Articles & Columns

Shop Operations Columnist James Harvey shares a few unorthodox machining methods that have worked for him.

Manager's Desk columnist Keith Jennings underscores the need for shop owners to remind their staff that it is the company—not its employees—that owns all business calls and electronic communications.

In a recent blog post, Joshua Jablons, president of Metal Cutting Corp., Cedar Grove, N.J., discussed a topic that leaves many machinists scratching their heads: What is the proper way to measure feature concentricity on a round workpiece? 

To reduce training time and improve worker safety in the high-risk environment of industrial manufacturing, Tobii Pro Insight administers eye-tracking studies. 

Top managers at three manufacturers weigh in on the merits of flexible manufacturing systems.

There is much to consider when choosing a mass-finishing system, what with operational variables from machine size and design to cutting media, compound abrasives, water volume, cycle time and more.

A report from global cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, Woburn, Mass., found that in the first half of 2017, manufacturing was the industry most susceptible to cyberthreats, with the industrial control system computers of manufacturers accounting for almost a third of all attacks.

Machine monitoring lets manufacturers gather, analyze and share data to improve future processes.

The history of robots combines the best of science fiction and real life technology. From Isaac Asimov to modern industrial robots, keep reading to explore the fascinating history of robotics.

CTE’s “CNC Chef,” Bob Warfield, polled the readers of his CNCCookbook blog in September on what they like and dislike about their CNCs. 

In the digitized manufacturing world that is being born, the product that a job shop produces is less a piece of machined metal and more a piece of intellectual property.

One of the challenges when boring workpiece materials susceptible to workhardening is recognizing whether the prebored hole is already workhardened.

Michael Deren, who writes the Machinist's Corner column for CTE, spent the holidays reflecting on a couple of events from 2017. One was his promotion at work. The other? Three machines failed within 24 hours.

Some parts manufacturers try to manage their computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, Microsoft Access data-bases or stand-alone third-party applications. Although these methods offer incredible flexibility, six primary reasons exist for why they fail in all but the smallest of job shops.

Abrasive stones commonly found in machine shops are fine for run-of-the-mill deburring and abrading, but absolutely not suitable for precision stoning. For that, you need a pair of carefully prepared, precision-ground flat stones.

Productive Times Article. END USER:  Wolfram Manufacturing, (512) 600-3220, www.wolframmfg.com. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Brush Research Manufacturing Co. Inc., (323) 261-2193, www.brushresearch.com. CHALLENGE: Perform finishing operations during the machining process. SOLUTION: Tool with small, abrasive globules that are permanently mounted to flexible filaments.

Part quality can suffer if a machine tool cannot hold tolerances uniformly everywhere in its “working envelope,” the box-shaped region that defines a machine’s 3D reach when cutting.

The Röhm Lubritool enables automatic lubrication of tool-clamping sets. And, according to the manufacturer, it performs the job in seconds instead of minutes. 

The Heidenhain Specto 3087 RC length gage reportedly increases productivity and efficiency, particularly in applications where it's not possible to clamp the workpiece on a separate device to inspect it. Instead, the gage integrates a highly accurate measuring process directly into the production process.

Whether or not you believe in New Year’s resolutions, starting any new year with optimism and a positive attitude is a worthy idea and can’t hurt anything. An important element is applying key lessons learned from the previous year.