Articles & Columns

Tips and techniques that can turn a standard milling job into a work of art.

Machinist's Corner column for January 2011 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

December 2010 Manager's Desk column for Cutting Tool Engineering reflects on lessons learned from 2010.

More flexible grinding machines allow part manufacturers and toolmakers to fine-tune their production processes.

Tapping isn't easy and one of the toughest challenges is preventing oversized threads. New tools can help. Read these tips from YG-1 Tool Co. and take a look at a 2-minute video of the company's slideshow presentation on multifunctional taps.

END USER: Bob's Design Engineering Inc., (503) 648-7418, www.bdeinc.com. CHALLENGE: Retain contract for electronics components against offshore competition. SOLUTION: High-performance toolpath generation engine. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Celeritive Technologies Inc., (888) 253-6701, www.celeritive.com.

December 2010 Machine Technology column in Cutting Tool Engineering observes the importance of the frequency of the sound in resolving chatter.

END USER: General Broach Co., (517) 458-7555, www.generalbroach.com. CHALLENGE: Increase capacity and maintain quality while grinding broaches for aerospace applications. SOLUTION: CNC surface and creep-feed grinder with auxiliary grinding head and large work volume. SOLUTION PROVIDERS: United Grinding Technologies Inc., (937) 847-1214, www.grinding.com; and Tooling Systems Sales Inc., (248) 656-2035

END USER: Central Utah Tool, (801) 374-2745, centralutahtool.com. CHALLENGE: Minimize time for programming complicated machining on a multitask machine. SOLUTION: CAM software for multitasking. SOLUTION PROVIDER: DP Technology Corp., (805) 388-6000, www.dptechnology.com

After a wrenching 2009, when parts manufacturers saw precipitous sales declines and orders and sales of machine tools and cutting tools also dropped sharply, the U.S. metalworking industry experienced a relatively strong recovery in 2010. Demand for manufactured products in developing markets, a rebound in the domestic auto market and inventory rebuilding by companies that had been holding off on orders helped fuel the recovery.

Manufacturers continue to make process improvements in everything from surface finish to grinding wheel life, but one of the simplest improvements is leveling an out-of-tolerance machine.

Productive machining is all about keeping spindles turning and making chips. Time spent touching off tools, adjusting tool length and offsets in the spindle and doing test cuts is time—and money—wasted. That’s the value proposition presented by manufacturers of tool presetters, and it’s one that, surprisingly, is a bit of a hard sell in some shops.

December 2010 Shop Operations column in Cutting Tool Engineering offers tips for design engineers who would like to start to bridge the gap between design and manufacturing.

Toolmakers combine technologies to meet growing demand for PCD tools.

When SRL Nano Corp. developed carbide-grade tools that use a patented binder material with a melting threshold similar to that of carbide—about 2,870º C, naturally the Rosemead, Calif., company dubbed the new material Hyper-Carbide. And once you view the video below that captures a series of cutting tool tests, it's easy to see why.

December 2010 Talking Points column in Cutting Tool Engineering is a Q&A with Carlos Cardoso, chairman, president and CEO of Kennametal Inc.

With the right tools, threadmilling large bore diameters doesn't have to be daunting. Read the article and check out a brief video of several threadmilling demonstrations offered by Allied Machine & Engineering Corp.

December 2010 Grinding Doc column in Cutting Tool Engineering answers questions from our readers.

Shop Operations column for the October 2010 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Better technology boosts use of EDMs for production applications.