Machining

Whether your shop is busy or struggling to survive a downturn, employees are your best asset. We've had to downsize over the past few months, but a good group remains. Many are handling new tasks, but a reengineering of employees' tasks can be beneficial, driving everyone to work smarter, not harder.

When CNC wire EDMs came on the market in the mid-'70s, feeding wire from a spool through a machine's elaborate series of rollers and guides was a tedious manual exercise. Luckily, electrical discharge machining was an exceedingly slow process back then, so replacing wire had to be done less frequently than on today's machines, which erode conductive metal 10 to 20 times faster than earlier models.

FANUC America Corp. has released the new FANUC CNC simulator, bringing the popular CNC to the classroom and providing students with exposure to FANUC CNCs without the need for a full mill or lathe. The FANUC CNC simulator is based on the FANUC series 0i - Model F platform and can be operated in either milling or turning configurations.

The new TRAUB TNL32-11 sliding/fixed headstock automatic lathe has a headstock moving in the Z-axis, an upper and identical lower turret with X, Y, and Z-axes, and a counter spindle movable in the X and Z directions.

Walter has broadened its line of boring tools with the introduction of the B3220 boring cartridge for axial-radial offset roughing (ARS), expanding on previous methods that were either symmetrical or asymmetrical.

Rigibore's ActiveEdge is an automatically adjustable boring tool, allowing a close tolerance bore diameter to be maintained without the need for an operator's intervention. This innovative system allows micron-accurate adjustments to be made on up to five individually adjustable cutting edges on the boring tool.

Kitamura's Mycenter-HX250G HMC offers up a small footprint with ultrahigh level accuracies. This unique powerhouse has a standard two-station APC with full 4-axis capabilities for drilling, milling, boring, tapping, threading and much more. A standard high-speed 15,000-rpm, dual-contact spindle is ideal for tougher cuts with a 30,000-rpm option for more highly intricate part processing.

New from Sumitomo Electric Carbide Inc., the DFC Double-Sided 90º Milling Cutter is reportedly engineered for exceptional precision and efficiency. The high toughness and special shape of the DFC six-edge insert ensure long-term, stable cutting and high efficiency machining with high feed rates. Cutting edges are optimized to provide excellent surface finishes.

With regular new developments every 6 months, Fritz Studer AG says it has surprised users of internal cylindrical grinding machines in the last 2 years.

KOMET's new line of milling tools—comprised of more than 280 articles, including 63 new imperial (inch) and 63 new metric bodies—represents a strong offering as the toolmaker continues to expand its focus on milling products. The new indexable milling tools feature single- and double-sided inserts, as well as a variety of geometries and grades to match customers' most challenging milling operations.

The new RCT85, for larger sizes, taps 10 ½-13 holes, 1" deep in 18 seconds. For fastest cycle time, Tapmatic offers CST (constant-speed tapping) attachments.

Sugino Corp. introduces the new Barriquan family of self-compensating deburring toolholders. Barriquan toolholders have integral tension and compression designed for hard tool deburring of all materials and part shapes.