Machining

Products • May 18, 2018

New Release of Edgecam Software

The new release of Edgecam, from Vero Software, contains 54 items of new or enhanced functionality that improve productivity for manufacturers by using a range of cutting technologies and machining strategies. They include significant changes to the Pre-Drill Approach Roughing cycle, creating features from wireframe entities, 3D milling cycles in mill-turn Rotary mode, 28 new technology databases in the Wire EDM module and Tombstone.

Articles • May 17, 2018

Material-specific taps continue to evolve

A look back at the use and evolution of sintered powder metal and the PM process that results in a tool substrate that consists of finer, more consistent particles, and yields a stronger, longer-lasting cutting edge.

Products • May 17, 2018

New Generation of Flexible Manufacturing Systems

Fastems LLC is launching a new generation of flexible manufacturing systems engineered to fulfill manufacturers' growing needs to handle shorter product life cycles, higher product mixes and lower volumes.

Articles • May 16, 2018 • William Leventon

New approaches to machining microscale medical parts

Though machining medical microparts presents many challenges, shops that tackle the task are meeting these challenges thanks to a combination of ingenuity and technology, along with a dose of effective machining practices.

Articles • May 15, 2018 • Christopher Tate

Deburring: an essential but often overlooked process

With so much attention given to improving machining processes, machinists, programmers and engineers at times forget about simple, but necessary, processes like deburring.

Products • May 15, 2018

C80 Series CNC

Users of the Mitsubishi Electric Automation MELSEC iQ-R automation platform can now achieve even greater productivity and lower cycle times with the introduction of the C80 Series CNC. The rack-based C80 features a CNC-dedicated CPU to maximize the control's performance.

Articles • May 14, 2018 • Michael Deren

When suppliers are the weakest link in the chain

CTE Machinist's Corner Columnist Michael Deren bemoans industrial suppliers who don't care about their customers, or know how to treat their customers. This is not the '60s and '70s, when OEMs had a take-it-or-leave-it mentality.

Products • May 14, 2018

M18 FUEL 18V Large Angle Grinder

Milwaukee Tool announces the next breakthrough in M18 FUEL, a 18V large angle grinder. The new M18 FUEL 7"/9" large angle grinder generates the power of a 15-amp corded LAG, is up to 2 lbs. lighter than the leading corded unit, and features a 9" grinding capacity.

Products • May 14, 2018

Narrow Slotting Cutter

If you've ever struggled with inserts coming loose during a slotting operation, keep reading. How about inconsistent slot widths, fumbling with awkward screws and inserts on a slotting cutter, or having to use a piece of shim stock to pry wedged chips from deep inside a slotted workpiece? These are just a few of the problems machinists face when trying to cut narrow slots and grooves, but thanks to the newly introduced Kennametal Narrow Slotting (KNS) cutter, the days of "slotting dread" are over, according to the company.

Products • May 11, 2018

SUPERCELL-300G 5-axis Horizontal Flexible Manufacturing Cell

Kitamura Machinery announced its new SUPERCELL-300G 5-axis, horizontal flexible manufacturing cell. It has a 20-station APC with work ID system and 174 tool matrix-style tool.changer.

Products • May 11, 2018

Radan 2018 R2 Software

The latest release of the Radan sheet-metal solution, by Vero Software, includes new functionality giving users a greater degree of manual control where flexibility is required for certain aspects of their individual production processes.

Articles • May 10, 2018 • Kip Hanson

Do you tap or thread-mill?

For many in the machining community, tapping is the preferred method of threadmaking on a CNC machining center. Yet others contend that thread milling is better. Kip Hanson breaks down the long-running argument.