American Machinist articles from January 2003

American Machinist archives from January 2003

As we change, so will the economy. (editorial).
January 1, 2003... As this new year begins, I'm sure the economy is creating a sense of fear and trepidation in the minds of many manufacturers. And because there is a tendency to view "the economy" as a single entity, it's difficult to comprehend that every...

Back to boot camp. (letters).
January 1, 2003... Regarding your November editorial on executive training ("It's time to make an about-face," p. 10), perhaps it's time that executives learn manufacturing principles and how important machine tools are to the production of the products from...

Differing opinions on corporate boards. (letters).
January 1, 2003... I agree with your October editorial ("Times dictate change for corporate boards," p. 12). But remember what happened to a GM board member named Ross when he did not go along with Smith and lost his seat. There are no "yes" men--when the boss...

Practical idea gets hexed. (letters).
January 1, 2003... Readers Homer R. Zeller, president of Zeller Machine Tool, and Dave Mitchell from Mitchell's Job Shop, both took exception to an October Practical Idea for machining a hex on round stock ("Idea puts a hex on round barstock," p. 80). Each...

The old ways aren't all that bad. (letters).
January 1, 2003... I just read your September editorial ("Just how old is old?" p. 10). It made me wonder how we, as a society, have gotten so far off-track. I believe that much of it has to do with us wanting more for our kids than what we had. But I think...

Coating boosts part performance while keeping component integrity. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... An ion-beam-enhanced deposition (IBED) process ensures that components don't soften or change dimension during the coating process. According to developer Worthington BeamAlloy Corp., Columbus, the process provides up to a 10 x improvement in...

Plastic dust collector cleans nonstop. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... The Whirl Wet collector, made by Tri-Mer Corp., Owosso, Mich., may be industry's first plastic dust collector. It's manufactured from 1/2 to 1-in. solid polypropylene that resists corrosion. The unit also features a proprietary drag-out...

Measurement system tackles troublesome jobs. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... A new multisensor dimensional measurement system easily measures parts that prove difficult for other optical systems. It also handles components that would otherwise be measured in separate setups on different machines. The SmartScope...

New look, more productive tool. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... Face mills get a radically different look with the introduction of the CoroMill 590 Century cutter from Sandvik Coromant Co., Fair Lawn, N.J. The look isn't just for show, however. The face mill reportedly cuts aluminum and other nonferrous...

New process bumps up metalforming. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... Researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus have pioneered a new metal-forming process that could possibly cut manufacturing costs, expand manufacturers' choice of available metals, and allow carmakers to use more aluminum parts in...

Aerospace company gets information backbone. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... The development of the Airbus A380, a 555-passenger super-jumbo aircraft, just got a boost from PTC, Needham, Mass. Airbus is using PTC's Windchill software to "support Airbus' challenging industrial product-information-backbone requirements,"...

Flowforming keeps weapon costs down. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... The National Center for Excellence in Metalworking Technology (NCEMT) and several commercial manufacturing firms are developing a flowforming process to manufacture 5-in. steel cartridge cases for the U.S. Navy. Currently, the cases are made in...

Bandsaw blade aggressive in tough materials. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... Generally, improvements in sawblade geometry involve saw teeth, but a new blade's focus is elsewhere--on its back to be precise. A series of ramps on the back edge of the Sine-Wave band-saw blade is the key to its aggressive broaching action in...

Fix machine tools with less fuss. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... Forget thumbing through binders with volumes of maintenance procedures and paper drawings. The next time a machine tool goes down, just turn to its CNC for help. That's the idea behind the computer-based Interactive Maintenance and Training...

Glass makes for better grinding wheels. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... To improve superabrasive grinding wheels, one company is using hollow glass spheres to replace aluminum oxide as the filler material in the wheel bond. This technology strengthens the bond post, creating a porous wheel finish that resists...

Help for laser scanning. (technology trends).
January 1, 2003... Laser scanning is letting manufacturers reduce engineering costs and speed new products to market, according to NVision Inc., Coppell, Tex. The company recently expanded its North American technical center near Detroit in response to a growing...

Chuck it all. (Tooling & workholding products).
January 1, 2003... The Rovi Products' chuck-jaw line now includes 15-in.-diameter full-grip jaws for serrated and tongue-and-groove chucks. The jaws are manufactured from solid 6061-T6 aluminum. Rovi Products Inc. Simi Valley, Calif. www.roviproducts.com...

