General Shop Equipment & Supplies

In connection with my canvassing efforts to best focus the boring tools topic scheduled for the January issue of Cutting Tool Engineering, I spoke with Harvey Patterson, product development engineer at Scientific Cutting Tools Inc., Simi Valley, Calif.

Summit Partners of Boston and Menlo Park, Calif., has bought a majority investment in the privately held Harvey Performance Company, Rowley, Mass. Harvey makes specialized cutting tools for precision machining applications for the manufacturing and metalworking industries, including aerospace and defense, medical, automotive, industrial motors and telecommunications sectors. It consists of two brands, Harvey Tool based in Rowley, and Helical Solutions in Gorham, Maine.

Thermal systems manufacturer Watlow has been working to bolster a shrinking manufacturing workforce in the US, and its efforts have been recognized. The Missouri Association of Manufacturers has awarded the company a Made in Missouri Leadership Award because of its support of STEM education, training programs and economic development initiatives.

For the 84th episode of the CTE Grinding Doc video series, Dr. Jeffrey Badger offers some preliminary results and observations from his work with Rush Machinery to establish scientific truing parameters.

At the BWM Group's engine plant in Steyr (Austria), in a reference project accompanied by the Technical University of Vienna, Ecoclean Monschau has significantly raised the energy efficiency of a flexible EcoCFlex Classic robot cell that had been in service for several years. The system's electric power and water consumption were each cut by around 30 percent. These energy efficiency measures are now intended to be implemented on another 95 systems of the same type installed at various sites throughout Europe and Asia.

The Power of FIVE: The Definitive Guide to 5-Axis Machining book was officially released this month at an industry conference, Top Shops, in Indianapolis. The author, Michael Cope, is a machinist and works at Hurco as a product technical specialist.

The toii Platform, created by thyssenkrupp Materials Services GmbH, is said to effectively communicate with a wide array of systems and devices that will help fulfill the promise of the industrial internet of things (IIoT).

Collaborative robotics has three aspects: the human, the robot and the workspace where the task is to be completed. Much of the media coverage has focused exclusively on the robots themselves.

If your shop makes parts that demand multiple setups, parts that have challenging geometry or parts with difficult GD&T requirements, 5-axis machining could provide significant benefits. Do not let the potential cost of the investment prevent you from conducting a thorough cost analysis of your current machining methods.

Navigating and complying with OSHA regulations can frustrate companies, particularly when the regulations are inconsistently enforced.

Chamfers and countersinks help control burr formation, improve thread starts, and protect hole quality. This guide explains where each operation fits and how tooling choices affect results.

Modular fixturing at its best offers the stability and accuracy of dedicated workholding with the flexibility to be reconfigured quickly for a variety of parts. But sometimes compatibility issues arise.