American Machinist articles from April 2004

American Machinist archives from April 2004

We may have something in common with Northern pike.(From The Editor)
April 1, 2004... Sometimes people adhere too closely to the "If it's not broke, don't try to fix it," mentality. Perhaps it is a rigid commitment to the past or a stubborn refusal to consider alternative solutions to a problem that causes individuals to turn...

Digital control offers new functions and fast speeds.(Technology Trends)
April 1, 2004... According to Fadal Machining Centers, Chatsworth, Calif., its new digital control delivers feedrates up to 10x faster (without deviating from part tolerances) than its previous CNC system. The 104/D combines a number of software, hardware,...

A suite solution for productivity.(Technology Trends)
April 1, 2004... Two new products from GE Fanuc Automation Americas Inc., Charlottesville, Va., reportedly boost shops' overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) for lean manufacturing. The company expanded its suite of productivity solutions with a Windows-based...

System fine-tunes the RFQ process.(Technology Trends)
April 1, 2004... Thanks to a new programming system from Studer AG, Thun, Switzerland, shops can quickly respond to grinding-job RFQs knowing that they can actually make a part and profit on the job. The software also alerts shops as to which jobs they...

Micromachining center launches in UK.(Technology Trends)
April 1, 2004... A new engineering center promises to help key industrial sectors exploit micromachining technology in the manufacture of parts with microfeatures or those smaller than 10 mm. Industries that could benefit include medical, automotive, aerospace,...

Saw blades fill performance gap.(Cutting Products)
April 1, 2004... Independence bandsaw blades combine a high-performance, high-speed cutting edge with a high fatigue backer to bridge the gap between bimetal blades and carbide-tipped blades. Reportedly, the durable blades increase productivity with a lower...

Hard-turning grade.(Cutting Products)
April 1, 2004... Seco-Carboloy's CBN350 is a PCBN grade for rough machining of hardened steels and irons, such as chilled or white cast irons and manganese-steel components. CBN350's high toughness reduces chipping and edge flaking in difficult-to-machine...

LPE tangential milling inserts.(Cutting Products)
April 1, 2004... Two high-performance grades of LPE tangential milling inserts are available from Stellram. SP3014, a TiA1N PVD-coated insert, is for milling of ductile cast irons, stainless steel, and high-temperature alloys. SC3025 is for milling cast iron....

U.S. cutting tool institute billings index.(Cutting Products)
April 1, 2004... Index for January '03--December '03 January $133,883,278 120.6% February $125,288,689 112.9% March $134,260,197 122.1% April $123,526,680 112.9% May $119,703,248 110.0% June ...

Versatile end mills.(Cutting Products)
April 1, 2004... Four and five-flute solid-carbide end mills--TuffCutXR from M.A. Ford--are for heavy rough-milling applications as well as for finishing cuts in almost all materials. Over 240 variations are available including square-end and multiple-corner...

Cast iron turning combo.(Cutting Products)
April 1, 2004... Sandvik Coromant offers three new insert grades and a new cutting geometry for cast iron machining. The GC3205 grade is for high-speed machining of grey cast iron, GC3210 grade is for high-speed machining of nodular cast iron, and GC3215 grade...

Orbitform unit acquires competitor.(Business Trends)
April 1, 2004... A division of the Orbitform Group, Ideal Products, has purchased the operating assets of pin- manufacturer Patriot Wire Products. Both are located in Beacon Falls, Conn. Patriot's employees and assets will move to the nearby Ideal Products...

Lower prices on replacement parts.(Business Trends)
April 1, 2004... Davenport Machines Inc., Rochester, issued a new price list that includes price reductions on more than 850 replacement parts, a breakout of attachments, and additional lower-usage parts inventory. The company reports this is the second time in...

Hexagon AB, Nacka Strand, Sweden, the parent company of Brown & Sharpe, is purchasing the coordinate-measuring business of Sheffield Automation, Fond du Lac, Wis.(CMM business acquired)
April 1, 2004... Hexagon AB, Nacka Strand, Sweden, the parent company of Brown & Sharpe, is purchasing the coordinate-measuring business of Sheffield Automation, Fond du Lac, Wis. Sheffield is a division of Giddings & Lewis, which is a subsidiary of the...

Radnor, Pa.... Airgas Inc. is acquiring the assets of Interstate Welding Sales Corp. Marinette, Wis.(CMM business acquired)
April 1, 2004... Radnor, Pa.... Airgas Inc. is acquiring the assets of Interstate Welding Sales Corp, Marinette, Wis. Interstate distributed welding-equipment supplies; industrial, specialty, and medical gases; and fire-protection systems. It generated about...

