Tough materials, tight tolerances, low quantities, and complex shapes—leading suppliers offer advice for navigating the energy industry’s stringent demands.
Advancements in waterjet technology lead to new uses, industries.
CMMs and other multifunctional metrology devices are becoming faster and more sophisticated, but top-quality gages and measuring tools still have an important place.
To produce complex titanium parts more cost-effectively, machine shops are increasingly incorporating advanced forging equipment to complement their existing CNC capabilities.
Digital twins are breathing life and innovation into increasingly more areas of manufacturing as well as solving challenges for machine shops of all sizes. With the skilled labor shortage and an ongoing effort to reshore high-tech manufacturing to the U.S., digital twins have a lot to offer.
Measurements have been used to define and attempt to control the stuff we make throughout recorded history. Here's the latest.
Digital metrology enables faster measurements, saving time, money and convenience.
Until the middle of 2010, first-tier subcontract machinist, JJ Churchill, could produce turbine blades only if they had their fir-tree root-forms preground elsewhere, or if they were subsequently added by another subcontractor. No longer is this the case.
Why use a metrology device on or near a machine tool? It isn’t just useful for making sure a tool is present or monitoring tools for wear or breakage. On-machine measurement technologies can save time and money, by speeding up processes and eliminating extra personnel, and they are a critical step in the movement towards “lights-out” manufacturing.
Micro components continue to shrink in size, demanding ever-greater precision and improved handling of parts with sub-micron-sized features. New approaches in micro machining technology include higher-precision systems from traditional micro machining developers, as well as techniques using additive manufacturing processes and semiconductor wafer-scale technology on the smallest of micro parts.