Fabrication & Cutting

Cutting Tool Engineering provides coverage of more than 210 of the products that exhibitors will showcase at IMTS 2016. They are divided into tooling and workholding products, machine tools and accessories, and metalworking products. Presented here is the preview for Machine Tools & Accessories.

Most PVD coaters use cathodic-arc evaporation, in which an electric arc vaporizes the coating material from a cathode. The vaporized material condenses on the tool, resulting in a wear-resistant coating imbued with whatever qualities the coater is looking to impart to the tool.

Throughout the sometimes-contentious world of machining, the debate rages about whether to apply flood coolant or cut dry. As in many areas of machining, the choice is not easy and requires careful and informed consideration. To further complicate the decision, minimum-quantity lubrication (MQL) can be a successful compromise that provides an efficient and effective answer to the troublesome question.

It is widely acknowledged within the manufacturing industry that PCD tools deliver excellent results when reaming nonferrous metals and abrasive plastics. Reaming with a PCD tool allows the user to ream holes faster, to tighter tolerances and produce cleaner-edge holes than is possible with carbide or HSS tooling.

Autodesk CAM software developer Delcam Ltd., working with toolmaker Technicut Ltd., has created a software and cutting tool combination for machining blisks that reportedly reduces machining time and costs about 50 percent compared to traditional methods.

An optical cleaning kit designed for cleaning splatter from CO2 laser optics that is ideally suited for sapphire, quartz, germanium, silicon, and other materials is available from Laser Research Optics. The LRO advanced optical cleaning kit was designed for cleaning spatter and blowback from CO2 optics in the field to prevent damage to coatings, extend lens life, and improve laser performance.

Peddinghaus Corp. offers new AGTOS shot-blast machines, which are precisely designed and manufactured in Germany. This kind of machines is used for cleaning, roughening, shot peening or the finishing of part surfaces.

The LUMICLAD finish from Birchwood Technologies forms a nearly non-dimensional black oxide finish on all aluminum surfaces. LUMICLAD is very durable, clean and tightly adherent to the metal substrate.

WARDJet says the ZCM-2543 speaks to the company's motto of "Not Just a Waterjet..." That's because the router gantry not a waterjet at all. In WARDJet's effort to provide tailored solutions, it continually steps outside of the waterjet box.Additionally, this router gantry is 100 percent "waterjet ready." The system has been designed to accept a second 36" Z-axis with a 5X head, which will also have a 2.5 x 4.0 m cutting envelope.

Deep-hole drilling is virtually an art unto itself, with a host of complexities and considerations inherent to the process. Greg Forman, technical director of toolmaker Precision Cutting Tools Inc. (PCT), Santa Fe Springs, Calif., answered questions to provide some insight into drilling holes greater than 5 diameters deep.

Components used in the manufacture of combustion hardware for a Mitsubishi gas turbine begin life as sheet or plate stock. Because our components come from large sheets, we start every manufacturing process by cutting the desired shape or profile.

Michael Finklea believes that there isn't much reported on sawing in the manufacturing trade press because "it's kind of the redheaded stepchild in the industry—an unappreciated part of the manufacturing process. In most shops, the least-skilled person is running the saw."