Xpanding machining capabilities. (Tooling & workholding products).
January 1, 2003... ID Xpansion clamps for VMCs and HMCs hold lathe parts from an internal diameter. The mild steel, machinable clamps maintain a concentricity of 0.013 mm and are available in six sizes ranging 12 to 51 mm. The clamps' flange diameters are...

Hot tool clamping. (Tooling & workholding products).
January 1, 2003... The Thermogrip shrink-fit toolholding system uses induction heating to hold high-speed steel and carbide tools with a concentricity of 0.00012 in. The manufacturer claims this system's clamping force and concentricity make it equivalent to a...

Workholding sales down. (Company news).
January 1, 2003... U.S. workholding-equipment shipments were at $40 million for the third quarter of 2002--down 8.9% from last quarter and 8.6% from 2001 third-quarter figures. Of that $40 million, $35.4 were domestic shipments while $4.8 million were...

U.S. cutting tool institute billings index.
January 1, 2003... U.S. Cutting Tool Institute Billings Index Index for November 01--October 02 * November $122,890,258 109.4% December $114,130,769 101.8% January $132,590,427 121.1% February $128,149,251 116.9%...

New president at Hannibal. (Company news).
January 1, 2003... The board of directors of Hannibal Carbide Tool Inc. have unanimously elected Kathy Kapfer as president of the company. Kapfer started at Hannibal in 1987, held the position of senior vice president and COO since 1998, and was elected to the...

Fresh takes on marketing. (Company news).
January 1, 2003... There is new literature available from Quality Carbide Tool--a 160-page product-selection guide for 2003 that features an illustrated index and an applications guide that shows readers the tool page number, the speed and feed page number, tool...

And in other customer-oriented news, a redesign of Royal Machine and Tool website, www.royalworkholding.com. (Company news).
January 1, 2003... And in other customer-oriented news, a redesign of Royal Machine and Tool website, www.royalworkholding.com, provides illustrations of products for easy reference and a site map that quickly guides users to information. The firm also plans to...

Hobs delivered in 21 days. (Cutting products).
January 1, 2003... Through its PDQ Program, Gleason Cutting Tools delivers gear hobs of all razes, materials, and designs in just 21 days. Gear, involute spline, straight-sided serration, parallel key spline, roller chain sprocket, and certain radial-feed...

Tough jobs call for tough inserts. (Cutting products).
January 1, 2003... Kennametal has introduced several new solid-carbide Dynapoint drills that handle intersecting holes, high-silicon aluminum, and drilling/chamfering in a single operation. Sculptured Edge (SE) 256 drills have two margins per flute,...

Versatile long-edge millers. (Cutting products).
January 1, 2003... Sandvik claims that its 390 long-edge indexable-milling cutter doubles productivity in slotting, edging, and deep-pocket milling operations when tested against comparable cutters. The cutters were developed for versatility, handling...

Mills to die for. (Cutting products).
January 1, 2003... A new line of end mills, designed specifically for die and mold manufacturing, are available in two and six-flute end-mill and ball-end-mill configurations. Manufactured for high-speed machining steel up to 62 Rc, they feature TiAlN coatings in...

Cutters for big jobs. (Cutting products).
January 1, 2003... The Carboloy TP1000 is a coated cemented-carbide turning grade for machining steel in high-production and large-batch environments. Designed for high cutting speeds and edge toughness, TP1000 features a cobalt-enriched substrate with a hard...

All-material tapping. (Cutting products).
January 1, 2003... A versatile line of high-performance taps includes models specifically designed for general steels, stainless steels, cast iron, aluminum and aluminum alloys, and other materials. A variety of thread types, styles, sizes, and classes-off-it are...

October machine tool consumption level. (business trends).
January 1, 2003... AMT--The Association For Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) report that October U.S. machine tool consumption totaled $186.93 million. This total was level with September and down 0.6%...

AMT president retires. (business trends).
January 1, 2003... Don Carlson, AMT president since 1997, has retired. Former AMT President Albert W. Moore is filling in as interim president. Carlson, who was on AMT's board of directors from 1991 to 1994, was formerly president and CEO of Acme Manufacturing...

Grinder manufacturer purchase. (business trends).
January 1, 2003... Grinding machine manufacturer Tru Tech Systems Inc., Mt. Clemens, Mich., has purchased fellow producer Harig Products, Elgin, Ill., from Bridgeport Machines Inc. Tru Tech plans to keep Harig in the Elgin area and introduce improvements and...

