Product Demos

While rotating counterclockwise, the cutting wing on the Erix Tool automatic back spotfacing tool folds in as it cuts a hole, then opens automatically when the spindle passes through the material and begins to rotate clockwise to begin spotfacing.

Flow International Corp. offers this brief animated video demonstration of the waterjet machining process.

Eurotech video offers some details about its Polygim Zeit Model 42 SLY2-B CNC Screw machine.

A video tutorial on lasers from Ronald D. Schaeffer, Ph.D., the chief executive officer of PhotoMachining Inc. Schaeffer provides the history and future of laser technology and its importance in micromanufacturing.

Posted as a supplement to "Variations on a theme," a feature article published in the June 2015 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering, this video shows Millstar's indexable-insert milling tools machining aluminum. Tried-and-true aluminum alloys continue to do the job for multiple applications, and toolmakers have enhanced their offerings to more effectively machine a metal that's generally considered easy to cut. One such offering is a new line of indexable-insert cutters for milling aluminum from Millstar, Orion Township, Mich. Vice President Ron Field said one industry the cutting tools are targeting is moldmaking, which has seen an increase in the production of 6061 and 7075 aluminum plastic-injection molds. An aluminum mold won't last as long as a steel one, but it's easier and cheaper to machine and offers better heat conductivity for water lines, so the molded parts cool quickly and cycle times can be reduced.

Automaker BMW challenged the Kennametal Inc. to develop a tool that accentuates the advantages of reaming and line boring while virtually eliminating the disadvantages. Kennametal accepted the task and developed its asymmetric line boring bar, which has two guide pads positioned so they only contact the last journal. This enables the boring bar to be quickly fed in and out of the multijournal bore without touching the workpiece. This geometry allows the bar to be fed through the raw, or unfinished, bores on an eccentric path.

A Datron high-speed CNC milling machine creates a microfluidic support plate, made of highly transparent acrylic glass, that includes microchannels.

A Diversified Machine Systems 5-Axis Enclosed Large Format Overhead Gantry CNC Router with continuous C-Axis rotation demonstrates its ability to cut out a composite component. Diversified Machine Systems arranged the test cut to demonstrate the machine's accuracy and efficiency for a customer who recently visited the company's headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Cutting Tool Engineering magazine hosted a Webinar Dec. 10, 2014, featuring Mike MacArthur, vice president of engineering at the RobbJack Corp. Following the main presentation, titled "Technologies & Strategies for Composite Drilling, Routing and Trimming," CTE Publisher Don Nelson held a brief Q&A session with questions submitted by the audience.

Iscar Metals Inc. has introduced IQcloud, new software designed to streamline the front-end of cutting tool purchases by helping programmers condense the time it takes to get the cutting tool assembly into manufacturing technologies that they are using, whether that's CAD/CAM verification or tool management.

Beamer Laser Marking Systems debuts a new 24" indexable turntable at its booth during IMTS 2014. Beamer, which suffered a fire in January, expects to move into its new 6,500 sq. ft. facility in October. The new facility will be dedicated to producing laser marking systems.

Garr Tool Co., a toolmaker in Alma, Mich., has purchased six laser-marking machines from Beamer Laser Marking Systems since 2008. Four of the machines are automated, except for an operator setting up the format. The other two are manual systems for small-quantity production runs and blueprint specials. Garr Tool, which laser marks more than 2 million solid-carbide endmills a year, uses fiber diode-pump laser marking machines from Beamer.