ERP/MRP & Shop Management Software

Articles • March 1, 2016 • William Leventon

Spindle maintenance pays

Every machine tool owner can reap benefits from a good spindle maintenance program. These include reductions in costly unplanned machine downtime, longer spindle life and improved part quality. But effective spindle maintenance requires perseverance and the appropriate technology—plus a little common sense.

News • February 18, 2016

Tech institute partners with industry to make generic tool data public

NTB Interstate University of Technology Buchs, an institute that specializes in engineering informatics, recently announced a new website, gtc-tools.com, which provides information to the public on the Generic Tool Catalog (GTC) cutting tool data exchange format, according to a joint news release issued Feb. 9. The GTC data exchange format was developed through collaboration among machining hardware and software leaders Siemens PLM Software, Sandvik Coromant, Iscar and Kennametal.

News • January 4, 2016

Gleason buys Brazilian gear cutting tool company

The Gleason Corp. early this month announced the acquistion of the gear cutting tools business from Hurth Infer Indústria de Máquinas e Ferramentas Ltda., located in Sorocaba, Brazil. Now known as Gleason Indústria de Ferramentas Ltda., the gear cutting tools business includes shaving cutters, shaper cutters, chamfering and deburring tools, as well as tool sharpening services for such products.

News • January 4, 2016

Fives Machining adds service center in Seattle

Fives Machining Systems is set to open a service center in Seattle today as the company expands to meet the needs of its customers nationwide, according to a news release issued by the Fives Group. The Seattle center will stock spare parts, repair unit assemblies and dispatch service engineers to customers in the Northwest.

Videos • December 29, 2015

Hand scraping

While many call hand scraping a lost art, Okuma begs to differ, the company report in a July 2013 video. "While it might be rare to find a craftsman skilled enough to hand scrape effectively, we never lost the art simply because we've always understood how critical hand scraping is to maintaining machining accuracy," according to the company's YouTube channel.

News • December 16, 2015 • Dennis Spaeth

GTI expands into North Carolina

GTI Spindle Technology, Manchester, N.H., recently announced plans to open a new state-of-the-art spindle repair facility in Raleigh, N.C., this month. The new 5,000-square-foot facility will provide full-service spindle rebuild and repair services. The new facility also will provide on-site predictive maintenance services, including vibration analysis routes for customers who want to ensure maximum uptime and reliability for their shops.

Articles • December 1, 2015 • Kip Hanson

Scrape to the point

Whether done manually or with a powered device, scraping guide ways is critical to machine tool performance.

News • August 13, 2015

Fastenal industrial vending machines reach milestone

Earlier this summer Fastenal installed an additional FAST Solutions industrial vending machine within the Terex Mixer manufacturing plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Given how many vending devices (machines and lockers) Fastenal installs during a typical business day, it was a commonplace event — except in one regard: that particular machine represented the 50,000th FAST Solutions device concurrently installed at Fastenal customer sites worldwide.

Articles • August 1, 2015 • Matthew Jaster

Preplanned Maintenance

This month Cutting Tool Engineering covers preventive maintenance system for a rotary table.

Articles • August 1, 2015 • Kip Hanson

Crib Sheet

Tool management systems prevent mistakes and boost the bottom line.

Videos • July 23, 2015

New LIFE for old spindles

GMN USA video report offers insight into spindle repair.

Articles • July 1, 2015 • Christopher Tate

Don’t wait until it’s broke

After spending many years in manufacturing facilities, I have discovered that the number of ways to perform a task is as varied as the people working there. Facility and machine tool maintenance is no different. Each organization has a unique approach.