Fired Up: Drilling Performance
The manufacturer of the most widely used fire-hose nozzle has continually upgraded its processes and equipment to meet its customers' needs. This article outlines the market forces and changes to its nozzle…
General Manufacturing Discussion
Recent discussions
Daily Regrind, The
Advanced tool grinding machines are making it possible for even small shops to regrind complicated tool geometries in-house. This article explores the cost and time factors that must be considered before a…
Gage Yourself: General Industry Coverage
A 10-question quiz tests the reader's knowledge of gage usage and maintenance. The answers, which are provided, help correct common misperceptions about gages and gaging. Imported from the CTE archive to seed…
What's Your Angle?: General Industry Coverage
When facemilling with an indexable-insert tool, the axial and radial rake angles of the inserts can have a significant impact on performance. This article reviews the basics of rake angles and their…
Human Touch: 5-Axis Machining
Industry professionals explain why manual machining skills are still necessary even in this age of CNCs. The article also describes the additional skills needed to program and operate computerized machine tools. Imported…
Lessons Learned: General Industry Coverage
A project engineer recounts his experiences planning for, installing and setting up a new CNC vertical milling center. Among the issues he explores are the questions that must be answered before the…
Air Power
Vacuum chucks can be useful for holding parts that are thin, irregularly shaped, large and flat or easily marred. This article describes the components and machining required to build a vacuum chuck…
Tough Bores: Drilling Performance
This article relates how three shops used creative ideas to solve difficult boring problems. One shop built a custom tool to bore deep holes. Another used a combination of standard tools to…
Open Minded: General Industry Coverage
Open controls allow users to integrate commercially available hardware and software with machine tool CNCs. This article reviews how different CNC makers have designed systems that incorporate or connect with PC-based products…
Small Wonders: Drilling Performance
Small-diameter drills designed for drilling circuit boards can be used as a low-cost alternative for producing holes in other materials as well. Their fragility is the only drawback. This article describes these…
Crib Control: General Industry Coverage
An organized toolcrib is necessary to ensure that tools will be available when needed. This article reviews the techniques and equipment different shops have used to keep track of their tools. Imported…
A Cut Above: Drilling Performance
Toolmakers are constantly introducing advancements to improve the metalcutting process. This article examines trends in five key areas where toolmakers are concentrating their research and development efforts.nn Imported from the CTE archive…
X-Treme Machinists: Supply Chain & Logistics
The latest generation to enter the workforce comes to the shop floor with a different set of skills and experiences than their predecessors. This article explores how these differences are forcing shop…
Supplier in Demand: CMM Inspection
This article describes how one aerospace manufacturer boosted production capacity by partnering with a supplier, which began machining parts formerly made in-house. The article tells how the manufacturer shared its processes and…
Get it Straight
Spot drilling is a time-consuming process, but sometimes it is necessary to prevent drill walk. This article describes the reasons for spot drilling and the economic impact of adding the operation to…
Internal Decision: General Industry Coverage
Tapping and thread milling can both produce internal threads in a variety of sizes, pitches and materials. This article discusses the factors that will dictate which process makes the most sense for…
Putting Fluids to the Test
A machining research institute describes the testing method it developed to quantify and compare the performance of metalworking fluids. The test, which compares cutting forces generated when machining with a test fluid…
Freer Thinking: Medical Manufacturing
This article describes a self-contained micromachining center. The unit uses PC-based controls and a video system to machine small parts with precision, while giving the machinist a magnified view for setup and…
Back Off: Drilling Performance
A tool design supervisor makes a case for cautious machining. This article explains how, by extending tool life, less aggressive speeds and feeds can lead to greater economy than a shortened cycle…
Ready, Preset, Go
This article reviews the basics of coordinate systems and machine programming as a basis for presetting tools. The process for setting tool offsets is described with an explanation of the G-codes involved.…
Hone Improvement: Inspection Efficiency
This article describes reconditioning tools through hand honing, a process that can help a tool produce 20 percent more parts. In explaining the art of hand honing, the author reviews the hone…
Desktop Machining
Machinists can now find machining simulators on the Web that can tell them what the results will be for a given set of conditions as well as what set of conditions will…
Standard Issues: Safety, Standards & Compliance
The article looks at concerns being raised over ISO's plans to revise quality standards. An accompanying article discusses a Web site that strongly opposes the announced changes. Imported from the CTE archive…
Continual Improvement: General Industry Coverage
With innovations in technology, EDM has found its place as a reasonable alternative to other precision machining operations. This article reviews five recent developments: the introduction of a new electrode material, operations…
Inserts Show Their True Colors
Insert manufacturers have devised color-coding schemes to help users select the right tool for the job. This article explores the thinking behind these schemes and the toolmakers' efforts to design tools for…