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September 2005 September, 2005
Editorial
Winning with hidden assets
Auto racing is one of the greatest examples of joint efforts that squirrel
away assets, including people, technologies, materials and products, and post
wins when all of those hidden...
Features
Machines turbocharge fuel efficiency
Five-axis machining supplies turbocharger impellers at a cost 90% less than
typical.
Tech Trends
CAD/CAM software functions micro level
An upcoming version of Cimatron Ltd.'s CimatronE 7.0 software includes an application
that the software developer claims makes it the first CAD/CAM software that
performs NC functions at the...
Material extends wear-part lives
Cerbide Inc., Orchard Park, N.Y., reports that the combination of ceramics
and cemented tungsten carbide of Cerbide, a long-wearing polycrystalline tungsten
carbide material, handles high...
Software quickly opens large CAD files
Faro Technologies Inc., Lake Mary, Fla., is offering CAD-based measurement
software that quickly loads and opens large files.
ThyssenKrupp sells machine tool unit
A New York company that purchased the Cincinnati Lamb Group is buying the ThyssenKrupp
MetalCutting Group.
Timken chairman now U.S. ambassador to Germany
W.R. Timken Jr., chairman of the board of directors for The Timken Co., Canton,
Ohio, is now the U.S. ambassador to Germany.
Whirlpool to take over Maytag
The winner in the Maytag Corp. buyout is rival appliance manufacturer Whirlpool
Corp.
Cutting Tool Digest
5S training package
A
5S (sort, straighten, sweep, standardize, and sustain) training-materials package
from Enna, Oakville, Ontario, explains how to conduct in-house programs and
provides the necessary...
Airlocks for dust collectors
The airlock provides an airtight seal at the bottom of the cyclone and constantly
discharges particulate that the cyclone separates from an air stream.
Cutter materials for milling
Tiger-tec cutting tool materials WKP25 and WKP35, for steel and cast iron...
Grade for hard steels
With
a PCBN substrate and TiAlN ceramic gold coating, the BNC300 grade from Sumitomo
Electric, Mount Prospect, Ill., machines hardened steels involving interrupted
cuts.
Insert grades for short runs
Six
grades from Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, Pa., are for contract manufacturers and
job shops to perform turning, milling, and holemaking across a variety of workpiece
materials.
Jaw holds multiple parts
The
Hydra 5-stc vise jaw from Hydramax Technologies, Portland, holds up to 20 parts
in a double vise and fits into a Chick vise without modification to the vise.
Multimachine thread-rolling head
A quick-change shank allows one Axial Thread Rolling Head from LMT-Fette, Cleveland,
to move from a screw machine, to a CNC lathe, and to a CNC machining center
without adapters. For work on...
Precision-machining expo
Miyano
Machinery USA Inc., will conduct the Miyano Turning Expo 2005 at its Wood Dale,
Ill., facility Oct. 5 and 6.
Threadmilling cutters
Two multi-tooth shell-mill-style indexable-insert threadmills from Seco-Carboloy, Warren,
Mich., reportedly have high rigidity for stability, especially in long-reach
applications.
Government Matters
China: friend or foe?
The
U.S. Government has yet to decide whether it should treat China as a large potential
market or as a possible threat. Actually, depending on the day of the week and
the particular...
Machine of the Month
Machine delivers uncompromised milling and turning
Unlike other mill/turn machines based on either a lathe or machining center,
Mori Seiki's NT Series mill/turn combines both within one platform and, most
importantly, does so without...
Law and Liability
Contractor liable for gross-negligence damage
In March 1998, Chrysler Corp. hired Graves Sheet Metal Co. Inc. to upgrade
the ventilation system in its Kokomo, Ind., casting plant.
Casebooks
CAD/CAM system proves perfect route to production
Bombardier Aerospace Belfast in Northern Ireland needed to replace an aging
CAM system that ran the company's CNC routing machines.
F1 benefits from FEA
Minardi Formula 1 Race Team engineers wring the most performance out of their
chassis designs, reduce design-tofabrication cycle times, and save money by
limiting the number of iterations...
Tire-mold shop rolls on CAD/CAM
Quantum Engenharia e Montagens Industriais, a tire-mold manufacturer in southern
Brazil, cuts its 3D-modelling time from three weeks to one and slashes machining
times by almost half.
Tooling tackles sprint-car part demos
As part of his applicationsengineering job at Shelton Machinery in Fishers,
Ind., Andy Hurtubise runs part demonstrations on Mazak machine tools in the
company's showroom.
New Equipment
Boring units come with toolholders
HSK
63A toolholders are now part of Criterion Machine Works' CB1.5, CB2 and CB3
modular units.
