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November, 2004
Editorial
The real winner is you
If you didn't visit the IMTS Show in September, you missed an opportunity to see some of the most advanced manufacturing equipment on display at any one time in the U.S. And while it is impossible to...
Features
Tech Trends
Cutting Tool Digest
Drilling catalog
In its drilling catalog, Stellram introduces an expanded line of drills and inserts. Drill diameters range from 0.390 to 4.528 in., and inserts are available for drilling materials in all ISO...
Grooving/parting tooling
A product flyer (#27.01.214 ) catalogs Valenite's Valgroove grooving-and-parting tooling kits. The literature, covering VG109, VG110, VG111, and VG101 series, classifies cutter kits by application...
Tap and thread-mill catalog and guide
Emuge's 350-pg 2005 catalog features full-color product illustrations and descriptions with specifications, charts, and guides. An interactive Tool Finder 2.3 CD guide to taps and thread-mill...
Toolholder/inserts promo kit
The MTC Promo Kit includes one toolholder and five MTC-SX or MTC-SX Ultra cutoff inserts. Sixteen custom kits are available, and each contains a variety of shank and width dimensions, lead angles,...
Toolmaker acquires diamond-tool company
Walter Corp. has acquired Werner Schmitt, a German company specializing in PCD and CBN tools. With the acquisition, Walter intends to enter new markets in the automotive and aerospace industries....
Government Matters
Export controls spin out of control
By Dr. Paul Freedenberg Vice President Government Relations AMT The Association For Manufacturing Technology
Machine of the Month
Bits & Bytes
CAD/CAM for tooling
With the release of Cimatron E 5.1, Cimatron adds NC functions to its CAD/CAM software for the tooling industry. Enhancements include 5-axis milling, multiple-cutter finish routines, and other...
Machine tools as CMMs
Metrolosys 9 inspection software for probing transforms any machine tool into a CMM. With it, shops administer quality processes during machining to catch errors in design, CNC programming, or setup...
Shop designs on a virtual plane
Dassault Aviation used product-lifecycle-management (PLM) technology from Dassault Systèmes to not only cut assembly time by 50% for its 7X business jet but also to develop the aircraft in an...
Software for machinable artwork
Mastercam Art lets users craft 2D sketches, clip art, photos, and CAD files into artistic relief designs and then cut them with specialized toolpaths. What normally takes a signmaker or skilled...
Unfolding the folds
Applied Production's updated ProFold sheetmetal unfolding software supports KeyCreator 3.0 CAD packages from Kubotek USA. With ProFold, engineers and designers quickly and easily create accurate...
Law and Liability
Auto accident complicates workers' comp case
While working for Westaff Inc., a temporary employment agency, Calithia Thomas was placed at Alliance Compressor in Natchitoches, La., where her duties included using a T-bar tool to insert plugs...
Operator assumes risk of injury and loses liability suit
Irshard Karim operated a large corrugated-cardboard-folding machine at Mid-Atlantic Packaging in Montgomeryville, Pa. On Feb. 7, 2001, Karim was programming the Tanabe 1, a machine that folds...
Casebooks
Ceramic/steel mix makes for better ballscrews
Ballscrews in injection-molding applications operate in a high-pressure, unforgiving, and often neglectful environment. However, one ballscrew manufacturer is tackling longevity and repeatability...
Copters get cool, rugged lighting
After a Royal Danish Air Force doctor seared his hand on a hot halogen light bulb that then burned out, the Danish Air Material Command, a procurement arm of the Danish air force, conducted a search...
Forming tool tightens spring accuracy
Companies manufacturing such products as small clutches, brakes, and valves sometimes have problems finding precision springs that operate consistently. Due to inconsistencies in wirefeed stock and...
Phantom laser scanning
Implementing laser scanning substantially reduces reverse-engineering time while improving lean manufacturing at Boeing's Phantom Works facility in St. Louis. Producing a CAD model from a physical...
System oversees assembly and manufacturing
A Michigan automotive components and stamping supplier needed an error-proofing and data-collection system for a transmission-transfer-case-marriage subassembly line. It selected a turnkey system...
