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.
As a result of recent testing under real production conditions, brass proved to machine at extremely high speeds on today’s advanced machine tools with little evidence of tool wear, producing high-quality surface finishes and excellent chip control, reported the Copper Development Association (McLean, VA).
Jabil Inc. (St. Petersburg, FL) said it’s establishing a global network of 3D printing facilities as the company expands its additive manufacturing business.
Additive manufacturing is both growing and coping with growing pains. Companies “have to find ways to streamline” polishing and other finishing processes of 3D printed parts, industry consultant Terry Wohlers said today during a speech at RAPID + TCT.
A recent effort by the Norton Advanced Applications Engineering Group demonstrates that for difficult-to-machine materials, grinding can be an economical alternative to other machining processes.
The growing need for nano and micro components in the medical industries is challenging manufacturers to continually improve upon their manufacturing processes and take a scientific approach to injection molding and tooling.
Machining composites presents unique challenges compared to metals. Reinforcement fibers are abrasive, shortening tool life. The plastic matrix carries away little heat, unlike metal chips, and overheating can melt the matrix.
LIFT – Lightweight Innovations For Tomorrow, announced today it received a $5 million grant to expand the program to nine additional military bases across the country over the next three years.
At Cary Rosenberg’s company, Watts Water Technologies, validating material properties to ensure they are composed of the correct elemental composition is an important part of their work.
Proper drill selection, the geometry built into the drills themselves, applying proper drilling parameters, and a few tips and tricks from the pros can address nagging drilling problems such as drill breakage, unbroken chips, tool runout, poor hole edges, and poor tool life.