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Laser Genius Elevates Productivity to New Heights

Like its products, technology demands for thyssenkrupp Elevator Corp. are “going up.” A business unit of ThyssenKrupp Elevator AG, the company oversees all business operations in the US, Canada, and Central and South America, and says it is the largest producer of elevators in the Americas, with 13,500 employees, more than 200 branches and service locations, and sales of $2.7 billion.

Simulating is Believing

Simulation tools are making it much easier for manufacturers to optimize their processes, visualizing the entire path of production from NC metalcutting simulations through 3D design and factory-floor imaging.

Keeping Old Planes in the Air with Laser Scanning

Your father’s Oldsmobile may be long gone but his B-52 is still pulling missions, and they haven’t built the “BUFF” (Big Ugly Fat Fellow) since 1962. The last KC-135 tanker was built in 1965. Besides aging warbirds (the average plane in the US Air Force is over 28 years old) there are hundreds of ancient civilian airliners carrying friendlier payloads everyday. The key to doing this safely is of course excellent maintenance and periodic upgrades. Laser scanning plays an essential role.

Buck Rogers Blasts into the Toolroom

In addition to carbide, ceramics, and cermet, the drive to create the hardest possible cutting tool materials has given us the alphabet soup of PCD, PCBN, CVD-D, and MCD (polycrystalline diamond, polycrystalline cubic boron nitride, chemical vapor deposition diamond, and mono-crystalline diamond, respectively).

2016 Was a Good Year for Lasers; 2017 Looks Even Better

Strong 2016 earnings among top industrial laser providers, continued brisk adoption of fiber lasers, cheaper ultrafast lasers, and a host of novel applications and notable corporate acquisitions signal a big year ahead for photonics-based manufacturing.

Additive Grows and Has Growing Pains

Additive manufacturing is both growing and coping with growing pains. Companies “have to find ways to streamline” polishing and other finishing processes of 3D printed parts, industry consultant Terry Wohlers said today during a speech at RAPID + TCT.

Coatings Expand Cutting Tool Capabilities, Reach New Markets

When first introduced in the late 1970s, cutting tool coatings—especially titanium nitride (TiN)—were embraced by tool manufacturers for their ability to extend tool life. As workforce materials have expanded from conventional ferrous and nonferrous metals to exotic alloys, composites, ceramics, and others, coatings have likewise progressed and, thanks to new formulations and deposition methods, are extending cutting tool capabilities as well as tool life.

Edge Prep Measured, Tool Life’s Extended

Tool life, geometry, and stability largely depend on proper edge preparation. Tool Flo, located in Houston, TX, is a manufacturer of carbide cutting tools such as inserts for threading, turning, and milling. The company uses optical 3D measurement systems from Alicona Corp. (Bartlett, IL) in the quality assurance of inserts.

Laser Welding for Sheetmetal Fabricators

Although laser welding is a well-established manufacturing solution, many sheetmetal fabricators have been hesitant to implement the process at their shop.