Prototyping & Design

This month's Get With The Program column in Cutting Tool Engineering magazine considers the advantages of scalable CAM software.

It's quite common for CAM software to come with built-in simulation to identify potential collisions and optimize virtual machining. However, most versions don't deliver the experience of programming in the context of the NC machine and instead rely on third-party machine simulation to connect the processes.

3D printing poised to turn prototyping on its head.

Medical device contract manufacturer Norman Noble Inc. announced it has begun providing additional design and testing services to its medtech customers.

Producing prototype automotive parts via 3-D printing helps reduce time to market while boosting vehicle quality and fuel efficiency.

Producing prototype automotive parts via 3D printing helps reduce time to market while boosting vehicle quality and fuel efficiency.

A pump on a waterjet machine generates the high-pressure water needed for cutting by taking low-pressure water into a cylinder, compressing the water with a plunger and then pushing the high-pressure water out of the cylinder.

Alan Rooks, Cutting Tool Engineering's editorial director, looks forward to the day he can sit in a traffic jam alongside George Jetson in his September editorial.

Robust and stiff often come to mind when considering the characteristics that make for a productive milling machine. However, Juanjo Zulaika, a researcher at the applied-research center Tecnalia Research & Innovation, thought otherwise and developed a "softer" milling machine with reduced weight and stiffness. That's achieved while increasing productivity.

Manager's Desk columnist Keith Jennings offers some guidance for effectively screening new projects in the January 2012 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

Composite toolholders and boring bars.