Testing the Metal November 27, 2018 Materials science has opened new possibilities for designers of cars, planes and other products. Metal alloys are now as precisely engineered as they are machined. The result is longer lasting, stronger parts. But with a wider selection of materials comes risk—how can you be sure that one piece of gray metal stock is different than another? Careful warehousing procedures and paperwork only go so far.
GDPR: A Rick Oppedisano AI Love Story October 16, 2018 Artificial intelligence will go long way to imbue data management with trust.
Seeing shop-floor steps clearly helps workers quickly learn on the job April 3, 2018 A talk with Shannon Bennett, implementation and Sales Engineer at Visual Knowledge Share Ltd.
High-Torque Retention Knob Gives Job Shop Spindles The Competitive Edge April 25, 2018 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.
Securely on the smart manufacturing path and looking at the next phase April 3, 2018 Smart Manufacturing sat down with KIMBERLEY HAGERTY, Industry 4.0 digital manufacturing transformation manager at Pratt & Whitney, at the Westec conference in Los Angeles in September to hear about the progress her firm is making adopting smart manufacturing processes, solutions and strategies.
Shrink-Fit Toolholder Offers Consistency When Setting Tools April 23, 2018 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).
How Small Shops Can Go Digital — Economically! April 4, 2018 In the early days at CNC Software, we saw that our Mastercam CAD/CAM system was only part of a larger manufacturing solution and that an open architecture foundation could allow seamless data communication with complementary devices and systems across the shop floor.
New Chiller Technology Helps Industrial Lasers Keep Their Cool April 9, 2018 Industrial lasers require cooling to remove excess heat generated in the resonator power electronics and the optics system. The type of cooling required is determined by laser wattage, resonator efficiency, resonator and optics temperature requirements, and ambient temperature.
Good Times in Thermoplastic Composites March 30, 2018 Thermoplastic composites are gaining traction in manufacturing applications, offering benefits like lighter weight, faster production times, longer shelf life and easier shipping compared with metals or other composites.
Which Technologies Should Come First, Second, Third? March 6, 2018 Analytics solutions. The industrial Internet of Things. Robotics. Automation. Manufacturers looking for tech solutions that will help them control costs and gain a competitive edge have many great options. In fact, deciding what type of technology to invest in and why can seem overwhelming.
