Machining

Affolter Technologies says the AF110 plus gear hobbing center convinces with its versatility, precision, power, rigidity and ease of use. It has eight axes with a maximum DP17, minimal DP1270, and a spindle speed of up to 12,000 rpm.

For the 82nd episode of Cutting Tool Engineering's Grinding Doc video series, Dr. Jeffrey Badger explains why using the Barkhausen Noise Signal to assess grinding burn is a tricky business.

Walter has introduced the M2136, a multitooth close-pitch finishing cutter that features a high degree of process reliability coupled with superior cost effectiveness, particularly with cast iron, thanks in part to its eight cutting edges per insert.

As Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) continue to grow and evolve, they promise numerous benefits for a leaner enterprise. In the realm of machine tools, the IIoT can certainly offer chances for improvements in monitoring and maintenance. There are, however, some concerns that must be addressed before this becomes a reality.

END USER: Northeast Tool & Manufacturing, (704) 882-1187, www.northeasttool.us. SOLUTION PROVIDER: MachineMetrics, (413) 341-5747, www.machinemetrics.com. CHALLENGE: Reduce the time and manual inspection required to measure productivity. SOLUTION: A machine monitoring system.

END USER: Lowercase, (212) 510-7621, www.lowercasenyc.com. SOLUTION PROVIDERS: Axis Inc., (908) 429-0090, www.axisnewjersey.com; Robotiq, (888) 762-6847, www.robotiq.com; Universal Robots USA Inc., (844) 462-6268, www.universal-robots.com. CHALLENGE: Cost-effectively integrate automation into the production of eyewear frames. SOLUTION: A collaborative robot tooled with an easy-to-use, flexible gripper.

Trochoidal milling is a relatively new cutting strategy that involves the overlapping of circular toolpaths with linear movement. It is well-suited for difficult-to-machine materials and thin-walled components.

An item in the Look Ahead department of the August 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine features large-volume, high-accuracy robots.

Grinding is a thermally dominated process, meaning a high percentage of process heat initially enters the part before coolant quenches it. Unless the coolant is applied at the correct flow rate and pressure, and the proper input conditions are selected, this process can lead to undesirable rehardening burn, thermal softening and tensile residual stresses.

Spindle bolts are made from difficult-to-machine, high-strength superalloys. They have very tight dimensional tolerances, which makes thread cutting a challenge. As a result of facing several thread-cutting problems during process development, we have learned important lessons at Mitsubishi.

If you've ever watched a bar of red-hot metal emerge from the furnace at a rolling mill, you might wonder how that scaly chunk of material became the smooth, shiny and accurate length of steel you just loaded into a lathe's bar feeder. Machinists know it as cold-finished bar stock.

The primary application for ultraprecision machining is optical-grade surfaces for injection molds, which are used to make contact lenses, LEDs for TVs and head-up displays in military aircraft and luxury cars.