Skip to content
SME Search Search Results

Displaying 1-10 of 873 results for

Tooling & Workholding clear Machining & Metal Cutting clear Robotics clear

Swiss Machining Made Simpler

Swiss-style machine tools can be a good choice for making complex parts. On the downside, however, Swiss machining itself has a reputation of being complex—and, therefore, more difficult to master than standard machining.

New Approaches to Making Parts for the Oil Patch

Rod Zimmerman of cutting tool manufacturer Iscar Metals lives in a pleasant green zone in a Fort Worth suburb. Yet within a half mile of his home, an oil company has sunk a vertical hole 7,500′ (2,286 m) deep, from which it has splayed nine lateral lines, each going about half a mile.

Diesel Propulsion Takes to the Skies

In a small town in northwestern Wisconsin, a dedicated group of engineers, designers, and machinists are working with a visionary management team on a concept that could have a revolutionary effect on general aviation and impact other forms of flight.

Machine Tool Orders Reach 20-Year High

Machine tool orders for August through October reached the highest level in more than 20 years, the Association for Manufacturing Technology said today.

A Supermarket for Tooling and Workholding

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

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

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?

Optimizing Oil Country Workholding

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.

The Wonders—and Worries—of Round Tool Reconditioning

One of the great benefits of solid round cutting tools is the ability to resharpen them after heavy use. Done right it’s like having a cat with nine lives: Dull…then like new. Dull again…and like new again. And since the cost to recondition solid tools is generally lower than the cost to replace them, there’s an economic benefit. The question then becomes what’s the best way to achieve the greatest possible benefit?