Tooling cleans up mud-pump-shaft production
Gearench, Clifton, Tex., produces tools and equipment used in oilfield, mining, and industrial applications. Its shop supervisor, Doyle Fehler, had to streamline mud-pump pinion-shaft production to...
New Equipment
Custom marking fields
In addition to 1 3 4, 3 3 4, or 6 3 6-in. marking fields, the Styliner Scribeline Quiet Marker comes with custom-designed marking fields and clamp tooling. They serialize numbers, time and date...
Gearmotor directly connects to load
H Box hollow-bore gearmotors include a 1-in. hollow output shaft that connects directly to driven loads. This saves space and eliminates shaft couplings, chains, or sprockets, as well as chain guards...
Grease protects bearings
Formulated with the producer's thickener technology, Mobil Polyrex EM grease provides mechanical-shear stability, inhibits rust and deposits, and protects against high temperatures and high speeds...
HMC tackles high-speed milling
The Matsuura H.Plus-405 is a large-capacity HMC for high-speed milling and contouring. It has feedrates and rapids up to 1,968 ipm in all axes, 1-G acceleration, and a high-speed pallet changer. The...
Hydraulic clamps
Enerpac link clamps permit unobstructed part loading and high clamping forces. Hydraulic cylinders extend for clamping force and retract for part removal. The clamps' designs ensure repeatable...
Mark 2D matrix codes
The Richter CMT Matrix.2D dot-scribe marking machine produces high-quality Grade A 2D-code marks readable with fixed or handheld scanners. It features a CNC marking head with linear rails and...
Milling machine marking tools
Compensating for irregularities of flat, curved, and uneven surfaces, spring-loaded engraving tools move within the toolholder of CNC milling machines. They provide constant pressure to the toolbit...
Module handles simple motion
Allen-Bradley 1756-L6x ControlLogix controllers combine with Sercos interface-motion modules for motion control of small, low-axis-count machines. The modules provide control for three axes of...
Monitor job progress
A graphical capacity-planning board is now part of JobPack's Scheduler software. The board provides real-time information on the loading of machines and workcenters. With a PC, shops can monitor the...
Plasma cutters
Tracker CNC plasma cutting systems come with 4 3 4, 4 3 8, or 5 3 10-ft tables. They are equipped with rack-and-pinion direct-drive stepper motors, AVC automatic torch-height control, reversible...
Plasma-cutter control
Used by Monograph Millennium plasma-cutting machines, the PC-based uCNC control has two microprocessors — one for programming and a second for motion. It also features a Microsoft XP operating...
System for various marking settings
Technomark Multi 4 marking machines produce figures, letters, logos, special characters, and data matrixes of various heights and widths from up to 1,000 settings. They operate based on...
Two configurations for robots
M-16iB/20T Toploader articulated gantry robots have a maximum reach of 68 in. and come in an underslung or sideslung configuration. The underslung configuration suspends the robot arm underneath the...
Vertical grinder
With two stations on its turret-type wheelhead, the Taiyo Koki IGV-3NT vertical grinding machine switches among internal, external, and face grinding with one chucking — a capability for jobs...
Practical Ideas
Center drill removes center drill
I use a center drill to remove broken center-drill tips from workpieces. I grind out the center of a center drill, leaving two cutting lips. This tool then drills down along the sides of the tip...
Idea pulls the pin
My idea is a device that same as a toolmaker's pulls dowel pins from blind the device to the dowel pin to be removed, I deliver a few sharp blows with a hammer, and the pin comes out.
Retrospective
About those living standards
The mid-November 1954 issue cited 1954 as the year of the "small wage increase." Hourly wages gained a measly 2% overall. In the automotive sector, workers were pocketing $2.16/hr — not too bad,...
Automation kept quiet in 1954
Automation was an "outstanding trend" in automotive plants, as editors described in the November 8, 1954, issue. However, many automakers were still hesitant about actually defining the term.
Dangerous fashion trend
Editors were criticizing Christian Dior in the November 22, 1954, issue — or more precisely, his latest designs for women's clothing. They felt the new trend toward long strings of beads,...
How to compete globally
Manufacturers were also concerned with global competition, according to that same November issue. "We cannot have a standard of living in America higher than our ability to outproduce other...
