Keeping Old Planes in the Air with Laser Scanning June 21, 2017 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 June 21, 2017 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).
Niagara Gear Adds In-House Machining Capabilities June 28, 2017 Buffalo, NY – Niagara Gear, a division of Gear Motions, Inc., recently completed the installation of its first machining cell. The in-house machining capabilities were added to reduce lead-time and provide more flexibility and control to meet customer delivery requirements.
2016 Was a Good Year for Lasers; 2017 Looks Even Better June 21, 2017 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 May 11, 2017 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 May 2, 2017 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.
Making Sense of the Digital Thread May 24, 2017 Siemens PLM has a strategy to reinvent manufacturing by threading digital information from concept, through design to monitoring performance in the field. It is easy to get confused as to what all this means, but some concrete examples and definitions help explain it all.
The Future of the Metalworking Industry May 2, 2017 Manufacturing Engineering asked thought leaders at five companies for their views on challenges and trends facing the metalworking industry.
Methods to Show Automation Cell April 13, 2017 On May 9 -11 2017, at the RAPID + tct Show Methods Machine Tools Inc., a leading supplier of precision machine tools, 3D printing technology and automation, will be showcasing a revolutionary cell solution designed to make quantum leap production increases in 3D manufacturing throughput.
Sandvik Introduces New Turning Concept April 3, 2017 Unlike conventional turning operations–which have remained largely unchanged for decades—PrimeTurning™ allows machine shops to complete longitudinal (forward and back), facing, and profiling operations with a single tool.
