MMS Blog

Basics 9 Oct 2007

When Cold Forming Threads Makes Sense

Recent tap geometry refinement and advances in coating technologies have made the chip-less, cold-forming operation suitable for a wider range of workpiece materials.

Automotive 9 Oct 2007

Lose The Peaks, Leave The Valleys

Plateau honing improves cylinder wall surface finish by gently removing tiny peaks of torn or folded material. Ball-style honing tools are commonly used to produce this desirable finish.

CAD/CAM 5 Oct 2007

Macro Economics

Instead of NC programs that are dedicated to particular parts and machines, this plant now uses macro programs that react to geometric variations across broad part families. The plant wrote these macros itself, and the return on this investment has been dramatically greater productivity.

Horizontal Machining Centers 18 Sep 2007

Where Is Your Wiggle Room?

"Lights out" doesn’t require an intense commitment. This job shop achieves flexible unattended machining when it needs it using palletized HMCs.

Titanium Machining 13 Sep 2007

Five-Axis Machining Has Special Workholding Needs

This clamping system allows a workpiece to be rigidly clamped while raised up from the surface of the worktable on a five-axis machining center. Moving the workpiece away from the table creates clearance for the spindle nose and cutting tool when the table swivels the workpiece for multi-sided machining, or when the spindle head rotates and swivels to do contouring or sculptured surfaces. Without this clearance, the user may be forced to refixture the part or to switch to a longer, less rigid tool.

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CNC & Machine Controls 13 Sep 2007

RAMTIC System Still Ticking

When it first appeared in the early 1990s, RAMTIC (Renishaw’s Automated Milling, Turning and Inspection Center) pioneered the use of portable carrousels for palletized workpieces and the use of artifacts, or master components, by which a machine tool could check its own dimensional calibration. This innovative approach to process control is still highly effective as applied in the company’s most advanced machine shop, which opened in 2006. Carrousels and artifacts are very much a part of this new shop’s remarkable success.

Workforce Development 12 Sep 2007

Machine Tools Used As Dedicated Equipment…For A Little While

Two keys to this shop’s success are versatility and speed. It uses flexible machining centers, rather than dedicated equipment, and constantly reconfigures them into new cells for new jobs. The speed at which it can do this, in addition to in-house tombstone manufacturing capability, provides the nimbleness to quickly respond to its customers’ needs.

Automotive 12 Sep 2007

When Four Spindles Make Sense

For the right applications, four-spindle CNC chuckers offer practically zero delay for part loading. That’s because two spindles can be loaded while the other two are making chips.

Milling Tools 4 Sep 2007

High Speed Machining Without The Fast Spindle

Relying on axial chip thinning lets a larger-diameter tool realize some of the benefits of high speed machining even if the machine's spindle speed is low.

Cutting Tools 4 Sep 2007

Atomic-Level Engineering For Greater Tool Life

Manipulating the direction of aluminum oxide crystals produces a cutting tool coating that is harder, and also cuts cooler.

2 Sep 2007

Becoming More Than The Mom & Pop Race Shop

Carney Custom Machining started with a VMC and customer base largely comprised of drag racers. Now the shop is vying to win work from other sources, and CNC turning is a big part of that strategy.

2 Sep 2007

A Machine Tool Show In Moscow

The market for metalworking equipment in Russia is enticing but complex.