General Shop Equipment & Supplies

For the fifth consecutive season, igus is a sponsor for Botball, an educational robotics program produced by the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics. The Botball Educational Robotics Program provides STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills that are immediately applicable in college and demanding industries.

Affiliated Distributors' Industrial Supply Division recently named Seco Tools its 2013 Supplier of the Year for Marketing Excellence. The accolade is part of Affiliated Distributors' annual Spirit of Independence Awards Ceremony that recognizes individual affiliates and suppliers that demonstrate consistent excellence in marketing, performance and/or leadership.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched two new Web resources to assist companies with keeping their workers safe from exposure to hazardous chemicals. While many chemicals are suspected of being harmful, OSHA's exposure standards are out-of-date and inadequately protective for the small number of chemicals that are regulated in the workplace. The first resource OSHA has created is a toolkit to identify safer chemicals that can be used in place of more hazardous ones.

I consider several factors when purchasing a drill and try to find the balance between price and performance that gives the best cost advantage while maintaining part quality and productivity, reports the Shop Technology columnist in the October 2013 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

During the summer, writes the Shop Operations columnist in the October 2013 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering, it gets pretty hot in a shop that's not air conditioned. With sweat running down my semibald head, I was trying to get a part set up in a CNC lathe. This particular part was giving me some trouble because of a tool compensation problem. I was hot and frustrated.

Simultaneously improve product quality and productivity when EDMing PCD and PCBN cutting tools and wear parts. An automation process that incorporates work cells.

Cutting cycle time for a 3,000-piece run. Two wire EDMs.

Achieve tightened tolerances and increase throughput when machining microholes and other microscale features. Two new machine tools, each with 0.5µm positioning accuracy and a 50,000-rpm maximum spindle speed.

Machinist's Corner columnist shares personal experience with purchasing tooling and fixtures for the shop.

The Machine Technology column in the October 2013 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering offers guidance for protecting spindles from contamination.

When the world's biggest retailer pledged it would buy an additional $50 billion worth of U.S.-made products over the next decade, Cutting Tool Engineering Editorial Director Alan Rooks questions whether the news is cause for celebration.