Mark Albert Editor Emeritus

Basics 1 Apr 2002

CAM at a Crossroads

In the world of metalworking, the CAM part of CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) generally means software for programming CNC machine tools. Currently, most of the advances and innovations in CAM software are coming from the smaller software companies devoted to this application.

Inspection and Measurement 15 Mar 2002

Good Parts, Good Measurements

A machine tool must be capable of generating both, says a software company with a new vision for the role of metrology data in the emerging era of globally integrated manufacturing enterprises.

1 Mar 2002

Where’s The Willpower?

In today’s workplace, employees who act on violent impulses or indulge in hazard-creating habits are a serious danger. Drug tests, metal detectors and screening systems will not alter the underlying problem.

Turning Machines 15 Feb 2002

Re-Evaluating The Controlled Cycle Lathe

The gap between manual lathes as found in a toolroom and CNC turning centers as found in a production plant is very wide. Many applications call for something in between--a turning machine that not only lends itself to making a single part or a small batch of parts, but also lends itself to complex or difficult operations.

Automation 15 Feb 2002

On The Path To Automation

Implementing an integrated tooling system proved to be this mold shop's first step toward automated operation of its electrical discharge machines and graphite mills. Today, the shop's robotic cells can run around the clock in an unattended mode.

Automation 5 Feb 2002

Competing With Automation

Who would have guessed that an electrical discharge machine could work so fast that it would need a robot to keep it busy when everybody had gone home for the day? Who would have guessed that mold making, the epitome of skilled craftsmanship in metalworking, could lend itself to some of the most advanced automation in manufacturing? Who would have guessed that molds could be designed with so many cavities and inserts that all the electrodes and components needed to produce such molds would multiply and multiply and multiply? Who would have guessed that completing a complex, high quality mold in one half or one third of the normal time could be the new standard for mold work around the world? Who would have guessed that workers in mold shops overseas could be so talented, well trained and well equipped yet paid so little? Quite a few mold shop owners and managers in our part of the world did guess right about these things. They figured out what was happening years ago.

EDM 15 Jan 2002

Wire EDM Gets An Automatic

The development of automatic 'tool' changing for wire electrical discharge machining promises to revise the process strategies applied to many wirecut workpieces.

3 Jan 2002

Better Use Of Tools At Hand

Here’s a suggestion for a New Year’s resolution at work. Find at least one feature or capability, on some tool, machine or piece of equipment, that you have previously overlooked or neglected.

1 Dec 2001

Own Your Grinding

Grinding is important. It's powerful.

EDM 15 Nov 2001

Machining To Sub-Micron Accuracy--With EDM

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) has a long tradition of being one of the most pioneering of metalworking technologies. Shops with EDM learned (by necessity) to deal with unattended operation long before it became feasible elsewhere.

1 Nov 2001

Enduring EMO

All of the Americans who took part in EMO 2001, the huge machine tool fair in Hanover, Germany, will remember it as the show that took place right after the terrorist attacks on September 11. Although the terrible events in the United States did not disrupt the show, they left a mark.