Modern Applications News articles from December 2003

Modern Applications News archives from December 2003

A rising tide: to paraphrase an old saying, "A rising tide lifts all ships, except one-man kayaks.".(Editor's Corner)
December 1, 2003... From a variety of reputable sources comes encouraging economic news for U.S. industry, including the machine tool industry. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] U.S. Commerce Dept. reports that factory orders rose 0.5% for September. the most recent...

August machine tool consumption 16.6% ahead of July.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... August U.S. machine tool consumption totaled $150.99 million, according to AMT--The Association For Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA--the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in...

Production, new orders grow employment, inventories decline.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in October for the fourth consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for the 24th consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On...

PMI.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... The PMI indicates that the manufacturing economy grew in October for the fourth consecutive month. The PMI for October registered 57%, an increase of 3.3% compared to the September reading of 53.7%. A reading above 50% indicates that the...

New orders.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... ISM's New Orders Index grew in October with a reading of 64.3%. The index is 3.9% higher than the 60.4% registered in September and is the sixth consecutive month the index has exceeded 50%. A New Orders Index above 51%, over time, is generally...

Production.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... ISM's Production Index is 62.6% in October, 5.3% higher than the 57.3% reported in September, reflecting the sixth consecutive month of growth. An index above 49.9%, over time, is generally consistent with an increase in the Federal Reserve...

Employment.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... ISM's Employment Index remained below 50% in October for the 37th consecutive month. The index registered 47.7% in October compared to 45.7% in September, an increase of 2% age points. An Employment Index above 47.8%, over time, is generally...

Supplier Deliveries.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... ISM's Supplier Deliveries Index indicates delivery performance is slower when comparing October to September. October's reading of 53.9% is an increase of 1.5% over September's reading of 52.4%. A reading above 50% indicates slower deliveries.

Inventories.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... The rate of liquidation of manufacturers' inventories decelerated slightly in October as the Inventories Index registered 44.5%. This compares to 42.7% reported in September. The Inventories Index has been under 50% for 45 consecutive months....

Customers' Inventories.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... The Customers' Inventories Index is at 39%, a decrease of 5.5% compared to the September reading of 44.5%. Respondents indicate that their customers do not have sufficient inventories on hand at this time. This is the 29th consecutive month...

Prices.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... ISM's Prices Index indicates manufacturers continued to pay higher prices in October. This is the 20th consecutive month the index has registered higher prices. October's index is at 58.5%, 2.5% higher than September's reading of 56%. In...

Backlog of Orders.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... ISM's Backlog of Orders Index (not seasonally adjusted) registered 53.5%, indicating manufacturers' backlogs in October were higher when compared to September. Of the 87% of respondents who report their backlog of orders, 27% reported greater...

New Export Orders.(Industry News)
December 1, 2003... ISM's New Export Orders Index for October registered 59.6%, an increase of 6.7% when compared to September's index of 52.9%. This is the 22nd consecutive month of growth in export orders.

Portable pump/filter increases screw machine availability; with a "dock-to-stock" delivery schedule for surgical implants, a high-tech screw machine operation relies on portable filtration of cutting oils to maintain machine uptime, pristine shop conditions, and customer delivery expectations.(Coolants
December 1, 2003... Marox Corporation (Holyoke, MA) is a contract manufacturer specializing in high precision machining of implants, external fixations, and surgical instruments for the medical industry, plus aerospace components, and runs two full shifts, seven...

Compact chiller cools laser applications.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... A new chiller designed to provide reliable heat removal for C[O.sub.2], YAG, Argon ion, Nd:Glass, laser-diode, and other types of lasers is now available from PolyScience. The Model 612 refrigerated chiller is easy to operate and features...

Filter system for all wire EDM machines.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... Ona America, Inc., has announced the availability of the new Aqua Prima filtering system for Wire EDM. The series AK-100 is automatic, self-cleaning, uses a mineral filter unit especially assigned for wire EDM filtration and does not require...

