General Shop Equipment & Supplies

Machine monitoring lets manufacturers gather, analyze and share data to improve future processes.n

One of the challenges when boring workpiece materials susceptible to workhardening is recognizing whether the prebored hole is already workhardened.

A report from global cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, Woburn, Mass., found that in the first half of 2017, manufacturing was the industry most susceptible to cyberthreats, with the industrial control system computers of manufacturers accounting for almost a third of all attacks.

To reduce training time and improve worker safety in the high-risk environment of industrial manufacturing, Tobii Pro Insight administers eye-tracking studies.

CTE's "CNC Chef," Bob Warfield, polled the readers of his CNCCookbook blog in September on what they like and dislike about their CNCs.

Michael Deren, who writes the Machinist's Corner column for CTE, spent the holidays reflecting on a couple of events from 2017. One was his promotion at work. The other? Three machines failed within 24 hours.

Abrasive stones commonly found in machine shops are fine for run-of-the-mill deburring and abrading, but absolutely not suitable for precision stoning. For that, you need a pair of carefully prepared, precision-ground flat stones.

Part quality can suffer if a machine tool cannot hold tolerances uniformly everywhere in its "working envelope," the box-shaped region that defines a machine's 3D reach when cutting.

The Heidenhain Specto 3087 RC length gage reportedly increases productivity and efficiency, particularly in applications where it's not possible to clamp the workpiece on a separate device to inspect it. Instead, the gage integrates a highly accurate measuring process directly into the production process.

Productive Times Article. END USER: Wolfram Manufacturing, (512) 600-3220, www.wolframmfg.com. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Brush Research Manufacturing Co. Inc., (323) 261-2193, www.brushresearch.com. CHALLENGE: Perform finishing operations during the machining process. SOLUTION: Tool with small, abrasive globules that are permanently mounted to flexible filaments.

Whether or not you believe in New Year's resolutions, starting any new year with optimism and a positive attitude is a worthy idea and can't hurt anything. An important element is applying key lessons learned from the previous year.

As CTE Publications Inc. begins the 70th volume of Cutting Tool Engineering, the fundamental principles of cutting and grinding metal remain the same as when the magazine premiered with a different name to serve members of the Society of Carbide Engineers.