Tool & Die / Moldmaking

Recent offerings help moldmakers boost productivity.

Moldmakers represent a challenging niche market for the cutting tool industry.

Meadville, Pa., and the area surrounding the city are home to approximately 150 precision tooling and machine shops. The article explains why this city of 14,000 is such a hotbed of precision machining and entrepreneurship.

Salaries earned by metalworking professionals, including machinists, production engineers, manufacturing engineers and corporate managers. Salaries are broken down by region, size of company and type of shop or manufacturing facility.

Tool management software is designed to help users of cutting tools get more control of their toolcribs. The article describes the types of tool management software available, the savings possible by utilizing software and includes comments from shop owners who've installed these systems.

The article looks at concerns being raised over ISO's plans to revise quality standards. An accompanying article discusses a Web site that strongly opposes the announced changes.

With the introduction of high-speed milling, tool balancing has become increasingly important. This article describes a system that can balance tools while they are mounted in the machine tool's spindle and rotating.

Researchers at Ohio State University produced contoured cuts with different ball mills to determine the best tool material and coating for the job. This article reports their findings and offers recommendations for extended tool life when milling molds and dies.