Ann Arbor, Mich.... North American manufacturing companies ordered 19% more robots from North American suppliers in 2003 than 2002.(CMM business acquired)
April 1, 2004... Ann Arbor, Mich.... North American manufacturing companies ordered 19% more robots from North American suppliers in 2003 than 2002, according to figures released by industry trade group Robotic Industries Association (RIA). "It's encouraging to...

Hartford, Conn.... J. Walter Inc. has hired Stephen A. Davis as chairman.(CMM business acquired)
April 1, 2004... Hartford, Conn.... J. Walter Inc. has hired Stephen A. Davis as chairman. Davis has been a member of the Walter Group's advisory board and was formerly president and chief operating officer of American Saw and Mfg. Co.

Columbiana, Ohio.... Fairfield Machine Co., a producer of pipe and tube-mill machinery and custom machines, has acquired Masco Machine's metalcutting products.(CMM business acquired)
April 1, 2004... Columbiana, Ohio.... Fairfield Machine Co., a producer of pipe and tube-mill machinery and custom machines, has acquired Masco Machine's metalcutting products. The machines will now be engineered and produced at Fairfield Machine's Columbiana...

January machine tool consumption above 2003.(Business Trends)
April 1, 2004... U.S. machine tool consumption started higher in 2004 than 2003. The American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and AMT--The Association For Manufacturing Technology report January 2004 tool consumption totaled $161.19 million, up...

It's time to petition the government.(Government Matters)
April 1, 2004... By Dr. Paul Freedenberg vice president-government relations ANT--The Association For Manufacturing Technology On a number of occasions, this column has discussed the Chinese government's practice of undervaluing its currency. Now it looks...

G-code knowledge not required.(Machine Of The Month)
April 1, 2004... The TL-2 toolroom lathe combines the functions and ease-of-use of a manual lathe with the flexibility of the Haas CNC. With it, operators can do jobs that are difficult to perform on a manual machine, like compound angles, radii, tapers,...

Design and control capabilities.(Bits & Bytes)
April 1, 2004... VirtualGrind software can be used to design a variety of tools as well as control the machine. To assist users in designing and programming rotary-cutting tools, as well as standard and specialty tools, the software includes visual text and...

Speed punch-press and laser-machine programming.(Bits & Bytes)
April 1, 2004... ProFab V3.7 sheetmetal CAM software now includes direct interfaces to SolidWorks 2004, Solid Edge 14, Cadkey V21.5, AutoCAD, and Mechanical Desktop. Working directly with the CAD systems, ProFab eliminates the need to export and import...

Software delivers productivity enhancements.(User Review)
April 1, 2004... Combining new techniques with an array of new and older equipment, Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing, Windsor, Ontario, makes molds for a variety of consumer products and automotive applications. And to maximize productivity, Ed Mueller, Cavalier's...

Not manufacturer's duty to retrofit accident-prone forklift.(Law & Liability)
April 1, 2004... Michael Ostendorf, an employee of Delta Airlines at the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, was injured in 1994 when the forklift he was driving was hit by a baggage tug vehicle. The forklift overturned pinning...

Group boycott of distributor is illegal.(Law & Liability)
April 1, 2004... Southern Tool & Supply Inc. sells power tools, saw blades, grinding wheels, drill bits, and other equipment to contractors in the New Orleans area. When the company started in 1996, it applied to be a distributor of Black & Decker products,...

Tool up and hold down: ways to boost operating efficiency shouldn't stop at the machine tool--shops also need the right cutting tools, toolholders, and workholding.(Tooling/Fixturing)
April 1, 2004... For many shops, the addition of new metalcutting technology is all about buying machine tools, with cutting tools, toolholding, and workholding dealt with as afterthoughts. But such a strategy seriously undermines the productivity of new...

Sawing in the 60s: who says standard bandsaw blades can't cut 60-62 Rc hardened steel?(Sawing)
April 1, 2004... Cutting steel hardened to Rockwell numbers in the 60s is typically a job for a diamond-grit-edge blade, not a conventional bandsaw blade. However, one sawblade company successfully cut a customer's 9-in.-diameter part hardened to 60-62 Rc using...

Lasers tackle more than sheetmetal: power, software, and process improvements spell work for lasers.(Lasers)
April 1, 2004... Sporting powerful resonators, innovative 3D cutting heads, and simultaneously controlled rotary chucks, today's lasers take on a variety of jobs from micromachining fine geometries On miniature components to cutting complex contours, weld-prep...

Real productivity improvement.(Viewpoint)
April 1, 2004... Most manufacturers do a great job of shortening their machining and product-development cycles to be more competitive and profitable. However, by using what I call the Productivity Improvement (PI) Cycle, manufacturers will find that measuring...

