube Machining Center

DATRON Dynamics has launched the M8 Cube, a "next generation" German-engineered, high-speed machining center designed for greater speed, accuracy and industrial durability.

Articles • January 1, 2013 • Tom Lipton

More tips for a manual mill

Shop Operations columnist Tom Lipton offers tips for enhancing the operation of a manual milling machine.

Articles • January 1, 2013 • Alan Richter

Operation optimization

Verify and optimize machining operations, including ensuring that cutting tools avoid interference. CNC machine simulation software.