Walking the Talk at IMTS 2018 October 10, 2018 I just returned from IMTS in Chicago and my first thought was, “where will I be able to rack up all those bonus steps I got last week?” On the easiest day, I walked 7.9 miles, and I topped 10 miles on two other days. It’s easy to understand why.
Waterjet Makers Move to Increase Uptime of Machines October 1, 2018 Waterjet technology—cutting materials with a jet of water—is expanding. Use of waterjets is moving to smaller shops, where there may only be one or two such machines. As a result, makers of waterjet machines are looking to boost uptime and simplify how they operate.
The Wonders—and Worries—of Round Tool Reconditioning October 29, 2018 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?
When it Comes to Simulation Software, Seeing is Believing October 25, 2018 In a perfect CNC world, the first part is always a good one. There’s no need for extra blanks or barstock. Setup times are only as long as is needed to swap out a few tools and load a new program. There’s never a crash, never the need to reprogram an inefficient bit of code. The operator just pushes the green button and out pops a finished workpiece minutes or hours later.
GE, Once Manufacturing’s Bright Light, Dims October 2, 2018 General Electric Co. (Boston) is an industrial giant that traces its lineage back to Thomas Edison. This week, however, GE’s prospects continued to dim. The company changed CEOs, dumping John Flannery after a little more than a year on the job.
Aircraft Primes: An Elite Club October 1, 2018 Despite the industry’s growth and prosperity, the number of aircraft industry players remains relatively constant. While the industrial consolidation of the last two decades has ceased, there are few signs of significant new market players. A very broad range of factors is responsible for this stasis.
The Quest to Maintain Consistency in AM Parts October 1, 2018 Additive manufacturing’s (AM) benefits have long been known to the aerospace industry. Industry leaders, like Boeing, Airbus and GE, have led the charge in using the technology for production parts. They’ve figured out how to increase efficiency and enable on-demand production, while saving money, by incorporating AM into their production process.
Superabrasives’ Virtues October 1, 2018 Increased demand for economically manufacturing challenging aerospace parts faster with higher quality surface finishes is spurring on the development of new bonds and grains for grinding wheels. The latest superabrasives can be an excellent choice for aerospace manufacturers doing production grinding.
It’s Volumetric! October 1, 2018 For aerospace part production, machine tool volumetric accuracy is vitally important. To define it, machine geometry is a function of moving a certain amount of mass along the way system. This movement of mass needs to move straight without pitch, yaw, and roll, because any variation of these three movements is amplified as you get further and further away from the machine tool’s way system.
Component Vision Check October 1, 2018 Automated industrial vision systems have become a key component of quality conformance inspection for many industrial processes. They are used to detect defects at high rates far exceeding the capability of the human eye in industries ranging from food processing to electronics and automobile manufacturing.
