American Machinist articles from October 2003

American Machinist archives from October 2003

Smart people sometimes say dumb things.(Editorial)
October 1, 2003... AN ARTICLE RECENTLY CROSSED MY DESK CLAIMING THAT U.S. manufacturing is not in jeopardy of disappearing. The author contends that there are fewer manufacturing jobs today because of increases in productivity from improved machinery and skills....

The high price of CEO compensation.(Letters)
October 1, 2003... YOUR AUGUST EDITORIAL ("BEING highly compensated has its price," p. 8) describes yet another example of putting the cart before the horse. I agree that some company brass should be let go when a corporation is not making a profit. But if we got...

Stirring up a better weld.(Technology Trends)
October 1, 2003... ACCORDING TO UK -- BASED TWI World Centre for Materials Joining Technology, a new friction-stir-welding (FSW) method could form better welds versus conventional friction-stir-welding techniques. Called Com-stir, the FSW technology applies both...

High-speed machining with a continental flair.(Technology Trends)
October 1, 2003... MACHINE TOOL BUILDERS FROM around the world continue to advance high-speed machining (HSM) technology. French companies, for instance, are reporting that new work on machine structures, spindles, and toolholding are progressing quite well. The...

Website simplifies tool selection.(Company news)
October 1, 2003... PROMAX TOOL HAS LAUNCHED A new website and on-line catalog The site, which was developed by Interalab Inc. of Milford, Mich., makes it easy for users to look up information on the company's line of carbide end mills. Promax Tool Co. ...

New team offers tooling, presetting, and workholding.(Company news)
October 1, 2003... PARLEC, WHICH MAKES TOOLING, workholding, and tool-measuring devices, has acquired the Bristol Tool Group. The toolholding and workholding manufacturer based in Kingswood, Bristol, England, will now operate under the name Bristol Tool, A Parlec...

Expanded contract services.(Company news)
October 1, 2003... GLEASON CUTTING TOOL'S NEW facility at Loves Park, III., offers a host of contract services for gearmaking operations. Services and capabilities include tool reconditioning/resharpening, advanced coatings, heat treating, metallurgical analysis,...

Toolholding catalog.(Company news)
October 1, 2003... T.M. SMITH'S 112-PAGE CATALOG (TMS-126) describes quick-change drilling and tapping systems, Shrinker, HSK, and special toolholders. The catalog contains detailed product drawing and specification tables. T.M. Smith Tool International...

U.S. cutting tool institute billings index.(Company news)
October 1, 2003... U.S. Cutting Tool Institute Billings Index Index for July 02--June 03 * July $119,157,814 107.5% August $131,611,728 119.2% September $132,460,583 119.5% October $140,213,292 126.4% November ...

Roughing end mill.(Cutting products)
October 1, 2003... FASTCUT TOOL'S NEW ROUGHING END mills have geometries optimized for machining aluminum alloys. The P/M end mills feature a chipbreaker that reduces torque and power requirements. Its high-helix design efficiently evacuates chips. Shops can...

Indexable countersink and chamfering tools.(Cutting products)
October 1, 2003... FLEXIMILLS FROM NIKO TRADE countersink and chamfer any angle between 10[degrees] and 80[degrees]. Each tool has a square-insert and a triangle-insert pocket. The tools are made from 60-Rc tool steel with nitrogen superficial treatment, are...

Coating for machining hard, abrasive materials.(Cutting products)
October 1, 2003... GUHRING'S NEW MONOLAYER AITiN coating is for milling, drilling, and turning hard (40 Rc or higher) and/or abrasive materials. The coating's high aluminum content and mechanical properties make it well suited for high-speed, high-velocity,...

Bandsaw blade.(Cutting products)
October 1, 2003... A GENERAL-PURPOSE BANDSAW BLADE is available from American Saw for cutting steels and nonferrous materials. The Lenox Classic bimetal-bandsaw blade is for cutting bundled or small materials, square and round tubing, I/H beams, angle iron,...

Diamond-coated inserts.(Cutting products)
October 1, 2003... THE DIATIGER COATING HAS ALL THE PROPERTIES OF NATURAL DIAMOND including high hardness, high strength, and a low coefficient of friction, and the coating does not react with nonferrous materials. In one high-volume automotive application,...

