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Stepping Up To Hole-Making Challenges
Lately, several cutting tool manufacturers have re-examined indexable insert drills, seeking to overcome the disadvantages of unbalanced cutting forces inherent in their design. One of the most recent developments along these lines is the CoroDrill 880 introduced by Sandvik Coromant.
Read MoreWe Need Both
More machinists or more English majors? Harry Moser's article starting on page 98 raises this issue. His article takes a novel approach to assessing the monetary benefits of training for skilled manufacturing employees.
Read MoreCooperating To Advantage
What gives a mold shop an advantage in today's competitive global marketplace? The latest machining technology clearly provides an advantage. That's certainly one of the themes that this issue of Modern Machine Shop is meant to convey.
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Who's Afraid To Cut To Zero?
Most U.S. mold shops still leave extra stock on the cores and cavities of the molds they machine. This practice is unnecessary and wasteful, say proponents of advanced machining technology.
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Mold Machining On The Move
Rethinking the mold machining process leads to concepts worth considering, even for applications outside mold making.
Read MoreMold Making Looks Ahead
Mold making is a segment of the metalworking industry that has significance beyond its own borders. The current state of mold making tells much about the challenges and opportunities that manufacturers in general face today.
Read MoreA Secret Weapon—Again
There was a time, 20 or 25 years ago, when electrical discharge machining (EDM) was a mysterious and misunderstood process mastered by but a few shops. For these shops, EDM was their "secret weapon.
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Running EDM Economically
Many shops are taking a closer look at the cost of operating a machine tool. How much energy does it consume? Does it create excessive heat, making the shop air conditioning work harder? Does it stretch the life of cutting tools and consumables?
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CAD Input For EDM
This software runs on the wire and ram (die sinking) versions of the company's "LQ" Windows XP-based control unit. The software provides a special interface that allows the user to input 3D solid model geometry directly from the CAD system to use as input to the EDM control unit. Using CAD data as direct machine tool input has long been a dream that developers of other types of machine tools are now closing in on.
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Turning Ideas Into Parts
To get maximum leverage from its manufacturing know-how, Krieger Machine, a CNC shop in Stuart, Florida, draws on all of its software resources - CAD, CAM and shopfloor programming. The shop relies on KeyCreator from Kubotek as its main CAD resource. Mastercam from CNC Software is its main CAM resource. On the shop floor, conversational programming on the Hurco vertical machining centers proves to be another vital resource. All three systems help the shop succeed as a reliable producer of precision parts for a variety of industries.
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High Speed Wire Cutting Needs High Efficiency Filtration
High speed cutting with wire electrical discharge machining produces debris in the dielectric at a high rate. Without effective filtration, a wire machine quickly loses its ability to maintain high cutting speed, achieve the desired surface finish and obtain expected dimensional accuracy. Charmilles' approach to solving this problem has been to develop a filtration system that doubles the number of filter cartridges, from two to four.
Read MoreStill New At 25
This month marks the 25th anniversary of the day I joined the staff of Modern Machine Shop. It was my first writing and editing job and thus a dream come true, at least partially.
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