2002 robot orders are up. (business trends).
January 1, 2003... North American robot orders rose in the first nine months of 2002 according to statistics from the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), Ann Arbor, Mich. The RIA reports through September, North American customers ordered 7,511 robots valued at...

Arlington Heights, Ill.... Erowa Technology has merged sister company Amtec. (business trends).
January 1, 2003... Arlington Heights, Ill.... Erowa Technology has merged sister company Amtec into its general operations. Amtec's custom fixtures are now offered under the Erowa Technology name.

Decatur, Tex.... Poco Graphite is consolidating EDM training at its corporate training center. (business trends).
January 1, 2003... Decatur, Tex.... Poco Graphite is consolidating EDM training at its corporate training center. "Centralizing our training efforts at our main facility will allow all our students to benefit from this large body of graphite specialists," reports...

Moorpark, Calif.... GibbsCAM software, produced by Gibbs and Associates, has been reapproved. (business trends).
January 1, 2003... Moorpark, Calif.... GibbsCAM software, produced by Gibbs and Associates, has been reapproved as a Certified Select Product for Solid Edge CAD software by EDS PLM Solutions, Piano, Tex. The designation ensures interoperability between the latest...

Lincolnshire, Ill.... Charmilles recently hosted a two-day extrusion tooling seminar. (business trends).
January 1, 2003... Lincolnshire, Ill.... Charmilles recently hosted a two-day extrusion tooling seminar. Dave Friedwald, an extrusion die and sizer designer, led attendees through vacuum sizing, how to choose vacuum pumps, taper sizers, and design technologies to...

Vernon Hills, Ill.... Mitsubishi Electric Automation Inc. is participating in the Smithsonian Institute project. (business trends).
January 1, 2003... Vernon Hills, Ill.... Mitsubishi Electric Automation Inc. is participating in the Smithsonian Institute project, "Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future." The exhibit presents historical views of how Americans perceived the...

Handle hefty cuts with speed and accuracy. (machine of the month).
January 1, 2003... Fadal's latest VMC, the Performance Series 6535, efficiently removes large volumes of material from deep-cavity steel molds and large forgings and castings. The 50-taper machine has the rigidity and vibration damping needed to tackle heavy cuts...

Streamline production through project management. (bits & bytes).
January 1, 2003... Lilly's Visual Enterprise Project-Based Manufacturing edition software helps firms manage tasks throughout entire project lifecycles. This, in turn, lets them deliver products on time and on budget. It incorporates functions such as...

See more clearly now. (bits & bytes).
January 1, 2003... Idelix has released two software-development kits: Version 2.1 of its Pliable Display Technology (PDT) and PDT 3d. The packages solve the problems associated with displaying high-density 2D information and 3D models on a computer screen. With...

Jobshop builds on a wealth of sheetmetal designs. (User review).
January 1, 2003... With just a handful of mechanical designers, Budde Sheet Metal Works Inc. has punched out more than 70,000 sheetmetal parts in the past eight years for machine shops serving the aerospace and automotive industries. The Dayton, Ohio-based...

Machine installer not liable for injured operator. (law & liability).
January 1, 2003... Daniel M. Williams injured his hand in July 1995 while operating a V47 rubber-injection-molding machine for his employer, ENBI of Shelbyville, Ind. The machine was manufactured by REP International of France for ENBI of Holland. Before the...

Employer not liable for injury on production line. (law & liability).
January 1, 2003... Lyle A. Estep was employed by Rieter Automotive North America Inc., an Ohio company, as a worker on its production line. Early in 1997, Rieter converted a mastic production line into a barrier line. The conversion required the installation of...

Court upholds $1M award for injured operator. (law & liability).
January 1, 2003... Tom Couch worked for CalMat, a New Mexico company that produces hot-mix asphalt used to pave highways and streets. His job involved working around the recycle bin and adjacent conveyor belts of an asphalt plant designed and manufactured by...

A foot in the door: New series of machines is the small shop's key to entering into aerospace work. (machining centers).
January 1, 2003... Walk the shop floor of any major aerospace company or one of its Tier-1 suppliers and, chances are, there is at least one multiple-spindle, vertical gantry-style machine. These are what it takes to cut the large monolithic parts for today's...

Chipping away cycle times: a tier-one supplier to the semiconductor chip industry thrives on multitasking. (In the field: machining centers).
January 1, 2003... Most of the work leaving through the doors at Saint-Gobain Semiconductor Equipment in San Jose, Calif., is used in the manufacture of semiconductor chips. The shop produces parts that are multifaceted, have tight tolerances, and require...

