Machining

The dual-station universal belt grinder from Palmgren delivers enhanced grinding and finishing productivity, all in one machine. Equipped with two belt heads, it provides optimal flexibility from roughing to intermediate grinding and blending to final finishing and polishing.

The filtration specialist VOMAT from Germany provides high-performance filtration technology – from small stand alone to large industrial central systems – which are designed to meet customer specific requirements and are of modular design. As a result, they can be quickly and easily adapted to changing requirements in the company.

Designed as a reliable, high-precision solution for gun manufacturers, UNISIG's dedicated R-2A rifling equipment performs the most critical final steps of firearm manufacturing. The R-2A barrel rifling machine finishes barrel blanks with a high degree of accuracy, according to the company.

In the debut episode of The CNC Chef, Bob Warfield from CNCCookbook.com cautions against slowing down your feed rate to avoid tool rubbing. A new monthly video series from Cutting Tool Engineering, The CNC Chef will address a variety of machining challenges in the coming months.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that hiring in December 2016 was at a four-month high, while the number of manufacturing hires tied that of November for its best monthly performance since 2010. Separately, the BLS said that manufacturing companies created 5,000 new jobs in January for a second straight month of growth.

Engineered for use with the standard CMT toolholder (S35 type), Carmex's new high-performance milling head uses multiple indexable inserts for threading, grooving, chamfering and facing. With a cutting diameter of 41mm, a thread pitch of up to 4mm and a groove depth to 9mm, CMT accepts four triple-edged round profile inserts for high precision and enhanced performance.

HAIMER introduces their newest line of endmills, the Basic Mill. The Basic Mill is all the quality you would expect from a Haimer endmill – reduced to the essentials. Basic Mill solid-carbide endmills are created with H6 shank tolerances using cutting edge geometries with an unequal flute and helix design, which reduces vibration while machining.

Toolmakers can now easily grind small PCD insert pockets in one simple process. The new Spindle Speed Increaser from ANCA enables customers to easily grind PCD tool blanks, allowing for greater speed and efficiency.

Forward-looking, funny, Cornell University mathematics major Carl Bass resigned his Autodesk post as CEO on Feb. 7, but he remains on the company's board.

The Metalworking Product Review in the February 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering features: Heller Machine Tools, FP 4000 5-axis HMC with twin drives in the Z-axis; Seco Tools LLC, 150.10-JETI parting-off system with HSS blades, Jetstream Tooling technology and tool blocks with coolant inlets; Wayne Products, the Mini-Skimmer R.S. belt-type oil skimmer; Fagor Automation USA, the CNC 8060 T.

On many work parts, the outside diameter (OD) needs to be highly accurate. Tight tolerances are required for OD size, roundness, high and low frequency lobe patterns and taper. Thrufeed centerless OD grinding can achieve precise part quality at an economical processing cost.

Calibrating a multiple-axis machining center is one of those time-consuming but necessary tasks that parts makers have to accept. The task has gotten easier in past years, however, and has just gotten easier yet.