Shop Roots Out Long Set Up Times with Advanced Automation December 7, 2018 Erik Anderson, president and CEO of Basin Precision Machining LLC, has determined that setups are the root of all evil when it comes to manufacturing productivity. They cause part variations, downtime, and high-percentage scrap rates.
Mazak Acquires MegaStir December 3, 2018 Mazak Corporation has announced its acquisition of MegaStir, a supplier of friction stir welding (FSW) tools and technology located in Provo, Utah.
Optimizing Oil Country Workholding November 29, 2018 There is no real problem with threading a pipe. Most DIY types can do it in their workshop with hand tools, but when the pipe is 40′ long and ordered by the ton, you are in oil country. Pumping crude oil out of the ground requires drill pipe, casing, tool joints, tees, crosses, flanges, and couplings. All those items need to be machined. And that takes specialized workholding.
Ten Safety Tips for Oil and Gas Industry Workers November 21, 2018 Workers in the oil and gas industry continue to be one of the groups at the highest risk of injuries and fatalities on the job compared to all other U.S. industries. The most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015) revealed that out of 120 workplace deaths in the mining, oil, and gas extraction industry, 74 of them occurred within the support activities for oil and gas operations.
Advanced Cutting Tools Rev Up Milling Operations November 5, 2018 Do you have what it takes to raise your milling productivity to the next level? In addition to the requisite know-how, you need cutters and machine tools that will allow you to employ milling techniques that exceed what’s normally possible. Aided by the right hardware, you may soon be performing feats like pushing your feed rates to new highs and cutting harder materials than ever before.
A Supermarket for Tooling and Workholding November 5, 2018 If you’re looking for new solutions to tooling and workholding challenges, IMTS was a great place to start. The bi-annual trade show, held this past September in Chicago, allowed shops to browse for the “latest and greatest” technologies.
Sorting Out the Options Leads to Successful Presetting November 2, 2018 With the number of offline and in-process toolsetting options on the rise, developing a way to efficiently utilize this technology can be confusing. Which presetter should we buy? What about the software that’s so often part of these systems—do we really need it?
Delta Machine Co.: High Torque Retention Provides Stability for Machining Exotic Metals October 31, 2018 Titanium, stainless steel, aluminum and other super-alloys and exotic materials are on the rise for use in component manufacturing in growth industries such as aerospace, medical, and automotive.
Five-Axis Workholding: Modular Approach Yields Many Benefits October 30, 2018 The rules of thumb for shops experienced in five-axis machining aren’t any different from those for first- time users of this sophisticated machining process. The difference is that the experienced shop has already traveled the learning curve for five-axis machining.
Is Leveraging the IoT Really ‘Smart Manufacturing’? October 29, 2018 Industry 4.0 is often referred to as smart manufacturing, where technology enables interconnectivity for machines and manufacturing software and systems. It also provides “Big Data,” increased visibility and remote access to manufacturing assets.