Joint venture announced.(Business Trends)
October 1, 2003... MORI SEIKI U.S.A., DALLAS, HAS FORMED MORI SEIKI Mid-American Sales, a joint venture between Mori Seiki and Yamazen Corp., Schaumburg, Ill. Mori Seiki Mid-American Sales replaces the existing Yamazen sales network and is responsible for...

Reiterates aftermarket support.(Business Trends)
October 1, 2003... REAFFIRMING ITS COMMITMENT TO THE MACHINE TOOL market, Siemens Energy & Automation, Alpharetta, Ga., announced it will continue to support its Acramatic, Sinumerik 840C, and System 8 CNCs with spare parts and repairs. "We are the only...

July tool consumption picking up.(Business Trends)
October 1, 2003... THE JULY MACHINE TOOL CONSUMPTION LEVEL IS up 8.2% from the total reported for July 2002, according to AMT--The Association For Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA). The $157.06 million total...

Die caster orders special HMCs.(Talking Shop)
October 1, 2003... A DIE-CASTING MANUFACTURER placed the first North American order for Bobcat HMCs with Lamb Technicon Inc., Chesterfield Township, Mich. Spartan Light Metal Products Inc. of Sparta, Ill., is replacing some equipment with the Bobcats. The...

NIST award for CAI research.(Talking Shop)
October 1, 2003... RAINDROP GEOMAGIC, RESEARCH Triangle Park, N.C., has received $2 million in funding from NIST's Advanced Technology Program. The software developer is using the award to develop, validate, and benchmark computer-aided inspection technology for...

TechSolve wins grant to develop grinding technology.(Talking Shop)
October 1, 2003... TECHSOLVE, CINCINNATI, AND ITS project team of machining-technology developers has received an Advanced Technology Program completion award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The $6 million grant funds research and...

Certification for service reps.(Talking Shop)
October 1, 2003... AMADA CUTTING TECHNOLOGIES Inc., La Mirada, Calif., offers a program for service-representative certification. The program involves written examinations and working with various bandsaws. Each service representative is certified in categories...

Trade group sets up employment databases.(Talking Shop)
October 1, 2003... THE AMERICAN GEAR Manufacturers Association, Alexandria, Va., has added a career service to its website, http://careers.agma.org. The service helps gear-industry jobseekers find jobs and employers locate candidates.

New Canadian distributor.(Talking Shop)
October 1, 2003... SMS MACHINE TOOLS LTD., REXDALE, ONT., NOW DISTRIBUTES AND SERVICES Kitamura Machinery vertical and horizontal machining centers in Ontario and Quebec.

Manufacturing technology R&D mandates a Manhattan Project.(Government Matters)
October 1, 2003... AMERICA NEEDS A NATIONAL commitment to be first in developing the technologies of tomorrow and, equally important, to be first in the implementation of those technologies to ensure continued leadership in manufacturing. If America is to remain...

Performance is paramount to HMC design.(Machine of the Month)
October 1, 2003... BUILT FOR HIGH-SPEED, PRECISION machining, Mori Seiki's NH4000 DCG horizontal machining center is unlike other HMCs. For instance, rather than placing dual ballscrews on all three axes, Mori Seiki uses only four--two on X, one on Z, and one on...

Improve machine accuracy and productivity.(Bits & Bytes)
October 1, 2003... OSAI'S 10/SERIES NUMERICAL CONTROLS QUICKLY READ AND transfer data, connect and control remote modules, and improve accuracy and productivity of CNC machines thanks to a new FastWire digital protocol, introduced by Osai-USA. Using this...

Read and machine native CAD data.(Bits & Bytes)
October 1, 2003... BY UPDATING TO PARAMETRIC TECHNOLOGY CORP.'S (PTC) Granite 2.0 interoperability kernel, GibbsCAM Solid Exchange Built on Granite now provides a link to Pro/Engineer Wildfire. This update lets GibbsCAM directly read and machine native...

Control exact tool location.(Bits & Bytes)
October 1, 2003... MASTERCAM VERSION 9.1'S advanced multi-axis capabilities improve machining control and consistency and simplify programming. These capabilities include Tool Axis Control and Multiple Pass 5-axis roughing and finishing. Tool Axis Control...

Finalize pre-production designs in hours, not days.(User Review)
October 1, 2003... ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST aerospace manufacturers, Smiths Aerospace, designs and builds equipment such as thrust reversers, high-lift systems, primary-flight controls, and landing-gear-actuation systems for civilian and military aircraft. ...

