General Shop Equipment & Supplies

Opinions vary on the definition of hard turning. Some industry experts say it's the single-edge cutting of hardened steels from 58 to 68 HRC, while others suggest hard turning begins at 45 HRC and includes hardened irons and superalloys. All, however, agree it presents difficulties but is quite manageable provided the right cutting tools, machine and process parameters are used.

Industry experts predict better, if not yet spectacular, times for manufacturers in the coming year.

There was plenty to see, eat, drink, hear and learn at the United States Cutting Tool Institute's 2016 Fall Meeting, held in New Orleans Oct. 15-17.

A group of long-term unemployed men last week received high-tech manufacturing training certificates from the Central Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board and MACWIC (Manufacturing Advancement Center Workforce Innovation Collaborative) at the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP) in Worcester, Mass.

MecSoft Corp. has announced the availability of Visual CAD/CAM 2017, the latest version of its flagship standalone CNC programming software.

Fixtureworks has introduced its lineup of ultra-low profile TriGrip carbide gripper inserts and TriMax vises. TriGrip carbide gripper inserts are designed for ultralow profile 0.14 in. (3.5 mm) clamping with no dovetail workpiece preparation.

Buy a used drill chuck, which didn't work flawlessly to begin with, for almost $50,000? Sounds like a bid for lunacy. And it is, literally. Auction house RR Auction recently took bids on the chuck that was part of the lunar-surface drill used on the Apollo 15 mission by Commander Dave Scott in 1971.

Versatile, productive and reliable, the UNE 12-2 compact gundrilling system brings new levels of increased manufacturing capacity to a variety of industries, including automotive, medical and firearms. Whereas a shop may perform deep-hole drilling on Swiss automatic machine tools, a dedicated deep-hole drilling solution, such as the highly engineered UNE 12-2, significantly reduces lead times and provides a higher degree of accuracy and precision.

The DSM series of heavy-duty duplex milling machines from You Ji is engineered specifically for two-, four- or six-sided production squaring and chamfering of square and rectangular workpieces. Depending on the machine configuration chosen, end users can machine blocks as small as 0.750" x 0.750" (19.05 mm x 19.05 mm) and as large as 47" x 47" (1,175 mm x 1,175 mm) in maximum thicknesses ranging from 6" (150 mm with 10" cutter) to 16" (400 mm with 16.5" cutter).

Titan Tool Supply Inc. announces the addition of the ANSER LED gooseneck lamp to its stable of microscopy inspection products. Featuring an 18" flexible gooseneck mounted on a portable magnetic base, the LED lamp can be positioned in close proximity to work areas during manufacturing, assembly and inspection operations.

Shop Ingenuity is the first in a planned series of video reports featuring shop innovations. In the debut episode, Cutting Tool Engineering visits with CNC Supervisor Jeffrey Johnson at Tuttle Manufacturing in Barrington, IL. Johnson set out to improve the production time for a part that the shop has been running every other month for a customer who continues to increase the order each time.

The 2017 release of Radan, a sheet-metal solution by Vero Software, delivers time-saving enhancements and paves the way the most significant new developments in the solution's history. This latest release, which includes upgrades that quickly add up to improved efficiency, reflects Vero's long-range plan to restructure how customers use the software.