It goes without saying that the heart of manufacturing is innovation. From the cotton gin to the steam engine to the assembly line to the CNC, the manufacturing process is always being reinvented, refined and reimagined.
Today, a lot of the talk is about additive manufacturing, and justifiably so. Since its dawn in the 1980s, AM has moved from a “that’s neat” tool for hobbyists to a valued tool for prototypers to making fixtures and long part runs.
How many parts are being made via AM? Market research firm Wohlers Associates Inc., Fort Collins, Colo., found that revenue from the production of parts for final products represents 34.7 percent of the AM market. Since 2003, this segment has gone from less than 4 percent to more than one-third of total revenues from AM products and services worldwide. The use of AM for this application grew by 65.4 percent in 2013 to about $1.07 billion, up from $643.8 million the prior year, according to Wohlers.
With the AM machine business growing, some big names are jumping in. In October, Hewlett-Packard Development Co. LP, Palo Alto, Calif., introduced its Blended Reality “ecosystem,” composed of the HP Multi Jet Fusion AM system and the Sprout by HP computer operating system. Built on HP thermal inkjet technology, the system images entire surface areas simultaneously instead of one point at a time, achieving build speeds at least 10 times faster than the fastest technology on the market, HP claims. That would be significant for establishing AM as a long-run parts manufacturing method, because one of the big knocks on it is that AM is too slow to be an effective parts manufacturing process.
The metalworking industry has taken notice. In an article to be published in the January CTE, we examine the growing number of hybrid machine tools that combine AM and subtractive machining. Industry stalwarts such as DMG Mori Seiki, Mazak and MC Machinery have introduced such machines, as have other companies.
But innovation is not found only in the “brand new.” Sometimes, refinements of existing technology offer as much or more productivity improvement than radically new concepts. These improvements are often incremental, but they are easier to take advantage of.
IMTS 2014 offered a great showcase for this type of innovation. CTE went looking for some new ideas and found plenty. Among them were:
• Wearable machine monitoring systems (still under development) that allow stereoscopic 3D vision and real-time head motion, permitting users to view all parts of a 3D model.
• A solid-carbide, internally cooled drill for ISO-P and ISO-K materials with a land design that orients the margins radially. The lands, with shallow cooling grooves at the drill end, are said to produce optimal cooling.
• A new app store for applications from multiple vendors that allows operators to download apps directly to a machine tool’s CNC.
• A 5-axis horizontal machining center for machining heat-resistant materials. The machine’s rotary table is said to be four times more rigid than other tables.
• A wire EDM that vaporizes at up to 38 sq. in./hr. (400 mm2/min.) and produces tapers up to 30° in the Z-axis height.
• Clamping tools for turning and milling machines that are actuated electromechanically, dispensing with hydraulics.
To view our report, click here. Let me know how it goes. I hear this World Wide Web thing is really catching on. CTE
Related Glossary Terms
- computer numerical control ( CNC)
computer numerical control ( CNC)
Microprocessor-based controller dedicated to a machine tool that permits the creation or modification of parts. Programmed numerical control activates the machine’s servos and spindle drives and controls the various machining operations. See DNC, direct numerical control; NC, numerical control.
- electrical-discharge machining ( EDM)
electrical-discharge machining ( EDM)
Process that vaporizes conductive materials by controlled application of pulsed electrical current that flows between a workpiece and electrode (tool) in a dielectric fluid. Permits machining shapes to tight accuracies without the internal stresses conventional machining often generates. Useful in diemaking.
- gang cutting ( milling)
gang cutting ( milling)
Machining with several cutters mounted on a single arbor, generally for simultaneous cutting.
- land
land
Part of the tool body that remains after the flutes are cut.
- machining center
machining center
CNC machine tool capable of drilling, reaming, tapping, milling and boring. Normally comes with an automatic toolchanger. See automatic toolchanger.
- metalworking
metalworking
Any manufacturing process in which metal is processed or machined such that the workpiece is given a new shape. Broadly defined, the term includes processes such as design and layout, heat-treating, material handling and inspection.
- 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.
- 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.
- web
web
On a rotating tool, the portion of the tool body that joins the lands. Web is thicker at the shank end, relative to the point end, providing maximum torsional strength.
- wire EDM
wire EDM
Process similar to ram electrical-discharge machining except a small-diameter copper or brass wire is used as a traveling electrode. Usually used in conjunction with a CNC and only works when a part is to be cut completely through. A common analogy is wire electrical-discharge machining is like an ultraprecise, electrical, contour-sawing operation.
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