General Shop Equipment & Supplies

KommaTrade, an online mechanical engineering trade fair, was recently launched at www.kommatrade.com. Through the Web portal, based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, manufacturers from different sectors can make presentations with product pictures and a company description. The website allows users to click through to an exhibitor's website, which provides communication coordinates and contact information.

Workholder modeling slashes setup time.

The Shop Operations column offers still more tips for effective finishing in the October 2014 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Improve inventory control and consolidate hundreds of cabinets and drawers for storing tooling and gages. SOLUTION: An automated storage system integrated with inventory management software.

CHALLENGE: Increase QC efficiency when inspecting composite auto parts. An automated opto-digital microscope.

IMTS is a spectacle full of machining and related technologies that will excite anyone in this business, observes Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings in the October 2014 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

Whether we're machinists, programmers, manufacturing engineers or material scientists, we need to prepare our replacements, urges Machinist's Corner Columnist Michael Deren in the October 2014 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

The advantages of preloading ball nuts.

A U-axis system that enables complete machining of a part on one standard machine tool without rotating the workpiece or moving it to a lathe.

Pundits have long said that U.S. machine shops and parts manufacturers need skilled candidates to fill thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of available jobs. The problem, it's alleged, is getting people interested in manufacturing in the first place.

Simultaneous machining on two to four spindles enhances efficiency and lowers the cost per part for high-volume production.

The choice of selective suface-hardening methods depends on workpiece size, shape material and application, but they can be grouped in two main categories: thermal and mechanical.