General Shop Equipment & Supplies

A portable pipe milling machine that sets up fast and provides precise, perfectly square bevels on either torched off or rough cut pipe for better weld integrity is available from Esco Tool. The Esco Wart MILLHOG is a portable pipe beveller that sets up fast using a self-centering draw rod assembly which fits into the pipe ID and has a mandrel with expanding clamps for rigid mounting.

MultiCam has added the Arcos Bridge & Rail Plasma to its fabrication product portfolio. The Arcos Bridge & Rail Plasma provides enhanced accuracy and speed with a 200 percent increase in acceleration and 50 percent increase in traverse speeds over prior models.

To reduce training time and improve worker safety in the high-risk environment of industrial manufacturing, Tobii Pro Insight conducts eye-tracking studies. For example, the Stockholm, Sweden-headquartered company reported that its research consultants conducted an eye-tracking study at the metal foundry of H&H Castings Inc., York, Pa., and the attention-based study revealed unique insights that will contribute to quicker onboarding of new workers, new efficiencies in its operations, new training guidelines and reductions in the risk of accidents.

Thanks to a collaboration between Dr. Jeffrey Badger and Rush Machinery in Rushville, N.Y., shops now have some practical guidelines when it comes to truing parameters. Badger shares some of this new-found advice in 85th episode of Cutting Tool Engineering's Grinding Doc video series.

Major enhancements to the 2018 R1 release of Surfcam, from Vero Software, include time-saving updates to roughing cycles for milling, turning and mill-turn machining, as well as the prevention of unnecessary CAM regeneration.

ShareAmerica introduces Rochelle White, an example of a next-generation manufacturing worker: "White, 28, of Chicago, represents the next generation of American workers getting groomed for advanced manufacturing jobs. She is in the final phase of a free, 13-month program at Building Self Determination Industries, which operates a manufacturing company on the city's South Side, where unemployment and poverty rates are high. Once White completes the program, she will be a certified robotics technician."

My Nov. 20 blog post titled "Manufacturers favor a digital workplace transformation but hold tight to their wallets" generated an insightful response from Jesse Z. Melton, owner of Harpers Ferry Toolworks.

Drilling has long been the cornerstone of the machining process, consuming roughly 50 percent of all tools and creating 75 percent of all chips. So it comes as no surprise that shops interested in reducing costs and increasing productivity should look first toward the full optimization of their holemaking processes with today's advanced solid-carbide and indexable-insert drill technologies.

PFERD Inc.'s CC-GRIND®-SOLID for controlled rough grinding applications integrates a fibreglass backer and a high-performance coated abrasive that is said to be 40 percent more productive than reinforced grinding wheels. To illustrate the point, PFERD filmed a demonstration comparing the CC-GRIND-SOLID to one of its own conventional rough grinding wheels and that of a competitor.

A recent survey has 80 percent of manufacturers and energy companies implementing or developing a digital workplace transformation plan. Only 18 percent are allocating at least a quarter of their budget toward these efforts over the next 12 months, however—and that's the minimum percentage needed to get started, according to Dan Chalk, director of solution engineering for NTT Data Services, Plano, Texas.

Kitagawa-NorthTech Inc., Schaumburg, Ill., which specializes in standard chucks, advanced chucks, custom-engineered workholding and steady rests, announced that Shawn Luschei has rejoined the company as senior manager of sales for North America.

Omegasonics, Simi Valley, Calif., a manufacturer of ultrasonic cleaning systems, announced that it is expanding and has opened a manufacturing plant in Ferndale, Wash.