Fabrication & Cutting

February 2009 Manager's Desk column

January 2009 Get With The Program column

January 2009 Manager's Desk column

Data Flute CNC's Cliff Flynn, director of research and new product development, gets rough with the company's AFDH finishing tool in this 5-minute report. Flynn noted that the demonstration provided at IMTS 2008 was purposely aggressive on the finishing tool to underscore its finishing ability.

Commercialization of cubic boron nitride coatings has proven elusive, but a two-step process for coating cutting tools with CBN is expected to come to market soon.

Adam J. Wayne, a sales/engineering representative with Laser Marking Technologies, takes a few minutes to chat with Cutting Tool Engineering during the EASTEC show this spring. Laser Marking Technologies, which has more than 30 years of combined experience in the laser marking arena, offers complete turn-key systems for permanent marking on carbide, HSS, Stainless, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, glass, crystal, man-made rock, wood and laser-friendly plastics.

Honing an engine's cylinder bores enhances their geometry, surface finish and dimensional accuracy, improving their fit and alignment with pistons and thereby increasing the engine's life and power density while decreasing its vibration, friction and emissions.

Drag finishing—fixturing parts and dragging them through abrasive media—can prevent part-to-part contact, achieve tight edge tolerances, impart fine finishes and be used on parts with a number of characteristics: delicate, high value, complex geometries and multiple contours.

A small, Philadelphia-area shop is using a 55,000-psi, 2,000-mph abrasive waterjet to help grow its primary business: making parts for Boeing aircraft.

High-power laser machines—at least 5,000w—are more useful in machine shops because their power permits fast processing of thicker materials, materials more like the blocks machined by the metalcutting industry. Also, automation allows for more cost-effective laser machining.

Several types of cutting tools can be protected with coatings harder than regular A1TiN coatings by combining A1TiN grains with an amorphous silicon-nitride matrix.

To increase productivity, the aerospace industry should consider different tool materials for faster cutting speeds, tool coatings for reduced wear, and machine tools for quicker cycle times.