Coldwater (Ohio) Machine Co., an engineered solutions company that manufactures and integrates precision equipment and tools, has announced the expansion of it complex part machining capability with the addition of a DMG Mori NTX-2000 5-axis multitask machine to enhance its build-to-print and design-and-build services. The company is recognized for precision machining of workpieces with complex geometries in a variety of materials for customers in the aviation, automotive and energy industries.
The NTX 2000 can handle components up to 24" in diameter with lengths up to 60", providing an extensive range of machining. In addition to precision, the new equipment enhances Coldwater’s ability to deliver even better efficiency to its customers due to the integration of both turning and machining in one high-performance work center. The NTX 2000 joins three other DMG Mori machining centers on Coldwater’s floor for a total of more than 45 machine tools for milling, turning, boring, drilling and grinding.
Coldwater’s material expertise includes tool steel, low carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, Hastelloy, Inconel and other exotic metal alloys, as well as composite and plastic materials in sizes up to 236" x 98". Its climate-controlled facility is equipped with three 60' x 550' crane bays and heavy lifting equipment capable of moving components weighing up to 25 tons. Inspections are performed with advanced CMM and laser tracker equipment.
Coldwater can custom machine large metal components to customer print specification or engage its engineering team, comprised of experts in developing solutions for difficult part holding applications to assist in design. Producing prototypes, one-offs and short-run production, the company has extensive experience manufacturing jigs, fixtures and tools for a variety of industries.
One single-piece run was for a combustor frame (pictured) in a rig for testing jet engines under full-thrust conditions. It's outer flange diameter is 54". The part was machined on Coldwater's large-format, semiautomatic jig mill with a 240”x96” travel.
Related Glossary Terms
- alloys
alloys
Substances having metallic properties and being composed of two or more chemical elements of which at least one is a metal.
- boring
boring
Enlarging a hole that already has been drilled or cored. Generally, it is an operation of truing the previously drilled hole with a single-point, lathe-type tool. Boring is essentially internal turning, in that usually a single-point cutting tool forms the internal shape. Some tools are available with two cutting edges to balance cutting forces.
- centers
centers
Cone-shaped pins that support a workpiece by one or two ends during machining. The centers fit into holes drilled in the workpiece ends. Centers that turn with the workpiece are called “live” centers; those that do not are called “dead” centers.
- gang cutting ( milling)
gang cutting ( milling)
Machining with several cutters mounted on a single arbor, generally for simultaneous cutting.
- grinding
grinding
Machining operation in which material is removed from the workpiece by a powered abrasive wheel, stone, belt, paste, sheet, compound, slurry, etc. Takes various forms: surface grinding (creates flat and/or squared surfaces); cylindrical grinding (for external cylindrical and tapered shapes, fillets, undercuts, etc.); centerless grinding; chamfering; thread and form grinding; tool and cutter grinding; offhand grinding; lapping and polishing (grinding with extremely fine grits to create ultrasmooth surfaces); honing; and disc grinding.
- jig
jig
Tooling usually considered to be a stationary apparatus. A jig assists in the assembly or manufacture of a part or device. It holds the workpiece while guiding the cutting tool with a bushing. A jig used in subassembly or final assembly might provide assembly aids such as alignments and adjustments. See fixture.
- milling
milling
Machining operation in which metal or other material is removed by applying power to a rotating cutter. In vertical milling, the cutting tool is mounted vertically on the spindle. In horizontal milling, the cutting tool is mounted horizontally, either directly on the spindle or on an arbor. Horizontal milling is further broken down into conventional milling, where the cutter rotates opposite the direction of feed, or “up” into the workpiece; and climb milling, where the cutter rotates in the direction of feed, or “down” into the workpiece. Milling operations include plane or surface milling, endmilling, facemilling, angle milling, form milling and profiling.
- milling machine ( mill)
milling machine ( mill)
Runs endmills and arbor-mounted milling cutters. Features include a head with a spindle that drives the cutters; a column, knee and table that provide motion in the three Cartesian axes; and a base that supports the components and houses the cutting-fluid pump and reservoir. The work is mounted on the table and fed into the rotating cutter or endmill to accomplish the milling steps; vertical milling machines also feed endmills into the work by means of a spindle-mounted quill. Models range from small manual machines to big bed-type and duplex mills. All take one of three basic forms: vertical, horizontal or convertible horizontal/vertical. Vertical machines may be knee-type (the table is mounted on a knee that can be elevated) or bed-type (the table is securely supported and only moves horizontally). In general, horizontal machines are bigger and more powerful, while vertical machines are lighter but more versatile and easier to set up and operate.
- precision machining ( precision measurement)
precision machining ( precision measurement)
Machining and measuring to exacting standards. Four basic considerations are: dimensions, or geometrical characteristics such as lengths, angles and diameters of which the sizes are numerically specified; limits, or the maximum and minimum sizes permissible for a specified dimension; tolerances, or the total permissible variations in size; and allowances, or the prescribed differences in dimensions between mating parts.
- turning
turning
Workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a face plate or secured between centers and rotated while a cutting tool, normally a single-point tool, is fed into it along its periphery or across its end or face. Takes the form of straight turning (cutting along the periphery of the workpiece); taper turning (creating a taper); step turning (turning different-size diameters on the same work); chamfering (beveling an edge or shoulder); facing (cutting on an end); turning threads (usually external but can be internal); roughing (high-volume metal removal); and finishing (final light cuts). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chucking machines, automatic screw machines and similar machines.
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