General Shop Equipment & Supplies

We're getting lots of random requests for machined parts, and that segment of our business remains busy. One recent example was a business acquaintance of mine who contacted our shop requesting machining work. I had not seen him in a while and wasn't up to date with his professional activities, but his parts request made it clear he was still freelancing some adventurous projects.

Ask the Grinding Doc Columnist Jeffrey Badger, Ph.D., responds to a question about the difference between "constant rpm" and "constant metal-removal rate" when it comes to grinding cams.

Value-added services shorten lead times and increase sales opportunities for parts manufacturers. The decision to bring traditionally outsourced services in-house can be an expensive and scary proposition—one with the potential to either transform a company or send it into bankruptcy. Yet that's exactly what many manufacturing companies do, and often they are pleased with the results. That proved true for the four companies profiled in the following pages.

Okuma's VTM-1200YB multitasking CNC turning center is built to handle heavy-duty turning and cutting of large parts. The massive construction, extreme rigidity and powerful cutting capabilities of this machine make it ideal for machining large diameter workpieces, such as those in the aerospace and energy industries, according to the company.

Mastercam is known for precision NC programming, but it also delivers a suite of shop-tested design tools aimed at getting parts on and off the machine as quickly as possible. Powerful modeling tools include not only 3D surfacing and solids, but hole-filling, direct editing without a solids history and geometry repair.

Mazak developed its new VARIAXIS i-800T multitask machine specifically to enhance milling operations and significantly boost productivity, especially for those manufacturers in the aerospace industry. With full 5-axis milling and turning capabilities along with integrated liquid nitrogen cryogenics technology, the machine not only delivers high processing efficiency for complex aerospace components, but also prevents the detrimental white layers typically generated when machining those parts from tough materials such as titanium, nickel, Invar and other exotics, according to the company.

The first automobile internal-combustion engines used a camshaft to open and close poppet valves. Now, more than 100 years later, camshafts are still used and their basic function hasn't changed—even though camshaft geometries, materials, surface finishes and tolerances have improved greatly to achieve better fuel economy, lower emissions and larger torque.

BobCAD-CAM Inc. has released a training video set for the company's new BobART module, an artistic CAD/CAM plug-in for SOLIDWORKS. New to the BobCAM family of SOLIDWORKS plug-in products, BobART brings a set of creative tool sets that allow SOLIDWORKS users to apply artistic elements to CNC manufactured products.

Technology advancements and the Industrial Internet of Things are making outcome orientation more feasible, according to the Harvard Business Review. For example, when Rolls Royce or GE provide a "power by the hour" engine solution, they are delivering an outcome and potentially more value to the customer.n

With three 14-position tool turrets and identical main and counterspindles, the new space-saving INDEX C100s are designed for fast, cost-competitive production of medium complexity parts turned parts from bar stock from 30mm to 42mm diameter. Ideal for small to medium lot sizes, the three-turret machines deliver high performance within a small floor space, and are targeted to handle fixed headstock work often run on Swiss-type machines.

Tongtai's brand new iVU-5 from Absolute Machine Tools Inc. is a rotary-type ultrasonic assisted machining center that operates as a dual function vertical machining center combined with rotary ultrasonic assisted machining of advanced materials. The Tongtai iVU offers X, Y, Z-axes travels of 500mm (20") x 400mm (15.7") x 350mm (13.8").