Employer not liable; no intentional tort.(Law & Liability)
October 1, 2003... On APRIL 24, 1998, ROGER NICKS, an employee of AX Reinforcement Co., was installing rebar for a cement canal wall. A safety belt he was wearing was attached by a hook to a bar on the wall. Nicks fell from about 10 to 12 ft when the wall hook...

Injured operator can pursue claim against seller.(Law & Liability)
October 1, 2003... ON FEB. 4, 1997, DAVID Claypotch, an employee of Norsal Distribution Associates in New Jersey, suffered a serious injury to his right eye while operating a hydraulic punch press. Claypotch's safety expert concluded the accident was caused by a...

Parent not responsible for accident at subsidiary.(Law & Liability)
October 1, 2003... FRANK MORRIS WORKED FOR KYSOR Panel Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Scotsman Industries Inc. On June 15, 1999, Morris was injured in an accident at work. An untrained, unlicensed forklift operator dropped a pallet loaded with metal, and...

Shop manufactures efficiency.(Shop Shots)
October 1, 2003... FITZPATRICK MFG. CO. PRIDES ITSELF ON PROVIDING its customers with competitively priced, precision products delivered on time. The Sterling Heights Mich., single-source manufacturer does so by combining the latest, most-efficient CNC machines...

When smaller is better.(Lasers)
October 1, 2003... Compact laser-machining systems pack just the right power for cutting thin sheetmetal. Edited by Patricia L. Smith High-power C[O.sub.2] laser-cutting systems, while ideal for cutting thick metal plates, often fall short when it comes...

Grinding out nonproductive time: quick setups and superior accuracy make for a fast grinder.(Grinding)
October 1, 2003... Having a grinder that removes material fast is great. But according to one mold shop, the key to real grinding speed is setting up the machine quickly and spending less time measuring parts. Intralox Mold Shop of New Orleans has a Jung J...

Shrinkfit expands into automotive: special toolholding system supports large-scale, automotive production.(Toolholding)
October 1, 2003... Shrinkfit-toolholding use within the auto industry has not yet reached the popularity it has in the aerospace industry. Most automakers have viewed incorporating such tooling in the production environment as too difficult and time-consuming....

A workholding sandwich.(Practical Ideas)
October 1, 2003... TO COMPLETELY TURN A PART O.D. ON A LATHE, I SANDWICH THE WORKPIECE between the chuck and tailstock. To do this, I make a pressure plate by face cutting both sides of a piece of round scrap material and center drilling it on one side. I then...

One swinging mill stop.(Practical Ideas)
October 1, 2003... MY IDEA IS FOR AN ADJUSTABLE MILL stop that locates a workpiece and then swings out of the way if needed. A spring between two washers on a bolt secures an arm and a locating pin to a base that clamps on the machine table. The stop's base is...

CNC retrofit revitalizes a tired VMC.(Case books)
October 1, 2003... A CNC RETROFIT ON A JOHNSFORD VMC IS INCREASING tire-mold manufacturing efficiency at King Machine 30% to 50%. The Akron, Ohio, company installed a Sinumerik 840Di control package consisting of drives, motors, and an AD14 board to interface...

Laser sensors inflate tire-manufacturing quality.(Case books)
October 1, 2003... MANUALLY MEASURING CALENDERED SHEET USING CALIPERS DID NOT PROVIDE ADEQUATE QUALITY CONTROL FOR THE Vredestein Banden BV tire plant in Enschede, Netherlands. Also, there was no in-process feedback to control the thickness of the material, which...

Shop secures crankshaft job.(Case books)
October 1, 2003... BEFORE IT COULD MACHINE 160,000 CRANKSHAFTS FOR A MAJOR ENGINE MANUFACTURER, Trace-A-Matic Corp. had to figure out how to hold the odd-shaped parts. So the Brookfield, Wis., shop contacted its distributor Engman-Taylor Co. of Minomonee Falls,...

Tooling shop delivers in days with new VMCs.(Case books)
October 1, 2003... ELITE MOLD & ENGINEERING BECAME the benchmark for other shops by building aluminum prototype tooling on a three-week basis. But that wasn't good enough. Its competitors caught up, so the Sterling Heights, Mich., shop has revamped its...

