December 2009 Issue

December 2009

The Responsiveness Robot

For this lean shop dedicated to low-inventory kanban relationships with customers, the most critical measure of efficiency revealed the value of robotic loading.

Features

Featured articles from the December 2009 issue of Modern Machine Shop

Horizontal Machining Centers 19 Nov 2009

Honing On A Horizontal Machining Center

A specially designed tooling package for honing operations, along with live, on-board gaging, allows critical honing operations to move to HMCs, thereby eliminating several separate steps on multiple dedicated machines.

6 Nov 2009

Mind The Mechanicals Before Upgrading Your CNC

Don’t plan a control retrofit project too narrowly. Proper mechanical alignment is a key part of a comprehensive approach to upgrading a machine’s CNC.

Data-Driven Manufacturing 16 Nov 2009

MTConnect Is For Real

Introduced at IMTS 2008, this communications protocol for CNC machines and other manufacturing equipment is already helping shops and plants implement effective machine monitoring systems. Although these "early adopters" are motivated by the long-term promise of enterprise-wide efficiency gains, their experience with pilot projects shows that benefits derived in the short term are substantial and worthwhile.

Composites Machining 28 Oct 2009

Cutters Compress To Effectively Machine Composites

The combined up-cut and down-cut spiral flutes on these cutters compress layered composites to prevent delamination during machining.

Inspection and Measurement 22 Oct 2009

How Stylus Choice Affects CMM Accuracy

Measurement uncertainty and inconsistency can result when an improper CMM stylus is chosen. A metrology products manufacturer details four aspects of stylus choice that can impact overall CMM accuracy.