General Machining & Manufacturing Processes

3D Hubs releases its quarterly report that shows real world data on which CNC materials and surface finishes are requested the most by engineers globally.

EXAIR's new Soft Grip Super Air Scraper is a safety air gun to help remove the most stubborn debris found within industrial facilities. The patent pending design uses a scraping blade to aid the powerful compressed air flow removal of debris. This product is perfect for removal of caulk, sealant, adhesives, tape, paint, stickers, labels, grease, lubricant and difficult to sweep metal chips, flakes or discs.

FlexArm Inc. introduces the AR-40 Articulating Torque Reaction Arm, for enhanced operator ergonomics and improved production quality. Occupying a small footprint, it delivers up to 40 ft/lbs of torque reaction through a working range of 4 ¼ to 27 inches.

Monaghan Tooling Group (MTG) announces a first-of-its-kind program that provides new product engineers with an easier and faster way to build higher-quality and more profitable products. Called the Engineered Success Guarantee, this new program virtually guarantees that an engineer's new product or part that uses Monaghan's tooling will meet the quality and cycle time specification while promising the delivery date of its custom tooling.

Many materials appear almost impossible to machine. A component with a combination of materials represents a special challenge. High-positive indexable inserts from ARNO Werkzeuge achieve convincing process reliability and finish quality in turning operations. Siemens Healthcare GmbH is delighted with a tenfold increase in tool life.

It's no longer just for gaming! Virtual Reality (VR), sometimes referred to as Augmented Reality (AR), is shaking things up across all industries, including manufacturing. While the technology is currently being employed mainly by large manufacturers, like additive manufacturing and the cobots before it, growing acceptance of the technology is likely to cause prices to drop, allowing small and medium-sized manufacturers to take advantage of its powers as well. So what do you need to know about VR before it comes your way?

To help strengthen the quality, value and effectiveness of manufacturing credentials in the U.S., Workcred, an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) affiliate, has released a report funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) examining how credentials are currently used in hiring and retention practices, and how credentialing can be improved to advance the manufacturing industry.

The GPL-V (shaft) and GPL-H (hollow) are the company's lowest backlash (≤ 0.1 arc minute) planetary gearboxes for horizontal and vertical robotic applications. A patented design guarantees that the backlash will not increase over the life time of the gearbox.

For a business owner or manager it's a frustrating and difficult task to track, manage and keep records on the hand-held tools, production tooling and fixtures, dies and castings that are the lifeblood of your operation. Each category of tool has specific tracking and accounting issues that when addressed have been proven to show a significant return on investment.

The new Cincinnati HMC 800 is a high-performance HMC solution for demanding aerospace, oil and gas, and other industrial hard metal manufacturing applications that require precision machining. The Cincinnati HMC 800 combines high spindle torque and power with superior dynamic machine stiffness, plus, the dual ball screws provide exceptional feed rates: 45m/min, and acc/dec rates of 0.5G.

When I'm visiting CNC operations around the country, shop managers often start our conversations like this, "Labor is killing us. We can't find enough good operators and we're losing some of our experienced operators to competitors. What are my options?" The manager often goes on to describe operational issues related to labor that are typical in high-mix CNC manufacturing. This article describes automation options for CNC shops, specifically focusing on those processing parts in CNC milling machines with batch sizes between 10 and 1,000 pieces.

Dialight announced the launch of a new 597 SMD series of LED indicators. The four new indicators offer tighter intensity binning, reduced light bleed, and electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for high-performance electronics, networking and control panel applications.