Salvage operation: dual chucking saves damaged parts from the scrap heap. (workholding).
January 1, 2003... Refurbishing a mechanical component can be more cost effective than scrapping it and buying a new one. But the job of reconditioning is not easy when the part weighs tons, tolerances are in tenths and surface-quality specs range from 1 to 2...

A concrete plan. (viewpoint).
January 1, 2003... American industry, and the machine tool sector, in particular, are experiencing difficult times. The current economy is a grueling showcase of the survival-of-the-fittest principle. Machine tool companies are facing several challenges as...

Putting a stop to boring mills. (practical ideas).
January 1, 2003... On a Giddings & Lewis boring mill, I cut large holes in die holders using a facing head attachment. The problem is that I have to bore with the table feed instead of the spindle--a setup that provides no way to automatically stop the table feed...

How to pick up threads. (practical ideas).
January 1, 2003... My idea is a quick way to pick up and recut threads to fit a gage or mating part using a CNC lathe. With the part loaded in the chuck, I offset the threading tool above the threads about 0.100 in. and watch the tool as the thread cycle...

High-speed machines win shop work. (case books).
January 1, 2003... Thayer Aerospace won a contract to kit pressurized doors for Vought Aircraft Industries' 737 planes. Because of the cost-competitive nature of the contract, Thayer needed to invest in high-speed machining. So the Wichita manufacturer of complex...

Linear EDM reduces shop's benchwork. (case books).
January 1, 2003... According to Bill Anderson, president of Wand Tool, the only way to compete with offshore tooling competition is to produce faster and with less involved labor. His shop does so with two AQ535L wire EDMs that save its die makers about 20% of...

Machining center passes toolmaker's testing. (case books).
January 1, 2003... Not just any machining center would do for Kennametal's Metalworking Technology Center in Latrobe, Pa. The machine had to have high horsepower to withstand repeated product testing and perform well with material and tooling variations. The...

Control retrofit breathes new life into tired machines. (case books).
January 1, 2003... Northrop Grumman's Marine Systems Division (NGMS) had a defense issue of its own to resolve--against wear, tear, and time. Engineers had to make strategic and tactical decisions about the most efficient and cost-effective means to update the...

Pallet system streamlines setup and production. (case books).
January 1, 2003... Setup time was killing Morton Welding Co., a producer of machined, tubular, and assembled products in Peoria, Ill. Average setups on the shop's horizontal machining centers took 2 to 4 hr, and there were 10 setups a week, which amounted to as...

Laser scanner brings in more reverse-engineering. (case books).
January 1, 2003... An existing laser-based CMM at Jerry Fain Models in Bedford, Tex., provides excellent service but has its drawbacks. The device captures points one at a time, and operators must manually move the steering system to track each point to be...

Metal detectors secure shop-towel quality. (case books).
January 1, 2003... Laundering industrial towels embedded with metal chips and curls from machine shops makes the task labor intensive, tedious, and slow. This is why Aramark Uniform Services, headquartered in Burbank, Calif., incorporated an automated...

Sensors measure up to company's needs. (case books).
January 1, 2003... ForMost Systems in Canton, Ohio, provides standard noncontact sensor systems to manufacturers that require real-time measurement in high-speed production processes. The company was expanding its product line and needed a reliable supplier of...

Portable system cleans coolants. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... The Model AC1-70DE portable cyclonic filtration system has a special pumping system that removes dirty coolant directly from the machine tool reservoir. This lets the unit remove contaminants from water-based or synthetic coolants at any...

Universal coolant. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... A heavy-duty semisynthetic coolant offering lubricity and rust protection, Rustlick Ultracut 370R is made for machining and grinding on a range of ferrous and nonferrous metals. Its high level of rust protection makes it well suited for cast...

Aerospace aluminum machining fluid. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... Castrol Alusol A is a semisynthetic metalworking fluid for machining and grinding aerospace aluminum and aerospace alloys in large central systems or single-sump applications. In addition to being chlorine-free and bioresistant, Alusol A...

Formulated for all operations. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... Cimperial 1070 metalworking fluid is well suited for turning, drilling, tapping, reaming, gearcutting, broaching, centerless grinding, and I.D. grinding. The fluid contains mineral oil for lubricity and a chlorinated extreme-pressure additive...