Face mills keep HMC running at full capacity.(Case books)
October 1, 2003... TO HIKE THROUGHPUT OF GRAY CAST IRON PARTS, John Deere Waterloo Works, Waterloo, Iowa, forged close working partnerships between manufacturing engineers, a machine tool builder, and a tool supplier. Team members were charged with making the...

Drill's special geometry cuts machining costs.(Case books)
October 1, 2003... SWITCHING TO A NEW CARBIDE DRILL reduced the cost of drilling a high-temperature-alloy part by better than 80% for aerospace components manufacturer J.F. Fredericks Tool Co. in Farmington, Conn. The drills, Sculptured Edge (SE) 284 Dynapoints...

Near-dry machining lubricant.(Spotlight: fluids)
October 1, 2003... DRY-CUT LUBRICANT IS FOR NEAR-DRY METALCUTTING AND forming applications. Reportedly, the fluid lets shops run machines at high speeds, improves lubricity and tool life, and reduces costs by eliminating flood coolant and waste-water disposal....

Fluid protects aluminum.(Spotlight: fluids)
October 1, 2003... VALCOOL VNT790 SEMISYNTHETIC METALWORKING FLUID IS FOR ALUMINUM machining. It also works in other nonferrous and ferrous machining or grinding operations. The fluid is chlorine-free, provides good lubricity, and minimizes foaming. In addition,...

Machining and grinding fluid.(Spotlight: fluids)
October 1, 2003... CUTTER EXP HW FLUID HANDLES HEAVY, MEDIUM, AND light-duty machining and grinding. The soluble, oil-based product dilutes with hard water and provides good surface finishes on most difficult-to-machine alloys. It also prevents stains, rust, and...

Multipurpose metalworking fluid.(Spotlight: fluids)
October 1, 2003... CIMPERIAL 1070 IS A SOLUBLE OIL FOR A VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS INCLUDING turning, drilling, tapping, reaming, gearcutting, broaching, and more. It contains a mineral oil and a chlorinated, extreme-pressure additive for lubricity. The fluid also...

Processes aluminum parts.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... FIVE-AXIS V5 VMCS INCORPORATE A digital-drive system matched to a Siemens 840D CNC for processing aluminum parts. This lets shops increase feedrates without introducing processing or interpolation errors. Both the 2-m V5-2000 and 3-m...

ATC option for VMC.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... THE PERFORMANCE SERIES VMC 6535 now includes an optional 60-pocket dual-arm ATC. The ATC uses a synchronous swing motion--simultaneously picking up the tool in the spindle and a tool from the carousel in one continuous and smooth motion. It...

Work short-turning part.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... SPRINT 20/32 LINEAR AUTOMATIC lathes handle short turning of parts up to 33 mm in diameter. They offer 1-G acceleration and 1,181-ipm rapids. Integrated spindle motors are on the main and counterspindle. Both are equipped with a Y axis as well...

Six-axis CNC screw machine.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... THE A42 PLUS 6-AXIS CNC SCREW machine has a 1 5/8-in. bar capacity and features an eight-station 2-axis turret and a 2-axis, four-tool turret on the front cross slide. The main turret has live-tool capability including a synchronized pickoff...

Machines round surfaces.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... THE LIGHTWEIGHT, PORTABLE MS-JTL machines turning-bearing journals and other round surfaces. Precision bearing and electric servo controls aid in precise cutting tolerances and exacting finishes. Users can position these machines exactly onto...

Affordable wire EDM.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... WITH AN ANTIELECTROLYSIS generator and 770-lb workpiece capacity, the Brother HS70A submerged-wire EDM offers good value for stamping tool/die, medical parts (titanium alloys), production parts, and forming tools. The HS70A comes with an...

Saw conquers hard materials.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... THE DEL-SAW CUTS MILD STEEL, stainless, and high-temperature alloys. Weighing approximately 20,000 lb and featuring a large work envelope, it provides horizontal feed with vertical oscillation. This design provides smooth, clean cuts with a...

Tackles difficult keyways.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... D.C. MORR1SON HAS BUILT KEYWAY-CUTTING machines that produce keyways in blind holes. They cut keyways up to 3/8-in. wide (a metric version cuts 10-mm-wide keyways), and special sizes are also available. The machines use a single-tooth...