Coolant filtration for the machine tool industry.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... Hennig, Inc. announces the new CDF Chip Disc Filtration System featuring affordable disc filter recovery, continuous self-cleaning operations, wide application versatility, and a low-profile system design to accommodate smaller machines. This...

Redesigned centrifuge reduces misting/foaming.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... The Turbo-Separator Model T6 centrifuge separates solids from oil, coolant, or water. This unit has been improved with a new centrate removal system that significantly reduces the misting and foaming associated with many metalworking fluids,...

New General Brochure.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... The new General Brochure from Donaldson[R] Torit[R] provides information on its comprehensive range of dust, fume, and mist collectors, ancillary collection products, and aftermarket filters. As a global leader in industrial air filtration,...

Maintenance tips folder available.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... Kano Laboratories, Inc. has compiled a handy reference folder of lessons learned during the past 60 years as a producer of industrial maintenance products. The reference folder is now available to maintenance and operations professionals free...

Six bearing greases added to lubrication line.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... Molykote[R], Smart Lubrication from Dow Corning, has announced the addition of six high performance bearing greases to its lubrication lineup. These bearing greases are high-performance products suitable for many different applications...

Catalog features cleaning/tool cooling products.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... The new 20th Anniversary Catalog, from Exair Corp., is a full-color technical guide offering solutions to common industrial cleaning, cooling, conveying, drying, blowoff, and static electricity problems. Expanded to 112-pages, this catalog...

New adjustable Rate Oil Skimmer.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... The Maxi-Skimmer[TM] Model SSv/5 Variable Collection Rate Oil Skimmer, from Wayne Products, Inc., is designed for wastewater needs, monitoring wells, and large metalworking coolant tanks and parts washers. The oil collection rate is adjusted by...

Pump/filter unit filters chip spinner/compactor.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... A new pump/filter unit PFA-1004 from Keller Products, Inc., filters sludge and fines from cutting oil or water-base coolant discharged from a chip spinner or chip compactor, and pumps the filtered liquid to a clean coolant tank anywhere in the...

New series of metalworking fluids.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... The Cimcool[R] Division of Milacron, Inc., announces a new line of metal-working fluids with performance characteristics for moderate- to heavy-duty machining and grinding applications. The Cimstar[R] 3800 family of fluids was developed to meet...

Deep-pleated filter collects dust/powder particles.(Spotlight Products)
December 1, 2003... Airguard has introduced an "extended surface" pleated panel filter, Type DP8, with a MERV 8 rating per ASHRE Standard 52.2. The new filter is made from 100% synthetic fibers enhanced with an electrostatic charge to increase efficiency on...

Modular tooling helps shift to production machining; to offer the capability of shifting from prototype production to full-bore automotive production machining, a shop relies on modular tooling to produce chips and parts fast.(Machining)
December 1, 2003... As Paramount Boring & Machine (Oak Park, MI) began to make the transition from prototype job shop to production machining, it has had to respond very quickly to order opportunities and move immediately from design to production. ...

Meeting nightmare deadlines is shop's key to growth: "It's not uncommon for a customer to come in at 6:00 on a Friday evening with a highly complex aluminum part he wants to take with him on a flight to the Far East Monday morning," says Paul Relf, one of two Viper Technologies, Inc. (Torrance, CA) co-founders.(Machining)
December 1, 2003... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At seven-year-old Viper a high-volume production run is eight or 10 parts. Yet, depending on the combination of parts being made, those 10 parts conceivably could require up to 400 hours to produce. To make matters...

Common control technology eases multi-national project: When you decide to build an aircraft piece-by-piece, in different places, on different machine tools and assembly systems, then ship all those pieces to another location for final production, challenges abound.(CAD / CAM / Shop Control Software)
December 1, 2003... In the case of the F-35, the Joint Strike Fighter designed to replace the F-16, A-10 and Harrier jets, among others, these production challenges have stimulated a truly international partnership of innovative thinking. The result has been a...

