In conventional metal (material) removal processes like milling, turning, drilling, boring, and grinding, the challenge is always to hold the tool securely and rigidly against a fixtured workpiece without interfering with the process.
There’s an old saw that if bumblebees were aeronautical engineers they would know they can’t fly. Quite apart from the miracle of their flight, bees also happen to make a lightweight structure of surprising strength, just the sort of thing you’d want if you were building aircraft: honeycomb.
Manufacturing competitiveness depends on working faster, smarter, and better, with the convergence of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices and smart sensors, software and data analytics.
The employee owned companies of Fastener Industries Inc. (Berea, OH) produce some of the most basic products in manufacturing: nuts, bolts, screws, levelers and pins. Today, the family of companies demonstrates how smaller manufacturers are considering how to add advanced technology and lean manufacturing ideas to become more efficient.
When GE decided that additive manufacturing was the way to go for making metal fuel nozzles for its new LEAP engine, the company touched off interest in other shops to move 3D printers from the design studio to the factory floor. It also stepped up the focus on safety standards for metal AM.
Q&A with David Olson, Director of Sales and Marketing at Verisurf Software Inc. in Anaheim, California.
That huge backlog of aircraft being recorded by the global giants Boeing and Airbus, along with a lengthening list of regional aircraft, is stretching the supply chain’s capabilities to machine the newest difficult-to-machine materials.
To compete in the fast-paced world of manufacturing, machinists look for no-compromise machine controls offering fast, precision programming of machine tools. The latest CNC systems from machine control developers include a new dual-function milling and turning control and several updated controls with embedded software routines that can significantly speed up CNC programming.
For years, the manufacturing industry has debated the pros and cons of opening up manufacturing networks, but concerns over virus vulnerabilities and the stability of PCs on the network largely limited open-architecture PC controls’ progress and kept entrenched proprietary systems in place.
Shop efficiencies start with the machine tool controller, as today’s CNC equipment offers machine operators myriad tools for improving part surface finishes, allocating machine time, and cutting job cycle times.
