General Shop Equipment & Supplies

Accutek Inc., a manufacturer of toolholding and workholding products in Addison, Illinois, announces a partnership with Advanced Tooling Co. as the manufacturers representative agent for the following regions:

Vollmer of America broke ground on May 11, 2019, at its new location in Findlay Township, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh International Airport. The new 30,000-sq.-ft. building is in its finishing stages and the Vollmer team is getting ready to move to the new facility. Vollmer has announced the dates for its Open House Celebration Oct. 22-23, 2020, at the new building.

Using a Tormach 1100 CNC mill, ProvenCut demonstrates Recipe 502, a Fusion 360 adaptive roughing strategy run at 12.2 m/min. (40 sfm) and 0.033 mm/tooth (0.0013 ipt) with a 15.875 mm (0.625") axial DOC (ap) and 0.508 mm (0.02") radial DOC (ae). The demonstration shows a standard four-flute carbide endmill machining 8620 alloy steel hardened to 55 HRC.

Exsys Tool Inc., the exclusive importer of Eppinger toolholders, adapters and specialty products, celebrates its 25th anniversary this June. For a quarter-century, Exsys, San Antonio, Florida, has served as an industry-leading supplier of CNC tooling and tool holders, including innovative products like the Preci-Flex modular toolholding system and a wide range of high-precision live and fixed toolholders for turning centers.

The DC160 carbide drill features exceptional positioning accuracy.

A promotion from Blaser Swisslube, Goshen, New York, challenged U.S. manufacturers to test a Blaser metalworking fluid or to share a user experience to raise funds for the National Robotics League (NRL). The 2019 year-end offer raised $2,000 for the workforce development program.

Materialise Group spin-off RapidFit has deployed a horizontal-arm coordinate measuring machine manufactured by LK Metrology in Derbyshire, U.K., to check the accuracy of bespoke gaging and holding fixtures produced for the automotive industry.

Stockholm-based Hexagon AB, a global leader in sensor, software and autonomous solutions, announced the acquisition of CAEfatigue Ltd., a provider of mechanical fatigue simulation solutions used to improve manufacturing product design, quality and reliability.

Guards on grinding machines are particularly important for ensuring operator safety. Grinding wheels seldom burst, but when they do, there is a great risk of serious injury to the machine operator. Recent studies suggest, however, that the enclosures commonly used in gear grinding machines, for example, could be overdesigned at present. Investigations conducted by the VDW (Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken – German Machine Tool Builders' Association) and the Institute of Machine Tools and Factory Management (IWF) at TU Berlin reveal that it is possible to use safety guards which are up to 70% thinner, depending on the width of the grinding wheel. These findings are leading to changes in ISO standardization.

No one can predict the future of manufacturing, but those who supply tooling, software or equipment are closer to the ins and outs of the manufacturing industry than most. This gives them an almost prescient ability to forecast what's coming down the pipe, offer recommendations on what manufacturers need to be successful in these turbulent times and help machine shops and fabricators understand which technologies will bring them the greatest bang for the buck.

Look inside Comet Die & Engraving, an Illinois company with an extensive history.