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.
Boeing Selects Siemens for Automation Standardization, Safety for Manufacturing Operations December 11, 2018 Technology systems provider Siemens USA (Washington) has been selected by Boeing (Chicago) to implement new automation solutions aimed at developing automation standards that will make Boeing’s manufacturing systems more efficient and safer.
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.
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.
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?
Grinding Advances Power Faster, More Efficient Round Solid-Carbide Toolmaking November 1, 2018 Hats off to tool manufacturers! They make some of the most geometrically complex products out of the toughest materials and with the tightest tolerances. And yet cutting tools represent only 3% of the total cost of the average metalworking process.
Rethinking Control Systems for Multi-Well Pads November 20, 2018 Drilling advancements have spurred the evolution of oil and gas operations from simplistic single-well pad fields to more complex multi-well pads. Today, many producers are using fracking and lateral drilling techniques to place 10 or more wells on one pad.
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.
Tool Life, Scalability Drives New Thinking in Machining November 20, 2018 With larger turbine components, compared to automotive and aerospace, plus assembly challenges, new machining technologies are gaining popularity. The conventional milling and broaching techniques in turbine blade machining, with the high tooling costs and abrasive flow issues, are fast fading, as modern assembly methods continue to drive machining tolerances to new heights
Walking the Talk at IMTS 2018 October 10, 2018 I just returned from IMTS in Chicago and my first thought was, “where will I be able to rack up all those bonus steps I got last week?” On the easiest day, I walked 7.9 miles, and I topped 10 miles on two other days. It’s easy to understand why.