Articles & Columns

Abrasive waterjet systems have always provided some advantages for parts manufacturers. For one, the high-pressure stream of water and abrasive grit, usually garnet, that is delivered to the workpiece surface can cut through pretty much any material. For another, being a cold process, abrasive waterjetting (AWJ) doesn’t create a heat-affected zone. 

Using macros, which are pieces of instruction that provide shortcuts, greatly improves programming productivity, according to the Get With The Program column in the July 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Some machine tools are modified so much and so frequently it becomes a common practice. That’s certainly the case with rotary transfer machines. 

Are your spindles cutting most of the time? Or are they often idle because you’re getting ready to cut? If you answered yes to the latter, consider the lift that an automated pallet-handling system could provide. These systems allow pallets to be set up and moved into position while workpieces on other pallets are being machined.

Every so often a job or part geometry comes along where it would be helpful to have a few extra inches in a machine’s work envelope, or perhaps a little higher rpm or an additional spindle. At these and certain other times, it might be worth considering a custom machine.

Skills Inc. is a unique nonprofit manufacturing company that serves the aerospace industry and is dedicated to helping people with disabilities thrive in today’s manufacturing environment. 

For his July 2017 Manager's Desk column, Keith Jennings writes that the greatest concern at his company is the impact cell phones have on shop safety. Another factor is the ease and preference of some employees and customers to communicate via cell phone, bypassing the main phone line and the human or automated receptionist.

Resharpening dull taps by hand is probably not a good idea when you could be making parts. Plus, a thorough reconditioning requires a grinder designed for grinding the actual tap form. So resharpening dull taps is one job best left to the experts. 

Deciding whether to use a turret or gang tooling is one of many topics that seems to engender religious fervor from one side to the other. Let’s start by providing a brief overview of each approach and then dive into the details.

Machine tools are heavy. Moving them yourself can be dangerous, causing damage to people and machinery alike. But with the right tools, knowledge of how to use them and some common sense, DIY machine moving is possible—though not always recommended. 

Whether an application involves simultaneous 5-axis machining or five-sided (3+2) machining, the workholders and fixturing techniques from the 3-axis world typically won’t apply, according to John Zaya, workholding product manager for BIG KAISER Precision Tooling Inc., Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Peak oil demand is in the news. In a May Wall Street Journal article, for instance, authors Lynn Cook and Elena Cherney stated, “The world’s largest oil companies are girding for the biggest shift in energy consumption since the Industrial Revolution: After decades of growth, global demand for oil is poised to peak and fall in the coming years.” 

It takes knowledge and skill to get a robot to do exactly what a manufacturer wants. A new interface designed by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers is reportedly simpler and more efficient than most control interfaces and doesn’t require significant training.

Desktop Metal Inc., a 2-year-old startup, developed a different method of metal 3D printing that it calls an “office-friendly” system for rapid prototyping. The Desktop Metal (DM) Studio system is based on a new approach—Single Pass Jetting (SPJ), which was created by the inventors of the binder-jetting and the single-pass inkjet processes.

END USER: Manes Machine & Engineering Co., (970) 224-3311, www.manesmachine.com. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Lang Technovation Co., (262) 446-9850, www.lang-technovation.com. CHALLENGE: Eliminate the time spent machining dovetail cutouts and holes in a workpiece so it could be held in a dovetail-type vise for machining. SOLUTION: A stamping unit that creates dimples in a workpiece for holding it in a self-centering vise, referred to as form-closure technology.

Koenigsegg, the Swedish manufacturer of high-end, high-performance sports cars, was featured in the 2016 documentary “APEX: The Story of the Hypercar,” which describes the battle for a new class of high-speed, fast-pickup sport scars.

END USER: Amsted Rail – Brenco Inc., (804) 732-0202, www.amstedrail.com. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Jorgensen Conveyors Inc., (800) 325-7705, www.jorgensenconveyors.com. CHALLENGE: Eliminate bushy stringers from repeatedly jamming chip conveyors. SOLUTION: A chip conveyor with a dual-belt conveyor that reduces or eliminates jamming problems.

Industrial waste, its impact on the environment and regulation by governments have become significant areas of interest for medium and large manufacturing companies. One company’s proactive approach to environmental sustainability also reveals ways to reduce waste.

As new composite materials are developed, parts manufacturers face new challenges when routing them. Fortunately, cutting tool manufacturers continually develop new solutions so parts manufacturers are not forced to cut tomorrow’s composites with outdated routers. 

The most-recent trends in inspection technology include using powerful 3D software to compare the part to its CAD rendering, inspecting the part in-process—without having to take it out of the production line or cell—and, as much as possible, automating the inspection process.