Displaying 41-50 of 510 results for

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.

Basic trends in modern manufacturing are driving growth in 3D optical metrology. “One is the highly complex and high-tech material that manufacturers are using today. For example, in the aerospace turbine blade market, they simply cannot touch the part like they used to—the surface finish of the material is too readily affected by any kind of contact metrology."

From cutting various thicknesses of sheet metal and metal plate or different widths of tubing to navigating intricate materials or process issues, some of the laser industry’s leading suppliers have weighed in with tips and insights into their novel solutions.

Lasers — well-established tools in the manufacture of medical devices—are continuing to break ground by producing smaller, more precise and more functional parts thanks to faster pulse speeds at lower cost, new applications and the marriage of laser processing to Swiss-style machining.

More than 4,600 cutting tools items from M.A. Ford (Davenport, IA) are listed on MachiningCloud (Camarillo, CA), with more to come. M.A. Ford manufactures standard, high performance and custom cutting tools with worldwide manufacturing and distribution facilities. MachiningCloud is a product data provider for cutting tools, CNC machines and workholding.

December 2020 U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $157.3 million, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology.

The management team of Okuma America Corp. has announced that BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc., Hoffman Estates, Illinois, recently joined the Partners in THINC network. 

Originally marketed for their proficiency in heavy metal removal applications while delivering longer tool life and multi-point efficiency, turning inserts have grown more sophisticated in response to advances in materials, machines, methods, and even social factors.

Automated feature recognition, knowledge-based machining, advanced toolpath simulation and digital twins are a few CAM technologies making programming more of a technical exercise than the tribal knowledge-inspired art form it has long been.

Manufacturing Engineering editor-in-chief Alan Rooks is retiring.