Idea worth its weight.(Practical Ideas)
April 1, 2004... My idea is a tool that maneuvers loads weighing up to 3 ton on boring-mill tables or any smooth surfaces with T-slots or holes. The tool consists of threaded rod, two nuts, and a piece of pipe. One of the nuts, which is welded to the threaded...

Putting the squeeze on tight threads.(Practical Ideas)
April 1, 2004... I often get special-made nuts that are tight, even after running a new tap through them. To eliminate the problem, I slightly squeeze a nut in a vise and then run the tap through. I repeat the process with each pair of flats. Noshir...

Shop cuts into increased productivity.(Casebooks)
April 1, 2004... Phoenix based PMC Machining manufactures and machines products for the flat-panel and display industries. The shop works with tough materials and does its sawing inhouse, keeping three bandsaws and a plate saw running 20 hr/day, 6 days/week....

Job-based system rids shop of ERP headaches.(Casebooks)
April 1, 2004... American Punch and Die (AP&D), a shop that manufactures and repairs tooling for automotive dies, was having problems with its enterprise-resources-planning (ERP) system. The Cadillac, Mich., shop's main complaint was that the system, which was...

Company goes with nontraditional CNC.(Casebooks)
April 1, 2004... Lewa Attendorn GmbH, Germany, "teaches" its universal sheetmetal and profile, 12-to-16-axis stretch bending machines complex 3D programs using a panel PC and soft-PLC setup instead of traditional CNC. For the automotive supplier, the...

Inserts zap electric-motor-machining problems.(Casebooks)
April 1, 2004... Machining cast iron end plates for electric motors proved a costly undertaking for ATB Antriebstechnik AG. Hard casting skin, varied casting allowances, and sand inclusions (cutting interruptions) shortened cutting tool life, slowed machining...

Welder packs on the features.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... The Precision TIG 185 welding machine features the manufacturer's Micro-Start technology for stable are starting; the Auto-Balance control with manual override for taking the guesswork out of setting optimal cleaning and penetration levels; and...

Inverters handle power variations.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... XMT 350 CC/CV multiprocess inverters include Auto-Line primary-power-management technology, a 5 to 425-amp output, and 60% duty-cycle rating at 350 amp/34 V. They have low-end MIG are for short-circuit welding thin material, especially...

Power supply runs on 110 or 230 V.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... OrbiLogic, an option for Orbimat 160C orbital-welding power supplies, lets the units run on either 110 or 230 V without changing the supply. To change voltage, users connect and the 160C detects the voltage level and makes necessary...

Control plasma-cutter current.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... Handy Plasma 380 portable Plasmarc cutters have 3/8-in. cutting capacities and are suitable for sheetmetal fabrication, automotive, and maintenance operations. They offer variable output, which tailors cutting current to material thickness and...

Monitor cooling flow.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... CoolPoint vortex shedding meters transmit and monitor cooling flows in resistance welding and heat-treating process control. Repeatability is [+ or -]1% of actual flow. The meters have no moving parts to stick or coat, come in pipe sizes from...

Machine showcases tilting rotary table.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... The C 30 U Dynamic uses the manufacturer's gantry design in combination with a 630-mm-diameter tilting rotary table to simultaneously machine alloys and nontraditional workpieces measuring up to 800 mm. Its C axis operates at 6.5 rpm while the...

High-speed machining.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... Ideal for high-speed, high-precision milling, the Roku-Roku HC-658 VMC features speeds from 200 to 32,000 rpm. The machine has minimized distance between its X-axis guide surface and spindle center to provide cutter stability. New PC III...

Wire EDM with digital generator.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... The CleanCut generator of the Robofil 240cc/440cc wire EDM improves machining speed and preserves surface integrity of the machined material. CleanCut is a digital generator that protects parts against electrolytic effects, and according to the...

Flexible grinder control.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... OpenCNC Grinder packages consist of hardware, software and documentation capability. Programming features include 11 wheel-dressing routines, eight grinding sequences, advanced grinding-wheel-offset tools, and an on-line help system. Each part...

Tool grinder puts on a show.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... GrindSmart 620XS 6-axis tool grinders easily grind complex cutters such as ballnose end mills with 0.0003-in. radius-contour accuracy. The machine accommodates diameters from 0.008 to 0.625 in. Rollomatic Inc. Mundelein, Ill. ...

New handwheels.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... Carr Lane's 14 new styles of handwheels come in polished aluminum, black thermoplastic, or black phenolic plastic. They include two and three-spoke, solid, disk, and fluted types. Each of the styles is available in a range of sizes and with, or...

Real-time process monitoring.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... The 4000 MTO system provides real-time process visibility, which, the manufacturer reports, increases throughput 20% or more. The unit's sensors detect broken tools or misfeeds and shutdown the machine to prevent damage. ATAM Systems...