CAM software recognizes features
Open
Mind Technologies USA's hyperMill V9 multi-axis CAM software automatically recognizes
and processes geometry information from part surface and solid models.
Chucks sport special magnetic layout
Herman
Schmidt Co.'s HSM magnetic workholding chucks for high-speed machining centers
use special magnetic-circuit layouts.
Compressors reduce noise
Available
in 15 and 20-hp models, redesigned SK series rotary-screw air compressors from
Kaesar Compressors provide 40 to 78 scfm with 217 psig.
Control handles multiple amplifiers
The
Digital MMC from G&L Motion Control not only controls its resident servo
amplifier, but up to 15 additional amplifiers.
Cylindrical part marker
The Pro-Pen DP 3000 marking unit from Pro-Pen USA uses a motorized rotary-axis
device
to quickly and easily mark round or cylindrical parts around or along an axis.
Gear grinder uses two processes
The
KX300P gear grinder from Kapp Technologies uses discontinuous form-grinding
and continuous generating grinding processes with nondressable, electroplated
CBN or dressable tools for...
Grinder-safety equipment
Midaco
Corp.'s Grinder Guard and pedestal dust collector minimize debris and liability
associated with bench and pedestal grinders.
Grinding measurement and control
VM20
systems from Balance Systems Corp. incorporate grinding-wheel balancing, touch
sensing and gaging in one unit, and they configure for specific applications
with the addition of...
Helix gear-hobbing and milling
Model
200 hobbing machines from Koepfer America LLC feature eight axes with gantry
loading systems for most gear-cutting applications including timing one gear
to another on the same...
HMC load/unload help
By automating redundant tasks such as machine loading/unloading, Flexible Pallet
Automation (FMA) systems from Toyoda Machinery USA enhance production qualities
of horizontal machining...
Lathe power chucks
Rota
NCK plus power chucks from Schunk Inc. for CNC lathes are compatible with a
range of existing machining centers.
Monitor metalworking jobs
Marposs
Corp.'s tool and process monitoring systems perform continuous monitoring of
metalworking processes. Monitors check functions such as vibration, force, power,
displacement, and...
Multifunction plate processor
The
FPDB 2500/3 plate-processing center from Peddinghaus Corp. tackles flat bar
and plate stock 0.250 to 3-inches thick, 96-inches wide and 29-feet long.
Multitasking machine handles gear cutting
In
addition to turning and grinding bores, diameters and end faces, Stratos turning/grinding
centers from United Grinding Technologies Inc. do gear-cutting.
Multitasking machines
Featuring
simultaneous five-axis machining center and CNC turning center capabilities,
Mazak Corp.'s Integrex e-1500V machines large workpieces thanks to a 50-hp,
12,000-rpm milling...
Pictures into 2D toolpaths
BobArt Pro-X art CAD/CAM from BobCAD-CAM lets users turn pictures or CAD drawings
into 2D toolpath or embossed models for machining within its Version 20 2D and
3D CAD/CAM systems.
Premium thick-turret dies
Ultima
premium tool-steel dies for Wilson Tool International's HP Thick Turret reportedly
do well in applications where punches and dies usually wear out quickly.
Single or dual spindles for VMCs
The
modular designs of the Series 12K VMCs from Chiron America Inc. allow configuring
them as single or dual-spindle machining centers.
Test interference between parts
A mid-year release of KeyCreator software from Kubotek USA Inc. includes a
verification function that tests for interference conditions between selected
solids.
Thickness gages reach difficult areas
Handheld Panametrics-NDT Models 35, 35HP, 35DL and 35DLHP ultrasonic precision
thickness
gages from Olympus-NDT accurately and repeatably measure part thicknesses, particularly
where...
Tooling insert options
Toroid
cutting tools from Dapra Corp. sport high-feed inserts with cutting geometries
for feedrates up to 0.90 ipt and 600 ipm.
Twin-station vertical grinder
With
two stations on its turret-type wheelhead, the Taiyo Koki IGV-3NT vertical grinder
quickly switches between internal and external grinding with one chucking —
useful in jobs...
Two-spindle lathe
Miyano
Machinery USA Inc.'s BX-26S gang tool lathe includes two spindles for machining
up to 1-inch-diameter bars in one setup.
Two-turret lathe cuts machining time
To reduce machining time, Tong-Tai Seiki USA Inc.'s TVL-40-S4W four-axis vertical
turning lathe (VTL) has one spindle and two turrets.
Practical Ideas
Idea guards vises
Metal
chips often lock up the screw and nut mechanisms on manual vises mounted to
milling machines.
Jig keeps letters in line
Marking
specifications and sizes on the end faces of long pipes with thin wall thicknesses
is difficult and time consuming.
Retrospective
