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Additive manufacturing (AM) pioneer Charles Hull introduced the first commercial 3D printer, the SLA-1, in 1987. Jaws dropped, machinists wondered about their next career, pundits said it spelled the death of traditional manufacturing. None of that happened, thankfully; in fact, some said 3D printing was a bunch of hype, good for little more than investment casting patterns and proof of concept prototypes.

For Dale Mickelson, Yasda product manager at Methods Machine Tools Inc. (Sudbury, MA) and author of several books on hard milling, tackling heat-resistant superalloys (HRSAs) requires the perfect combination of machine, workholding, tooling, tool paths and coolant.

For CMMs, the good times continue to roll. “One of the surprising things that has happened in just the last three to four years is the sheer volume of CMMs that we are shipping,” said Angus Taylor, president of Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, North America (North Kingstown, RI). “The market seems to be really exploding.”

US machine shops are potentially underutilizing the machinability of brass by as much as 85 percent in their part processing operations, reports a recent study from the Copper Development Association Inc. (McLean, VA).

ANCA Inc. opened its technical center expansion May 23-24, 2018, in Wixom, MI, hosting more than 200 customers, vendors, and community members at the event. This multi-million-dollar investment provides a larger demonstration floor, classrooms for training, and a larger machine assembly and process development area.

Engineers trying to keep track of liquid adhesives, coatings, sealants, and specialty chemical materials now have access to the free, searchable Gluespec database from Ellsworth Adhesives (Germantown, WI). The engineering research tool is designed by engineers to help engineers find the right adhesive and specialty materials for their projects as quickly and effectively as possible.

Technology is changing ever more rapidly. Sometimes this means topics learned in engineering or technical school become obsolete. Whole new fields emerge within a few years, so that even those with freshly minted educations suddenly find themselves faced with new challenges.

Solid-carbide micro cutting tools about the diameter of human hair or smaller—some producing parts visible only under a microscope—are making a huge impact on manufacturing highly advanced electronics, automotive and aerospace fuel injection systems, and medical instruments and implants.

Cryogenics offer an alternative to traditional liquid coolants when conventional cooling methods can’t or don’t do the job well enough.

If John Winter of toolmaker Sandvik Coromant (Fair Lawn, NJ) were to start his own machine shop, all of his machines would be equipped for through-spindle coolant (TSC).