Live Tooling, as the name implies, is specifically driven by the CNC control and the turret of various spindle and powered sub-spindle configurations on CNC lathes to perform various operations while the workpiece remains in orientation to the main spindle.
Manufacturers are always looking for signs of what the economy and the business outlook have in store for them. Since the election of President Trump and, more recently, passage of the tax reform law in December, confidence among businesses of all sizes has been overwhelmingly positive.
Despite the addition of more than 750,000 CNC mills in the past 15 years in the US, CNC machining job shops often hover at the bottom of the totem pole, where there’s little room for error as most bids are won by a 1–2% price variance.
On race day, everybody sees the race on TV, but behind the scenes there’s a competition going on between shops where time is everything, according to Matt Gimbel, Team Penske’s production manager.
At the Nirvana Machine Shop on planet Perfection, every workpiece is clamped to a custom-built fixture mounted on a dedicated machine tool. Each workpiece is dimensionally identical to the one before and the one after. All the fixtures are totally automatic—instantly positioning, clamping, machining, inspecting, and releasing the part with the ultimate precision.
It’s said you don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. For Industry 4.0 and advanced manufacturing, digital libraries provide that map.
The aerospace and defense industries see 3D printing as important to making new designs practical and for holding the line on costs, a Lockheed Martin executive said today at SME’s RAPID + TCT.
Since their introduction about 20 years ago, replaceable-tip drills have become increasingly accurate and cost-effective alternatives to solid carbide units.
Jabil Inc. (St. Petersburg, FL) said it’s establishing a global network of 3D printing facilities as the company expands its additive manufacturing business.
Shrink-fit toolholding is a simple concept—an induction coil is adjusted and fits over the top of the toolholder. The induction coil heats the toolholder end of the shrinker, expanding the inside diameter, which opens the engagement bore (IDs of shrink-fit toolholders are smaller than the shank diameter of the cutting tool).
