Shop Technology

The drive to reduce setup times and operator intervention has led to the proliferation of multitask machines. Multitask machines range in price and complexity from lathes capable of driving rotating tools to large machining centers that can effectively perform the turning and milling operations needed to complete complex parts in one setup.

The importance of mastering fundamental turning skills. Turning and other lathe operations are the most common machining applications. A master tool and die maker once told me a lathe is the only piece of shop equipment that can remanufacture itself. Whether or not the statement is factual is not important.

Cutting Tool Engineering's Shop Technology column in October addresses how lean manufacturing principles have changed the way engineers program machine tools and select tooling.

Many options are available for removing stock and shaping workpieces. Broaching is one of the most productive, underutilized -- and least understood.

An interview with Michael Nahum, Micro Encoder Inc.

After spending many years in manufacturing facilities, I have discovered that the number of ways to perform a task is as varied as the people working there. Facility and machine tool maintenance is no different. Each organization has a unique approach.

When not required by the customer, inspection is a likely target for shops seeking to eliminate inefficiencies within the manufacturing process, suggests the Shop Technology column in the June 2015 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Train your workers to sharpen their skills and keep them on the job, suggests this month's Shop Technology column in Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Quick-change tooling can boost profits.

Tiny medical parts, mass-produced automotive components and multiple-ton power generation parts share a common activity: inspection. Generally, inspection is seen as a nonvalue-added activity and most companies encourage the reduction of inspection time. However, because verifying that parts are made correctly is critical to maintaining profitability, inspection will never go away.

After acquiring my first iPhone, I searched the Internet for apps to use in the shop. I found 70 hits for "machinist" or "machining" and 45 for "cutting tool." Conversely, there were 11,169 hits for movie apps and 37,616 for music apps.

Introduced in 1959, coordinate measuring machines have become increasingly common over the last 2 decades. The complexity and cost once meant CMMs were only suitable for large manufacturers. Advances in CMM technology and manufacturing techniques have reduced the cost of ownership, and the machines are now found at all types and sizes of shops.