General Machining & Manufacturing Processes

Weiler Abrasives Group, a leading provider of abrasives, power brushes, and maintenance products for surface conditioning, appointed Chad McDonald as the new vice president of sales, U.S. and Canada. In his role at Weiler, McDonald will oversee all sales activities in the U.S. and Canada, including field sales, national accounts and manufacturer's rep groups. He will also be responsible for continuing to strengthen Weiler's relationships with distribution partners, end users and industry associations.

Detroit, Mich., is a haven for CAD designers according to a top 10 ranking of cities to live in for the profession.

When Johnathon Wojciechowski of Bensenville, Ill., was 7 years old, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and for the last 7 years has altered his life to battle this debilitating disease. Now recently having started high school at Fenton, Johnathon has received a highly trained Diabetic Alert Dog (D.A.D.) from the Ron & Vicki Santo Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation, with partial sponsorship from Heidenhain Corp., Schaumburg, Ill.

Since 2005, igus has been a major supplier sponsor of a variety of student robotics and engineering competitions. Now, as a part of its YES (Young Engineers Support) Program, the company is celebrating National Robotics Week with their continued support of thousands of student engineers around the world.

Penn State industrial engineering researchers are part of a collaborative team that has received $1.2 million in funding to develop an advanced framework that will allow engineers to share and process engineering data as well as formally represent design and manufacturing-related knowledge throughout the product design lifecycle. The 18-month project is funded by the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII). The project is titled "Lower Life Cycle Costs, Improve Design and Performance Robustness through the Digital Thread."

System Insights announces the official launch of VIMANA Enrich, a software solution that simplifies the capture and integration of relevant data from the shop floor, manufacturing and business systems and adds context to the manufacturing process without increasing time and cost for programming and systems integration. VIMANA Enrich enables manufacturers to leverage machine data to gain improved insight, in real-time, that will support decision making and enable true Smart Manufacturing to take place, according to the company.

A pneumatic saw and clamp system that eliminates torch cutting and lets users produce clean accurate cuts on thick steel plate fast with no heat affect zone (HAZ) is available from ESCO Tool. ESCO's APS-438 air-powered saw and Quick-Clamp sets up fast using a 2"-wide steel track and has two wedge-style clamps that attach to steel plate up to 15' wide by 3.5" thick and accepts the saw.

FreePoint Technologies Inc. says its Xi is designed to make connectivity and information collection easy. Connectivity is available through optional Wi-Fi, multiple USBs, ethernet and cellular.

The W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop, Rices Landing, Penn., has a shiny new plaque designating it a National Historic Landmark. Rivers of Steel Heritage Corp. has been making repairs to the building since purchasing it from the Greene County Historical Society in 2009.

SecuraTrac announces its mPERS mobile emergency pendant, the MobileDefender Model S (MD-S). The model S (MD-S) is developed on the same platform as the MobileDefender and introduces new capabilities that will help to ensure the safety of those who use the MD-S and the SecuraTrac platform.

GTI Predictive Technology is proud to announce the immediate availability of our new iBumpTest app for the Apple iPad. Determining the natural frequency of a mechanical system with a Bump Test is a controlled measurement.

The Look Ahead column in the April 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine features a portable 5-axis machine tool made from carbon composites.