The Cool Parts Showcase Seeks Innovative 3D Printed Parts
By: Stephanie Hendrixson
Do you solve problems with 3D printing? Enter your 3D printed parts in this contest from The Cool Parts Show.
Random Thoughts About Reshoring and Buying American
By: Peter Zelinski
What will be the effect of the supply chain disruptions of recent years? Here are several observations related to where companies produce and how we think about a manufactured product’s origins.
#zaxis
Translating a Prototyping Mindset to Production
By: Evan Doran
The experimental mindset that benefited BDE Manufacturing Technologies as a prototype job shop has given it an adaptable edge as a production facility.
Form Tapping Improves Tool Life, Costs
By: Evan Doran
Moving from cut tapping to form tapping for a notable application cut tooling costs at Siemens Energy and increased tool life a hundredfold.
Lessons on the Journey Toward Shop Automation
By: Brent Donaldson
By necessity, small and mid-sized American job shops are automating production, whether through swift, dramatic upgrades in capital equipment, or slow, methodical changes to processes and procedures on the shop floor.
#thesetup
Simulation and Tooling Secure High-Value Work
By: Evan Doran
Simulation software and careful attention to tooling parameters have enabled Major Tool to take on ambitious projects with its complex machinery.
Reinventing a Precision Shop With a Data-Driven Mindset
By: Nathaniel Fields
When this machine shop lost 90% of its business within three months, a reinvention was in order. Here's how it survived after quickly falling on hard times.
How Modal Testing Can Reveal Dynamic Machining Responses
By: Tony Schmitz
Tool-holder-spindle-machine combinations each have a unique dynamic response in the same way that each person has a unique fingerprint, which can be revealed using modal testing.
#viewfrommyshop
Help Operators Understand Sizing Adjustments
By: Mike Lynch
Even when CNCs are equipped with automatic post-process gaging systems, there are always a few important adjustments that must be done manually. Don’t take operators understanding these adjustments for granted.
#cnctechtalk
How to Calibrate Gages and Certify Calibration Programs
By: George Schuetz
Tips for establishing and maintaining a regular gage calibration program.
#qualitygagingtips #Basics
Precision Manufacturing of Large and Complex Parts
Explore Tech-Max, a CNC machine shop that specializes in precision machining large and complex parts ranging from 10 in. to over 10 ft.
#videoVFMS
Shop Replaces Two Verticals With One Horizontal
By: Eli Plaskett
By trading two VMCs in to help finance the purchase of a new HMC, this shop was able to significantly increase production and move to lights-out machining.
Automated CAM Programming – Is Your Software Really Delivering?
A look at the latest automation tools in Autodesk Fusion 360 software and how forward-thinking machine shops and manufacturing departments are using them to slash delivery times and win more business.
#topshops
Why Towns Want Manufacturing Plants
By: Peter Zelinski
A manufacturing facility can harness and focus the native ability of people growing up in a town, and channel this into livelihoods and homes for the town’s next generation. Is this something we lost sight of and are now seeing again?
#zaxis
Metalworking GBI Contracted in March After One-Month Reprieve
By: Jan Schafer
February’s call for cautious optimism was well placed…market dynamics in March put a damper on what had been metalworking activity’s modest re-entry to growth mode in February.
#economics
Machine Monitoring Boosts Aerospace Manufacturer's Utilization
By: Nathaniel Fields
Once it had a bird’s eye view of various data points across its shops, this aerospace manufacturer raised its utilization by 27% in nine months.
3 Tips to Accelerate Production on Swiss Lathes with Micro Tools
Low RPM lathes can cause tool breakage and prevent you from achieving proper SFM, but live tooling can provide an economical solution for these problems that can accelerate production.
#micromachining