Sub arc AC capability cuts welding time 60%: new welding technology has allowed a major fabricator specializing in large, heavy weldments to go beyond the conventional, single-wire DC electrode positive or negative submerged arc technology and significantly reduce its welding time and improve quality.(Welding / Brazine / Soldering)
December 1, 2003... "No matter how hard you try to improve sub arc welding productivity, you're stuck in a rut if you only have one way to do it," states Jerry Brown, maintenance supervisor, St. George Steel Fabrication, Inc. (Murray, UT). "Now that we have sub...

Workholding/Toolholding Buyers Guide.(Workholding/toolholding buyers guide)
December 1, 2003... MAN-Modern Applications News presents its annual Workholding/Toolholding Buyers Guide, an alphabetical guide to manufacturers and distributors of workholding and toolholding equipment and supplies for the metalworking industry that have...

Magnetic drills/fabricating tools catalog.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... Hougen Manufacturing, Inc. has published a 16-page catalog that highlights its expanded line-up of portable drilling equipment, accessories, and associated fabrication tools. The drill section includes full specification charting for each model...

Grinders for turret press tooling.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... The Hunton Bench Grinder reduces tooling and grinding costs by sharpening turret press tooling right at the workplace, with 0.001" graduated increments, the grinder provides fine feed for improved finishes, and is available in two sizes for...

Amplifying nozzles reduce air consumption.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... ITW Vortec's line of Energy Saver air nozzles and jets are designed to significantly reduce compressed air consumption by amplifying the air output. The unique design forces the air though a 0.002" annular orifice, which accelerates airflow and...

New mono-layer coating.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... The new AlTiN coating from Guhring Inc., features a unique combination of high heat resistance, high hardness, and high friction coefficient to enhance cutting tool performance in applications where the hardness of the material is 40 HRC or...

New versatile parting/grooving system.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... Valenite Inc. is introducing its new parting and grooving system, ValGroove[TM], that provides more options, features, and benefits than other systems available. Some of the key features are single and double edge inset designs, new...

New standard high-speed programmable tag marker.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... The new Richter UniGrav Model GM-150 tag marker, from Columbia Marking Tools, answers the need for versatile tag marking for most manufactured products. This marking machine is capable of marking seven characters per second. Production rates...

Adapters open Mill/Turn machines to modular tooling.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... Four new Coromant Capto[R] adapters with KAB tool connection, from Big Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc., open a full range of tools to use with Mill/Turn machines with Capto spindle. These adapters are made from a high carbon alloy steel and case...

Hydraulic corner notcher.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... A new hydraulic angle notcher has been added to the fabricating line of Heck Industries. The Model 206/V features variable angle cuts from 30[degrees]-140[degrees], 1/4" capacity, automatic blade adjustment, LED readout, hydraulic hold-downs,...

Compact indexing blast system.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... The Guyson Corporation has added a more compact automatic blast machine to its line-up of rotary indexing table models. The RX-800 is intended to offer the advantages of rapid, accurate processing in a blast system with a small footprint. In...

New brochure features end mills for aluminum milling.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... M.A. Ford Mfg. Co., has a new brochure available featuring the new high-performance three flute end mills, TuffCut[TM] X-AL, for extreme aluminum milling. Stub, standard, and long lengths, Gem Coat (A-DL-C), Fordlube, and uncoated tools are...

New aluminum cutting end mills.(New Products and Literature)
December 1, 2003... Emuge Corporation has introduced a full range of solid carbide end mills, Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD), and insert tools for cutting all types of aluminum. The solid carbide end mills, used for machining in aluminum with low silicon content...

Computer numeric controls revisited: last column, we looked at the motor and drive subgroup of a typical NC/CNC system. In this issue, we'll begin exploring control evolution.(Ron Loeffler on the Three "R'S")
December 1, 2003... Back in the 30's and 40's, automated machine tool systems were founded in gearing, cams, and screws--technologies familiar to the engineers and designers of the time. These systems were widely used in multi-axis screw machines whose typical...