Design & Engineering

News • March 1, 2016 • Kip Hanson

Inventing enthusiasm for manufacturing

When Zach Kaplan visited the White House last June for a National Week of Making event, he had no idea it would mean giving away 50 of his company's 3D carvers (tabletop milling machines). The CEO of Inventables Inc. (www.inventables.com), Chicago, Kaplan and 99 other conference attendees were challenged to provide ideas on how they could help President Barack Obama with his "Nation of Makers" initiative. Kaplan's suggestion? Put an Inventables 3D carver in one school in each of the nation's 50 states. What's more, Kaplan wants to have a 3D carver in every school in the U.S. by the end of this decade.

Articles • February 1, 2016 • William Leventon

One machine, two processes

Additive and subtractive manufacturing may be conceptual opposites, but a new partnership aims to show that the two can make a good team. Two of the partners are New York organizations: the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Elmira-based Hardinge Inc. RIT researchers are incorporating additive-manufacturing capabilities into Hardinge's Bridgeport GX 250 5-axis vertical machining center. The goal is to create a hybrid manufacturing system capable of producing more accurate parts at a lower cost than conventional manufacturing methods.

News • January 21, 2016

Companies seek qualification for additive manufacturing of aircraft parts

Norsk Titanium AS, Oslo, Norway, announced the first shipment of Airbus test parts manufactured by the company's patented Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) process has been delivered to Premium AEROTEC's plant in Varel, Germany, where it has already undergone finish machining, according to a joint company news release issued Jan. 20.

Videos • January 18, 2016

Mastercam stresses importance of manufacturing

CNC Software Inc., which provides software applications for CAD/CAM manufacturing markets, recently posted a video to its Mastercam Blog that stresses the importance of manufacturing. In the brief report, Scott Brotherton, a CNC Software applications engineer, "describes what everyone should know about manufacturing and why it is so important to everyday life," according to the company post.

Articles • January 1, 2016

Streamlining work flow

CHALLENGE: Reduce setup and cycle times while meeting customers' demands for high-quality parts. SOLUTION: Two horizontal machining centers. END USER: Reinhold Industries Ltd., (780) 434-8552, www.rilflo.com. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Methods Machine Tools Inc., (877) MMT-4CNC, www.methodsmachine.com.

Articles • January 1, 2016 • William Leventon

A Machine Tool for Industry 4.0

Are visitors to a bearing manufacturing facility in Hoechstadt, Germany, getting an early glimpse of what Industry 4.0 looks like? That's the hope of Schaeffler Group, which owns the facility. The plant houses a machine tool meant to show how digitalization works—not in a laboratory, but in an actual manufacturing environment.

Articles • January 1, 2016 • Don Nelson

A long view on innovation

The view from Jungfraujoch inspires awe. So does the railway that transports visitors to the site—a ridge located 11,332' above sea level in the Swiss Alps. I was exposed to another example of commitment while in Switzerland, during a visit to the Mikron Group. Company vice president Markus Schnyder recounted his attempts in the early 1990s to develop a drill for a customer that used Mikron rotary transfer machines to drill holes in stainless steel watch bracelets.

Articles • December 1, 2015

Designs on cost-savings

A PROFIMAT MC 607 5-axis CNC grinding machine manufactured by Blohm Jung GmbH in Germany has been supplied in close cooperation with UK agent, J.R.A. Bennett Ltd, at The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (AMRC) with Boeing. It follows a rigorous tender process that involved evaluating hundreds of parameters and included grinding trials at the machine builder's factory in Hamburg.

Articles • October 1, 2015 • Markus Stolmar

Overcoming material challenges

Companies that make cylindrical cutting tools from PCD and other materials face two key challenges: meeting the surging demand for PCD tools while retaining the ability to produce HSS, carbide, ceramic and cermet tools, observes the Machine Technology column in the October issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Articles • October 1, 2015 • Michael Deren

Better to have a degree

If you have aspirations for being an engineer or programmer, but do not have a college degree, this column is for you, according to the Machinist's Corner column in the October issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Videos • May 11, 2015

Air Force Research Lab taking AM to new heights

3D printing, once only in the realm of science fiction, is gaining popularity. In this military video, Staff Sergeant Scott Johnson talks about how Air Force Research Laboratory scientists at Wright-Patterson AFB are using additive manufacturing to provide the military with better equipment.

Videos • September 12, 2014

GF Machining Solutions unveils the Transformer

GF Machining Solutions unveils the Transformer automation cell at IMTS 2014.