General Shop Equipment & Supplies

The job training programs at Hononegah Community High School and Beloit Memorial High School include job shadowing, mentoring, summer apprenticeships and training workshops at cutting tool manufacturer Regal Cutting Tools, Roscoe, Ill.—but no internships. Working at Regal Cutting Tools means being considered a normal employee, not an intern, even if the worker is there part time and spending his or her days as a high school junior or senior. Although students are allowed time off for academic-related reasons, such as preparing for college admission tests, there are no exceptions for extracurricular activities, such as sports or clubs. "They need to make a decision whether they want to be part of that," said Plant Manager Dennis Weiland.

Not every holemaking job requires a high-performance, solid-carbide or PCD-tipped drill with an advanced coating. For many, a HSS jobber drill will suffice.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in November, and the overall economy grew for the 102nd consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. The November PMI registered 58.2 percent, a decrease of 0.5 percentage point from the October reading of 58.7 percent. This indicates growth in manufacturing for the 15th consecutive month led by expansion in new orders and production, offset by supplier delivery improvement and declines in raw material Inventory.

For the 10th episode of The CNC Chef, Bob Warfield of the CNCCookbook discusses the challenges presented when drilling deep holes. Among them: clearing the chips, getting coolant down deep, and holding tolerances on position, diameter and surface finish. As Warfield observes in this episode, "all of this means we need to use some special strategies whenever we have to go more than 5 diameters deep, and that's what this video is all about."

The 2018 R1 release of Alphacam, from Vero Software, includes considerable enhancements to automation and nesting functions. There is now the ability in Automation Manager to have a connection between "parent-child" parts, as job files can now be added to another job file as a sub-component. This enhances the management of parts that should be manufactured in groups.

Easily adaptable, Palmgren's 20-inch, variable-speed drill press allows the operator to select the best rpm for the tool and material without stopping the job. The ergonomic side-mounted hand wheel instantly adjusts the speeds.

The ORLAS CREATOR hybrid 3D printing and milling machine from O.R. Lasertechnology Inc. brings together the benefits of both additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing within a single platform to offer a comprehensive manufacturing solution. The advantages of 3D printing complex metal components using the direct AM powder melting process in combination with the OR LASER's advanced milling capabilities for precision finishing ensure that the ORLAS CREATOR hybrid is a compelling manufacturing solution at an accessible price point for SMEs.

Photo etching is a fast, efficient and cost-effective method for the manufacture of small precision metal parts using etchant chemistries. It is well-suited for development, prototype and production volumes, and has the ability to ramp up from low- to high-volume runs extremely quickly. Photo etched parts are burr and stress-free, the complexity of shape is unlimited, and there is absolute flexibility to change the design at any time as the process uses easily altered digital tooling.

Regal Cutting Tools, Roscoe, Ill., has been part of Hononegah Community High School's Workplace Readiness Program for years, including job shadowing and training workshops. The company also is very involved in Beloit Memorial High School's technical programs, providing mentorship, summer apprenticeships and internships. The success of the programs with Regal Cutting Tools and other companies has created a problem. "I never have enough students to make my level three machining class run," said a machining and welding instructor at Beloit Memorial. "The reason why is because they're pilfered off the machining two class to work for these different companies. It's an excellent sign of demand."

There were a lot of deep discussions about holemaking at UNISIG's recent open house and seminar series for magazine editors. UNISIG engineers explained different methods of deep-hole drilling, including gundrilling and BTA drilling, and provided an overview of the machines and related systems the company builds to perform these operations. Hands-on demonstrations in UNISIG's 62,000-sq.-ft. plant augmented the classroom discussions.

To meet the demanding mold and die machining needs of high-tech industries, GF Machining Solutions has unveiled the new Mikron HSM 500 Graphite high-speed mill. The system combines the features of a dedicated graphite machine with the flexibility of the company's HSM 500 high-speed milling platform.