Machining

The Look Ahead department covers electro-erosion metal removal with a 5-axis horizontal machining center in the January 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

On the one hand, many employers in the manufacturing industry view millennials as being self-absorbed, unfocused, disloyal, addicted to mobile devices and lazy. On the other, most millennials don't view a career in manufacturing as something they want to pursue.

We called them "submarines." Tough, 17-4 PH stainless steel forgings shaped like miniature German U-boats, each requiring several ¼" (6.4mm) through-holes to be drilled at a 25° angle. Each sub was loaded into a jig that held it at the required angle, and a metal plate fitted with hardened steel bushings was then clamped to the top of the jig before the holes were produced with a drill press.

A shop contacted the Grinding Doc to find out why it was getting a "horrible" surface finish when it first puts on an electroplated wheel. Dr. Jeffrey Badger, who writes the Ask The Grinding Doc column for Cutting Tool Engineering magazine, explains the issue in the 75th episode of the Grinding Doc video series.

Lucifer Furnaces Inc. has designed and delivered a dual-chamber furnace ideal for heat treating high-speed steels. The HS8 series, built with rugged 12-gauge sheet steel and reinforced throughout, heats to 2,450° F in the upper chamber with silicon-carbide heating elements mounted across the roof and below the hearth.

Stewart Palmer, an engineer at family-owned North Bucks Machining Ltd., Milton Keynes, U.K., said the small parts manufacturer designed and produced its Alpha mountain bike to showcase the shop's capabilities using its existing machines and software.

Erwin Junker Machinery Inc. is extending an open invitation to visit its showroom in Elgin, Ill. The company is showcasing grinding machines from JUNKER and Zema, as well as industry leading air filtration units from LTA Industrial Air Cleaning Systems Inc.

The ActiveEdge Nexus from Rigibore includes coarse-adjustment and fine-setting capabilities, in addition to automatic cutting edge compensation in the machine tool. This design is a self-contained module added to flanges.

Supertec introduces three sizes of jig grinders covering a full range of capability. Models offered include the pictured JG-510M (20" x 12" x 4" x 13" X,Y,Z,W), the JG-1270CM (47" x 27" x 4" x 16") and the JG-1010G (39" x 39" x 10" x 16"), a double-column style.

Innovative Products of America (IPA) announces the #8150 4.5" diamond grinding wheel. The disc's innovative, 3D contour with topside abrasive coating and thin-profile edge allows for cutting, back cutting, gully cutting and bead finishing with one wheel.

Tool-Flo is now offering solid-carbide thread mills with helical flutes and through coolant. The company offers a wide array of thread forms including 60° V-threads, BSPT, ISO, MJ, NPSF, NPT, NPTF, UN and Whitworth threads.

Kyocera's new Vulcan compression endmills are for routing composites. The Vulcan compression endmill is designed with up-cut and down-cut flutes to compress the composite material, preventing delamination.