Chris Koepfer Editor Emeritus

1 May 1998

Putting Pieces Together

Remember the show "Connections"? James Burke would take a current item, for example a computer, and trace back into history all the various seemingly unrelated events that had to connect to make computers possible today. I recently experienced a similar connection.

28 Apr 1998

In The Fast Lane

In many ways our lives today seem more complicated and faster paced than our parents' were. My mid-life tendency to wax nostalgic notwithstanding, it's a fact of life today that we all pull from numerous and different skills to get through what's become a more complex life-style.

EDM 15 Apr 1998

Mass Producing Quantities Of One

It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but this Windsor, Canada, shop developed a production system for making prototype and limited production quantities of mold and die sets based on assembly line techniques. It's a concept that scales up or down and is applicable in a wide spectrum of shops.

1 Mar 1998

Walking The Walk

Last month, I and a couple of other editor-types were guests of Mandelli, an Italian machine tool builder. We spent a week in Italy visiting various plants that use Mandelli machine tools to make tractor axle units, naval ship cannons, tanks, machine tools themselves and, my personal favorite, Ferrari automobiles.

Five-Axis 1 Mar 1998

Dispelling Small Machine Shop Myths

Many job shops start in a garage with a used mill and a manual lathe. The owners of this Utah job shop took a different tack. Along the way to a very successful business, they've debunked a bunch of myths commonly held about job shops.

Basics 15 Feb 1998

Why Not Change What You're Doing?

This Canadian screw machine shop built early success with automatic and mechanical multispindles. Introduction of rotary transfer technology has accelerated growth and helped solve other production problems. Here's why they made the move and how it has impacted their shop.

1 Feb 1998

Lowering The High Ground

Almost every day now I get at least one e-mail message from somebody out there in ether-land interested in some aspect of our metalworking business. Many messages are responses to stuff I've written (positive comments always welcome).

Automation 2 Jan 1998

Of Pogs And Shops

A few years ago, I came back from IMTS (I think it was 1994) with a give-away that Haas Automation had in its booth. It was a game called pogs.

Horizontal Machining Centers 1 Jan 1998

Let There Be Lights

Austin, Texas is home to High End Systems, Inc. They design, manufacture and distribute lighting systems used worldwide in the entertainment industry and for architectural applications.

1 Dec 1997

Peace Dividend

In the time since the Soviet threat went away, there have been profound changes in some of our most technical manufacturing companies. A significant amount of our defense-related manufacturing capacity has been freed for commercial ventures.

Grinding 1 Nov 1997

What Is Single Point OD Grinding?

Two enabling technologies -- superabrasive wheels and high precision servo control -- come together to provide a contour grinding process that resembles an OD turning operation. For many medium volume OD grinding applications, this method may be a means to consolidate several manufacturing steps into a single setup.

Horizontal Machining Centers 1 Oct 1997

Keep Your Spindles Cutting

Machining centers are marvelously flexible tools for getting production efficiency. Moreover, arranging machining centers into affordable, flexible cells allows shops to push the efficiency envelope even further.