Cutting fluid for aluminum. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... Valcool VNT790 is a semisynthetic metalworking fluid for aluminum machining. It is chlorine-free with good lubricity qualities as well as a low foaming level. The fluid easily rinses off work-pieces, and its inherent corrosion inhibitors...

Filters water-based coolants. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... OSEP-1 fluid-conditioning filtration systems and oil/water separators remove tramp oils from water-based coolants. They also remove solids\fines. The portable machines, which need only a 50-psi air connection, have a 2x2-ft footprint,...

Reclaims fluids after chip spinning or briquetting. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... The Turbo-Separator T10-2-16 filters fine solids from coolant or oils after chip spinning or a briquetting process. A special mechanical design and 3,000-rpm bowl-rotation speed let the centrifuge remove solids down to 2[micro] at flowrates up...

Speedy VMC. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... A linear drive in the X axis along with a high-speed toolchanger ensures fast machining on the DMP 60 V linear. The VMC delivers 3,149-ipm rapid traverse; 1-G acceleration in the X, Y, and Z axes; and 1.8-sec chip-to-chip times. An...

Simultaneous 4 or 5-axis machining. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... The Mikron UCP 1350 traveling-column machining center delivers simultaneous 4 or 5-axis machining and switches from a vertical to a horizontal machining process in 1.7 sec. Its versatile milling head allows simultaneous swiveling of the spindle...

Tight control of laser system. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... Made for accurate, high-speed, multi-axis laser contouring systems, the System 94W laser process control uses two CPUs--one controls real-time trajectory while the other handles the graphical user interface. The 94W's digital-signal processors...

Sensors for tight spaces. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... W2 subminiature sensors detect small parts on transport systems, in belt compartments, and in robot arms. A laser-like light source, precise optics, and special extrusion housings meet any automation requirement. The sensors are useful in...

Noncontact encoder. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... The Magline Roto encoder transforms distance information from a magnetic band through a scanning sensor and generates incremental output signals. Contactless sensing lets the unit operate wear-free and without any vibration transfer....

Gage combines manual and motorized operations. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... Micro-Hite plus M electronic height gages combine the positioning speed of manual height gages with the precision and user-friendliness of motorized ones. With the Tesa rotary power feature, operators switch between manual and motorized...

System displays high-contrast, high-resolution part images. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... The Kestrel 2-axis noncontact measuring system incorporates Dynascope optical-projection technology for high-contrast, high-resolution images of complex parts made from a variety of materials. Accurate and quick displacement measurement is...

Maintenance monitoring software. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... winPRMMaint AddOn software for System200 CNCs and PLCs monitors machine/plant component operations and indicates when maintenance is due. The software provides an overview of maintenance intervals, on-line help for maintenance operations, and...

Cool workpieces during dry grinding. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... The Kool-Grind system uses an internally cooled plate and/or chuck paired with a self-contained chiller to maintain cool workpiece temperatures during dry grinding. The plate or chuck absorbs heat generated during the machining process rather...

Decrease downtime. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... The Mega-150 HMC has 57x43.3x49.8-in. travels and machines workpieces up to 51.2-in. diameter and 59-in. high. The Mega150's tool-delivery system features 0.9-sec tool-to-tool interchange time and tool queuing that eliminates next-tool waiting....

Tables provide 5-axis machining. (Spotlight: coolant & filtration).
January 1, 2003... TR160, TR210, and TR310 dual-axis trunnion rotary tables provide 5-axis capabilities and are well suited for complex shapes, multi-sided machining, and 5-axis work. All three are driven by brushless servomotors on both axes and provide [+ or...

Calendar.
January 1, 2003... January 14-16, 2003, Orlando APEX, Orlando, Fla., Society of Manufacturing Engineers, American Machine Tool Distributors' Association, and AMT--The Association for Manufacturing Technology, (800) 733-4763, www.sme.org/orlando January...

100 years ago in American Machinist: new era for the automobile. (retrospective).
January 1, 2003... AMERICAN MACHINIST editors had strong opinions about automobiles since they first began writing about them in the late 1800s. When those Opinions were offered as predictions, editors were often off-the-mark--underplaying the influence of cars...

More transportation breakthroughs. (retrospective).
January 1, 2003... The week before the wildly successful Automobile Exhibition, AM reported on big news from NYC in the January 22,1903, issue. "The preliminaries... [to] construct the greatest railroad terminal in the world have been settled." Editors called...