Quick-working control.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... As the latest addition to the PACSystems family, the RX3i controller, features a high-speed, PCI-backed backplane and Pentium 300-MHz CPU for faster throughput without information bottlenecks. High-capacity power supplies deployed in single or...

Laser marker.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... Proscript Zenith 20F 20-W, fiber-pulsed lasers provide marking on metal coated materials, and plastics. They feature plug-and-play, 110-V, air-cooled operation controlled by the company's Merlin II LS visual-design software. Zenith 20Fs are...

Inspect tiny openings.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... At less than 0.073 in. in diameter, the Hawkeye MicroSlim precision borescope is the dimmest model in the company's product line. It incorporates endoGRINS lens relays to deliver larger, brighter images as compared to the competitors'. The...

Software for small shops.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... Available in LT and premier editions, Visual Jobshop is an integrated software system with specific features for small shops. It manages operations from engineering through shipping and works with accounting packages such as QuickBooks and...

New features for multispindle.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... The Acme-Gridley 1 5/8 in. HPN-8 multispindle automatic has three new features--a high precision carrier with an O.D.-carrier bearing that holds 0.0003 to 0.0004 in. on squareness of I.D. to face; a servo pick-up and back-finishing slide with...

Vertical bandsaws.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... A Tannewitz vertical bandsaw cuts tough alloys such as stainless, tool, and mild steel; brass; sheetmetal; aluminum; and plastics. There are seven models with 16, 20, 28, or 40-in. throat capacities and two speed ranges. Hydraulic tables are...

Machines extend coolant life.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... The CX 250AP machine bolts to machining centers to save shop floorspace while treating metalworking coolants. Able to work with 250-gallon sumps, the CX 250AP sends contaminated coolant to a treatment chamber filled with HaloFresh chlorinated...

Profile system has inch dimensions.(Spotlight: welding)
April 1, 2004... With inch-dimension capability, the iSeries of the IPS modular aluminum profile system includes 21 profiles, plus a range of fasteners and accessories. There are plenty of smooth-face extrusions. The IPS system is useful in constructing...

Manufacturers' directory.
April 1, 2004... To help you contact key material handling manufacturers quickly, the following Manufacturers' Directory also contains complete telephone numbers of the main offices. Listings in boldface type indicate the advertisers in this edition. A ...

Products & services directory.(Abrasive-Belt Machines--Furnaces, Toolroom)
April 1, 2004... Here, in alphabetical order, are suppliers of the products, services, and systems. Companies listed in boldface also have an advertisement in this issue. Blue listings were purchased. Check the Advertisers Index for correct page number. ...

Products & services directory.(Gage Blocks, Including Combination Sets--Milling Machines, Knee-&-Column, Horizontal)
April 1, 2004... Gage Blocks, Including Combination Sets DoALL, 254 N. Laurel Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60016, 847-824-1122, 800-92-DOALL, FAX: 847-699-7524 Gages, Air Western Gage Corp., 3316 Maya Linda, Ste. A, Camarillo, CA 93012-8776,...

Product & services directory.(Milling Machines, Knee-&-Column, Universal--Zinc & Zinc-Base Alloy Shapes & Forms)
April 1, 2004... Milling Machines, Knee-&-Column, Universal COMEX (Continental Machinery Exchange Corp.), 145 Front St., Bridgeport, CT 06606-5108, 203-334-2197, FAX: 203-334-1184 DMG America Inc., 1665 Penny Ln., Schaumburg, IL 60120, 847-781-0277,...

Stuff that up your cannon.(100 years ago in American Machinist)
April 1, 2004... The April 21, 1904, issue highlighted a German military expert's comments regarding accidents on U.S. naval vessels during target practice. According to the article, the "expert" hinted that Americans didn't measure up to the Germans in the...

Metric "agitation".(100 years ago in American Machinist)
April 1, 2004... That's how editors described efforts to adopt the metric system in the U.S. in the April 28, 1904, issue. This was in reference to a poll of members of the National Association of Manufacturers. "While some crumbs of comforts may be derived...

Radioactive machining.(50 years ago in American Machinist)
April 1, 2004... A program to machine radioactive materials for an atomic-powered submarine was detailed in the April 12, 1954, issue. Machines were designed to operate under water--at depths up to 25 ft--for long periods of time without maintenance other than...

Selling to the Soviets.(50 years ago in American Machinist)
April 1, 2004... The U.S. and England were negotiating what machine tools could be sold to Russia and her satellite countries. A report in the April 26, 1954, issue said the negotiations were precipitated by the actions of British builders seeking to fulfill...