Finishers produce mirrorlike surfaces.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... SPH 150 SERIES CUP-WHEEL SUPERFINISHERS PRODUCE MIRROR-FINISH SURFACES to exacting flatness and sphericity tolerances. A high-production version comes with up to two spindles and four chucks. Both the cup-wheel spindle and part reach 6,000 rpm....

Steel wire for less-demanding cold-forming work.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... CARPENTER'S 302HQ-SFQ STAINLESS HEADING WIRE IS A STANDARD-FASTENER-quality material. A low workhardening rate makes it easy to cold form, according to its producer. The modified alloy is produced free of hot mill defects to a maximum of 1% of...

Inverters handle various welding applications.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... PSI 6000 INVERTERS ARE FOR SPOT, projection, and seam-resistance welding. They have direct power-line-connection-supply secondary currents from 250 to 300,000 amp on demand. Input/output options not only include discrete I/O bus, but also...

Pedestal-style welder.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... THE INV PEDESTAL-STYLE WELDER works as a free-standing machine or fits into automated welding cells. There are two sizes, and both have a quick follow-up device making them suitable for spot welding or welding parts with projections. The...

Integrated sheetmetal manufacturing system.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... THE PROGRAMMABLE PUNCHING CELL (PPC) speeds the production of sheetmetal workpieces having similar widths but varying lengths and punch patterns. Consisting of a stamping press, coil reel, straightener, and programmable feed roll, the cell uses...

Boards power 500-W motors.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... AMP-20540 SERVO AMPLIFIER boards, which expand the manufacturer's DMC-21x3 ethernet controllers, drive four brushless or brush-type motors up to 500 W. The boards attach directly to the 96-pin DIN connector of Galil's DMC-2143 controller...

Marking system works alone or in machines.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... THE MC-2000 SCRIBER COMPUTER-controlled marking system works as an independent system or easily integrates in a line. The scribers mount in any position to accommodate part definition. The marking window is 3x2 1/4 in. Character sizes range...

More video measurement/inspection systems.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... SIX MORE SMARTSCOPE MVP VIDEO -measurement/ inspection systems provide 6x3x5 to 12x12x6-in. measurement ranges. Each manual-measuring instrument features a 6.5-to-1 zoom lens with manual or motorized operation, high-resolution color CCD camera,...

Workstations assemble from T-slotted extrusions.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... WORKSTATIONS CREATED FROM T-slotted aluminum extrusions adjust to create ergonomically correct work areas and reconfigure as processes and procedures change. Components such as tool hangers, AkroBins, swing arms, and linear bearings provide...

HMC handles small-to-medium batches.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... With a working range of 800x800x800 mm, the MCH 250 HMC is suitable for small-to-medium-batch machining for automotive, medical devices, and other fields. It boasts high torque for heavy metal removal, high-speed rapid traverse, quick...

EDM for stamping and diecast operations.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... TARGETED FOR THE STAMPING DIE, die cast, and general machining markets, the SP64 wire EDM handles high-production workloads. Several operator conveniences are incorporated into the machine, including a full-function pendant control with LCD...

Roll-out shelving provides easy access.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... ROLL-OUT SHELVES FOR PROPER Storage Systems' die/mold storage system provide easy access to items. Simply roll out the shelf, pick up the desired item with a crane, and take it directly to the press. Various shelf sizes are available, providing...

Automatic barfeeder.(New Equipment)
October 1, 2003... THE FMB TURBO 10-72 BARFEEDER automatically feeds round, square, or hexagonal bars into automatic lathes. The unit handles bars 10 to 72 mm in diameter and 3,200 or 4,200-mm long. Oil-filled plastic channels guide material while keeping...

The birth of the Corvette.(50 years ago in American Machinist)
October 1, 2003... IN OCTOBER 1953, AMERICAN MACHINIST ran two reports on Chevrolet's introduction of the plastic-bodied Corvette. Seems that the car, priced at $3,490, had Corvette fanciers lined up, checkbooks in hand. However, the temporary production line at...

More-affordable titanium?(Technology Trends)
October 1, 2003... ALTHOUGH TITANIUM IS MUCH stronger than aluminum, it is more costly--aircraft-quality titanium billets can sell at 10x the price of pure aluminum ingots. But a new production process could drive down the cost of titanium, according to Vartech...