Chris Koepfer Editor Emeritus

1 Sep 2003

Are The Wheels Finally Moving?

The squeaky wheel gets the grease is an axiom that hasn’t played politically for manufacturing in the past 3 years. Perhaps the squeak is simply not loud enough among the bigger, booming voices of other interests.

2 Aug 2003

Getting Our Heads Straight

So often, separating the truth from fiction is difficult. When rumors run rampant, getting a handle on what’s really happening can be elusive.

15 Jul 2003

Making Stainless More Machinable

Metallurgy marches on, and with that progress comes developments in the ability to engineer more machining friendly stainless steels.

Holemaking 15 Jul 2003

Rigid Tapping--Sometimes You Need A Little Float

One of the most common methods of tapping in use today on CNC machines is 'rigid tapping' or 'synchronous feed tapping.' A rigid tapping cycle synchronizes the machine spindle rotation and feed to match a specific thread pitch. Since the feed into the hole is synchronized, in theory a solid holder without any tension-compression can be used.

2 Jul 2003

Milestone Or Just Miles

This month I celebrate my half-century mark. Of my 50 years on Earth, half have been spent in metalworking manufacturing.

Large Part Machining 17 Jun 2003

The Hole Business

It's generally acknowledged that making holes is by far the most common metalworking operation. So how does a shop find a way to carve a niche for itself applying such a common process as hole making? This Ohio job shop has managed.

Holemaking 15 May 2003

Drilling Dry With A Heat Pipe

It's widely known that hole making is, by a significant margin, the most frequently performed process among metalworking operations. It's also among the most difficult operations to control from a thermal perspective.

1 May 2003

Go Global Young Man . . . But How?

Long ago, Horace Greeley admonished his readers to get with Manifest Destiny and go west. The twenty-first century equivalent is for manufacturing to go global.

Medical 15 Apr 2003

Coolant Considerations For Medical Machining

While the proprietary nature of the actual metalworking processes used for making 'body parts' tends to be more mystique than technique, there are some things to think about for shops that are looking to do this kind of work.

5 Apr 2003

What Is The Service Economy?

For many years when the topic of service economy came up, I would cringe in horror at the prospect of the United States GDP being dependent on revenues generated primarily by fast food and retail outlets. However, I’m coming around to the realization that perhaps my long held definition of a service economy may be too restrictive.

1 Mar 2003

Not Yet Good Enough

When I started writing this column 10 years ago, I was advised that one of the prime no-nos was commenting on current events. The thinking is, because of the time delay of a monthly publication, current events are no longer current and, in some cases, may have changed completely by the time you receive your copy.

5 Feb 2003

I See Heroes—Everywhere!

Depending on one’s perspective, heroism runs the gamut from superhuman deeds to everyday functioning. So what is it that makes a hero out of a person? I believe that heroism is about fighting battles.