Machining

OMAX Corp., a designer and manufacturer of CNC abrasive waterjet systems, has reportedly produced the world's most precise micromachining abrasive waterjet available with the assistance of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).

The MicroCut F miniature chamfer milling cutter from Denitool Inc. is for tube-end treatment and chamfering of small- to medium-size threads and countersinks. It is suitable for bore diameters as small as 2mm (0.079") in diameter.

Tungaloy Corp. is broadening its TetraMini-Cut series grooving tool range for Swiss-type machines to include new insert lines, extending its grooving benefits with CNC lathes and turning centers. TetraMini-Cut features a compact four cornered insert that is securely clamped in an innovatively designed pocket for indexing repeatability and tool life stability.

Tungaloy Corp. is continuously expanding its TungMeister changeable-head endmill system. The latest addition involves a new line of modular heads for the TungForce-Rec indexable miniature shoulder milling cutter series.

Some machine tools are modified so much and so frequently it becomes a common practice. That's certainly the case with rotary transfer machines.

Every so often a job or part geometry comes along where it would be helpful to have a few extra inches in a machine's work envelope, or perhaps a little higher rpm or an additional spindle. At these and certain other times, it might be worth considering a custom machine.

Skills Inc. is a unique nonprofit manufacturing company that serves the aerospace industry and is dedicated to helping people with disabilities thrive in today's manufacturing environment.

Using macros, which are pieces of instruction that provide shortcuts, greatly improves programming productivity, according to the Get With The Program column in the July 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Are your spindles cutting most of the time? Or are they often idle because you're getting ready to cut? If you answered yes to the latter, consider the lift that an automated pallet-handling system could provide. These systems allow pallets to be set up and moved into position while workpieces on other pallets are being machined.

For his July 2017 Manager's Desk column, Keith Jennings writes that the greatest concern at his company is the impact cell phones have on shop safety. Another factor is the ease and preference of some employees and customers to communicate via cell phone, bypassing the main phone line and the human or automated receptionist.

Resharpening dull taps by hand is probably not a good idea when you could be making parts. Plus, a thorough reconditioning requires a grinder designed for grinding the actual tap form. So resharpening dull taps is one job best left to the experts.

Deciding whether to use a turret or gang tooling is one of many topics that seems to engender religious fervor from one side to the other. Let's start by providing a brief overview of each approach and then dive into the details.