Use of additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is expanding, with users looking to do more metal printing, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing said, citing a survey of users of the technology.
Be it due to a breakage or malfunction of tooling or a part, manufacturers will likely acknowledge that it’s not unusual for one or more production line(s) to be down, waiting for a replacement item at any given time.
In this podcast discussion with Rick Schultz of FANUC America and Bruce Morey, Senior Technical Editor for Manufacturing Engineering Magazine, current practices in aerospace machining is dissected. Many shops today stick with the tried and true to reduce risk to schedule and profit, but that tried and true is stuck in the 1980s and 1990s. Rick discusses practical ways to get the most out of 21st century machining technology, by programming for the part and not the machine.
The history of cutting tools goes back a ways—a long, long way. Our prehistoric ancestors were pretty good at making stone tools, and the technology has improved from there. I saw how much on a February visit to the Deutsches Museum in Munich, which has an exhibit on the history of machining.
Compared to machining and other traditional metalworking processes, additive manufacturing (AM) is a newcomer. Most industry experts trace its birth to 1987, when Chuck Hull of 3D Systems fame introduced the first commercially available stereolithography machine, the SLA-1.
Additive manufacturing, or 3-dimensional (3D) printing, continues to rapidly develop across a number of industries.
Cutting tool consumption in January 2020 rose 5 percent compared with December 2019, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and AMT - The Association for Manufacturing Technology.
December 2019 U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $187.2 million, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology.
ARCH Cutting Tools announced that Brian Barlow has been named general manager, ARCH Cutting Tools Rhode Island, based in Smithfield. He is responsible for the overall business and production operations at the ARCH Cutting Tools Smithfield manufacturing facility.
Driven by market changes and feedback from customers, we shifted our focus away from the consumer market toward education and professional segments. We recognized that professionals needed more to meet the advanced needs of rapid prototyping for manufacturing.
