Articles & Columns

Most manufacturers have made great strides in optimizing operations. Many have even standardized multiple facilities with the same on-premise software to create consistency across the enterprise. However, no matter how many procedures are put in place, each plant has its own idiosyncrasies, making it nearly impossible for systems to communicate with each other.

In a typical machine-tool-axis positioning system, the workpiece is mounted on a table that slides along flat, straight guide ways. The table may be supported on the guide ways by rolling elements or by a thin film of oil or grease. A screw controls the table position along the guide way. The rotation of the screw in the nonrotating nut that is fixed to the table drives the table left or right. The rotation of the motor translates into linear table position through the pitch of the screw.

>Flame straightening is one of those old-timer skills everybody has heard of but few have had the opportunity to witness. The ability to straighten bent plates and shafts is almost magical in its simplicity. It's definitely a valuable skill if you intend to spend any time around a welding shop, unless you relish the thought of beating a stubborn shaft or plate into submission with a mallet

Overcome excessive tool wear and poor surface finishes when machining flats on a steel truck shaft. A milling tool that exerts all cutting forces downward and cuts freely.

Modular automation increases productivity and flexibility at a lower price point than custom solutions.

What is your company doing to replace its retiring workforce?

Machine shops need lots of tangible assets to make parts: machine tools, cutting tools and real estate, among other items.

Small shop becomes a big aerospace manufacturer -- with a little help from its friends.

Tiny medical parts, mass-produced automotive components and multiple-ton power generation parts share a common activity: inspection. Generally, inspection is seen as a nonvalue-added activity and most companies encourage the reduction of inspection time. However, because verifying that parts are made correctly is critical to maintaining profitability, inspection will never go away.

Eliminate excess coolant to improve shop floor safety and cleanliness. Minimum quantity lubrication systems.

Software for high-efficiency roughing makes moldmaking faster, more efficient.

The creation of superhydrophobic metals using femtosecond lasers.

New metamaterials that 'bend' acoustic and elastic waves.

The cutting zone in a machine tool is dangerous. Hot chips and large quantities of coolant are often safety threats, but a tool rotating at a high speed is an even greater one.

Every lathe and grinder operator has, at one time or another, struggled with workpieces that are out of round, tapered or have poor finish. The "quick fix" is typically replacing centers. The more involved fix requires replacing spindle bearings that appear to have failed prematurely. In either case, the problem goes away initially, only to reoccur a short time later.

Dear Doc: I battle burn and long cycle times when grinding ODs in bearing. The wheel manufacturer has specified a series of wheel changes to solve the problem, but it means buying a lot of new wheels. What's your take?

Efficient removal of heat from the tool/workpiece interface is the main route to high-productivity machining. Several conventional methods are available to accomplish that -- dry machining, minimum-quantity lubrication, flood coolant and high-pressure coolant -- but cryogenic machining can be added to the list.

I strive to start each year on a positive note, but 2015 sure hasn't taken long to throw us our first challenging management scenario. It requires immediate oversight of rapidly changing economic conditions.

When an endmill efficiently makes chips, everybody is happy: the end user, the parts buyer, and the cutting tool manufacturer and distributor. Achieving that by having the tool follow the correct toolpaths and run at productivity-boosting parameters, however, requires an endmill with optimized geometry, substrate and coating.

Efficiently machine stainless steel parts without breaking endmills. 6-flute, solid-carbide endmills.