General Shop Equipment & Supplies

U.S. manufacturers spent $168.69 million on cutting tools in November 2016, according to the Cutting Tool Market Report by the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This was 0.2 percent lower than October's $168.99 million, but was up 9.3 percent from November 2015's $154.28 million.

Okuma says its MB-4000H is a high-speed, thermally stable horizontal machining center that offers quick acceleration, fast tool changes and high power to maximize moldmaking productivity within a minimal footprint. This machine can be equipped with space-saving, large-capacity, automatic toolchangers and flexible manufacturing systems to increase shop floor production.

Government concerning itself with manufacturing? What would the Founding Fathers think? We know the answer: December marked 220 years since Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton submitted his "Report on the Subject Manufactures" to the House of Representatives. In it, he argued in favor of manufacturing as a contrast to the Jeffersonian vision of an agrarian society, and that action from the federal government was necessary if U.S. manufacturing was to thrive.

Although the James Webb Space Telescope isn't scheduled to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana until October 2018, NASA announced that the 18th and final primary mirror segment was recently installed on what will be the biggest and most powerful space telescope.

The tagging applications for radio frequency identification (RFID) are vast, including pets, property—and even people. Recently, Micro-Mechanics Inc., a Morgan Hill, Calif., machine shop, worked with process control equipment provider Caron Engineering Inc., Wells, Maine, to implement an RFID tagging system on its Okuma LB series CNC lathe.

High school manufacturing programs teach students to create production parts, preparing them for careers in industry. Those parts are primarily for terrestrial applications. However, unique and exciting opportunities to produce parts for use above the earth are available to partner-schools in a 14-year-old government program called HUNCH (High schools United with NASA to Create Hardware).

Sam Yu, president and owner of Corona, Calif.-based Machine Control Technologies Inc., said he builds specialty tool and cutter grinders in months—and at a fraction the price of competitors' custom grinders.

Michael Deren, who writes the Machinist's Corner column for Cutting Tool Engineering magazine, explains why he now believes wholeheartedly in lean manufacturing.

Tapping attachments date back to the early 20th century—and they've endured for good reason.n

The Look Ahead department includes a combination broaching and tapping tool for thread forming in the January 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

The Look Ahead department covers electro-erosion metal removal with a 5-axis horizontal machining center in the January 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

On the one hand, many employers in the manufacturing industry view millennials as being self-absorbed, unfocused, disloyal, addicted to mobile devices and lazy. On the other, most millennials don't view a career in manufacturing as something they want to pursue.