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As one Barrington, New Hampshire shop recently discovered, machining diesel engine turbocharger impellers from Type 2618 aluminum requires multiple passes to machine the blades.

Part 5. For W Machine Works in San Fernando, a custom variation of the WIDIA-Hanita VariMILL II solid end mill proved especially effective in roughing and semi-finishing applications in stainless steels, high-temp alloys, nickel- and carbon-based alloys, and titanium.

It's late Friday night. While other 19-year-olds may be enjoying a movie or perhaps just hanging out with friends, Michael Goetz is programming a job on a mill-turn. The owner of Lombard, Illinois-based Goetz Industries is no stranger to hard work. In fact, in addition to completing coursework, he worked at least 50 hours per week while enrolled in high school.

In the annual CIMdata survey, CAM software suppliers vendors are asked to list the top three technology trends as they see them. The results are tabulated and published in the annual CIMdata Market Assessment Report, a 225-page report that assesses the state of the industry.

Like many other businesses today, textile manufacturers compete against imports from countries with low labor costs. To remain economically viable, companies constantly invest in technology. At B&S Machine Tool (Aiken, South Carolina), a shop that specializes in producing complicated replacement parts for textile machinery, modernization begins on the shop floor.

To migrate from prototyping and one-off work to higher-volume jobs, Elmira, New York-based IDM needed more capability than its manual machines and older CNCs could provide. With the ability to complete parts in one setup and perform work that previously required multiple machines, the Hardinge SR-MSY multi-axis turning center was key to the shop’s competitiveness.

Mechanical face drivers offer an alternative to other types of traditional chucking methods. Using mechanical face drivers for turning applications often provides increased flexibility and lower cycle times. Face drivers turn both very small and very large workpieces, and they also allow interrupted and heavy cuts. The major benefit of a face driver is that it allows the workpiece to be completely turned from one end to the other in one operation.

Efficient use of labor is a primary goal of unattended machining. To successfully reduce process intervention, all of the manufacturing disciplines must participate. Accomplishing this requires detailed pre-process planning, which is the key to optimizing machine, material and manpower resources.

Affordable indexers and fourth-axis rotary tables greatly enhance the capability of vertical machining centers. It’s almost as good as having a horizontal machining center.

EMO 2007, a major machine tool show held in Hannover, Germany, in September, will not be remembered for the new technology introduced at this show, although it was not without its noticeable highlights. Rather, it will be remembered as the show with a record number of attendees generating record numbers of sales leads and purchase agreements. This surely reflects the strong economic growth in the major industrial markets around the globe.