Machining

DoTriple-Mill is Tungaloy's latest facemilling cutter, featuring an innovative dovetail clamping system that will reportedly dramatically reduce insert lift up and excessive shear force imposed on the screws during heavy-duty milling. Compared with the last generation of facemilling platforms, DoTriple-Mill delivers stable machining and consistent tool life.

The cutting edges of cutting tools don't actually produce chips. Instead, the pressure of a rapidly spinning tool on a workpiece plasticizes part of the parent material, creating a shearing effect that forces the material to ride up the tool. The flute and tool geometries form the chip and force it away from the tool body until it breaks off and evacuates. Iscar Metals Inc. produced a video depicting this process.

Saint-Gobain Abrasives has introduced CarbonForce, a new lightweight line of vitrified CBN wheels for OD grinding. With proprietary high-strength carbon fiber cores, CarbonForce wheels are 75 percent lighter than heavier steel-hubbed wheels and provide the safety and performance-enhancing benefits of a precision superabrasive wheel, according to the company.

DoForce-Tri from Tungaloy America accepts a double-sided insert with six cutting edges. Three types of inserts are available to meet the needs of many different jobs: a standard wiper insert with an MJ chipbreaker on true 90-degree cutting edges or with an NMJ chipbreaker on serrated cutting edges, as well as a radius insert with an MJ chipbreaker on large round corners for edge toughness instead of wipers.

Advanced CNC systems from NUM are helping U.S. machine tool control specialist CNC Onestop Inc. to maintain its competitive market edge through use of ultraprecise positioning techniques. Based in Xenia, Ohio, and also operating in Toronto, Canada, CNC Onestop is a CNC engineering company that specializes in full CNC, motor and drive retrofits for machine tools, as well as machine rebuilds and troubleshooting.

The deluxe line of variable-speed grinders from Palmgren delivers the power, precision and versatility to complete a wide range of finishing applications. At high speeds, they reportedly are the ideal choice for heavy material removal, deburring and chamfering.

J.W. Winco Inc. offers GN 421.12 metric size, technopolymer plastic, hollow knurled knobs with a stainless steel threaded stud and swivel thrust pad. Temperature resistant to 194° F (80° C), the RoHS-compliant hollow knurled knobs have a ball end whose diameter is smaller than the core diameter of the thread.

To bring needed safety to the shop floor, Rockford Systems LLC has launched a new milling machine draw bar cover (part #DBC001) to protect vertical mill workers from rotating shafts 7 feet or less from the floor or working platform. It guards the turning draw bar with a non-rotating, smooth, welded-steel enclosure, secured firmly to the mill with a powerful ring magnet and safety anchor chain.

The TRAUB TNL18 series Swiss-style automatic lathes perform even more dynamically with an enhanced CNC, axis amplifier and more dynamic drives, resulting in significantly improved accelerations and top speeds. In extensive tests, the developers made sure that the mechanical conditions of the machine harmonize with the new dynamics.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering is the new home of a unique machine that is capable of 3D milling precise to one nanometer. The machine, called the ROBONANO α-0iB, is the first of its kind in North America, and it brings extremely advanced technological capabilities that could represent the future of advanced manufacturing. The ROBONANO, which is on a multi-year loan from the Japanese robotics manufacturer FANUC, is housed in the laboratory of Sangkee Min, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UW-Madison. The ROBONANO's extremely precise capabilities offer Min and colleagues new research opportunities, which he hopes will open up improved and novel approaches to manufacturing.

F. Zimmermann has launched the FZ40 compact, a space-saving portal milling machine for high-speed machining of strong and high-strength materials. The FZ40 is based on the proven FZ33 compact and offers the same space-saving dimensions.

The new GENOS M560-V vertical machining center from Okuma America Corp. combines a new high column design and CAT 40 BIG-PLUS spindle to cut large, complex parts. The large work envelope minimizes restrictions on workpieces, tool lengths and the rotary table.