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Bryco Before and After
Within a two-month period, this Chicago-area contract shop reorganized the shopfloor, implemented new procedures and eliminated employee toolboxes. Here are the benefits the shop has seen.
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If You Prototype It, They Will Come
For an upcoming article, I recently visited Protofab in Petaluma, California. I wanted to learn how this small job shop got into micro-machining medical implants. It turns out the shop didn’t win this work because it had the right equipment or because it was knowledgeable about machining tiny parts. The equipment a
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Quoting On Cool
To a job shop, bidding on an unusual job with a quote that is too high or too low is an occupational hazard. Bid too high and you won’t get the work. Bid too low and you will lose money. Perhaps the worst scenario is to submit a bid that you thought was too high, only to get the job anyway. When that happens, the s
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Through-Spindle Dust Collection For Composites And Graphite
A vacuum system for the machining center draws particulate through the center of the tool.
WatchConsider Your Cutters
The machine tools are big, valuable and important, but they are not the only part of your process. A different way of seeing the process focuses on the cutting tools. Look at your process this way in order to let the machines do more.
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How To Machine Composites, Part 1 -- Understanding Composites
Composites are replacing metal in certain applications. What does this mean for machining?
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How To Machine Composites, Part 2: The Cutting Tool, Workholding and Machine Tool
In carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), the material removal mechanism is shattering instead of shearing. This makes it different from other machining applications.
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How To Machine Composites, Part 3 -- Milling Composites
Diamond shines for this shop when it mills composites.
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How To Machine Composites, Part 4 -- Drilling Composites
Achieving acceptable tool life and hole quality in a material such as CFRP demands a drill designed with composites in mind.
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How To Machine Composites, Part 5 -- Waterjet Cutting
For trimming composite parts, this shop describes where it uses machining centers and where it uses waterjet.
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Composites Keep A Big Machine Busy
On-machine inspection is part of the way this shop machines large composite structures efficiently.
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Five-Axis Trimming Of Composites
Here is video of the five-axis motion required to trim a relatively simple composite component.
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