Windmills are fantastic, producing energy from an endless source without waste. Their increasing importance as a power supply is welcomed. We have great solution examples for: Connecting ring, Min shaft, Hub, Ring gear and planetary carrier.

While aluminum molds are commonly used to create prototypes or to serve as stopgap bridge tooling, they are starting to receive greater attention for production work. This shop’s approach to creating aluminum molds in one day to three weeks is the same for each of these situations.

VIDEO. This firm that is focused on product development has invested heavily in additive production technology such as laser sintering, as well as the “subtractive” technology of CNC machining. See how Morris uses both in this narrated tour of the company.

In a tough business climate, it is even more important to optimize every step; from machining processes to tooling solutions, insert and grade selections. To be prepared for high-volume output when the change comes. This latest release of new products comes with a vast line of solutions with your needs in focus. Thousands of new products; all designed to meet the demands of today. Prepare to take large steps.

Through direct CNC machining of molds and cores, this supplier of cast and machined parts skips the pattern-making step that would otherwise be fundamental to casting. The result is weeks of lead-time savings for complex parts that are needed in a hurry.

 VIDEO. A firm specializing in rapid product development describes how it uses CNC machining for prototyping.

VIDEO. Part of Renishaw’s automated production process, this turning operation uses tools affixed to the machining center’s table while the workpiece is mounted in the spindle.

VIDEO. How you use the machining center is just as important as the quality of the machine itself. This tutorial covers machining center leveling, alignment and temperature—as well as toolchange and setup procedures.

VIDEO. The machining center in this automated production process inspects its own work and updates its own positioning. Probing a known, traceable reference makes this possible.

VIDEO. Have you considered milling holes through helical ramping instead of drilling them? This brief animated video covers the high points, including tool diameter selection and the potential for savings.

VIDEO. On a ballnose end mill, the depth of cut determines the actual cutting diameter. This effect, along with the related concept of chip thinning, will influence the optimal choices of spindle speed and feed rate.

VIDEO. Even on a programmable machine, the ability to machine a complex profile with a single plunge can offer a variety of benefits, including both accuracy and speed.

VIDEO. In a lean machining facility, grouping horizontal machining centers close together allows a small number of operators to use the machines efficiently.

VIDEO. For this valve maker, a part that might have been machined in one setup on a multitasking machine tool is instead machined with greater throughput using a series of simpler machines. Company personnel explain.

VIDEO. Valve maker Richards Industries took a part that used to machined at one machine tool and added an additional setup on a vertical machining center. Higher throughput was the result.

See how this Delphos, Ohio, screw machine shop has saved considerable time by making its process on the shop floor more lean.

 VIDEO. Here is the training film a job shop developed to help its employees understand 5S.

This manufacturer’s use of live-tool lathes overcomes labor cost in various ways. One of the latest sources of savings involves bringing another operation—hobbing—into these machines. INCLUDES VIDEO.

Here is one custom machine builder’s system for producing a 40-foot part that has to be passed through the turning center and out the other side. INCLUDES VIDEO.

 VIDEO. The ability to measure tool offsets while the tool is spinning can improve both the accuracy and performance of the process in various ways.

VIDEO. This footage illustrates shows how the toolholder taper is measured in a test designed to capture the retention knob’s effect on the shape of the toolholder taper.

VIDEO. This footage shows a workpiece gripper that enables a machine to load and unload workpieces on its own.

Machining internal threads in difficult materials is challenging, especially when hole diameters are small. Thread milling offers advantages for these applications that are important to consider.

 Smooth finish comes from balanced cutting parameters, as this video explains.

 This footage on a small drilling machining also includes machining with full-size tools in the same cycle.

Video shows the smooth, quiet, rapid motion characteristic of effective micromilling.

Video captured with a microscope shows that a full-scale machining center is capable of micro-size milling work.

Video captured with a microscope shows micromachined part.

The Makino EDFH1 is a fine-hole EDM machine capable of machining holes as small as 10 microns in diameter using a 6-micron-diameter electrode. One user of this machine is Hummingbird Precision Machine in Lacey, Washington. This video taken at Hummingbird shows how the electrode is loaded.

A wire EDM machine designed for micromachining uses negative air pressure to thread the fine wire.

When milling with tiny tools, changing the length-to-diameter ratio can significantly change the cutting parameters it is possible to achieve.

Linear motors take the place of ballscrews on this machine performing high speed cutting of aluminum at a job shop near Atlanta.

An alternative to the typical profiler design, this machine saves labor by allowing chips to fall out of the way.

Machining animation from Boeing illustrates effective techniques for titanium workpieces.

Machining animation from Boeing illustrates effective techniques for titanium workpieces.

Machining animation from Boeing illustrates effective techniques for titanium workpieces.

If the position of a machine tool’s axis is measured using a rotary encoder, then potentially the ballscrew is being asked to perform two contradictory functions. The ballscrew both drives the axis into position and indicates that position—because the ballscrew lies in between the encoder and the moving element of the machine. Control technology supplier Heidenhain calls this “semiclosed-loop” operation.

These animations show why an arc in the same direction as tool rotation is effective. The strategy is relevant for entering material from the edge, as well as for pocketing.

A tool with many flutes can be effective for achieving a productive metal removal rate in titanium, where speed and chip load are constrained. See how quickly the chips accumulate in this video.

The video compares a milling pass that chatters to one that is stable. Because the stable speed permits greater depth of cut, productivity increases.

This video footage showing the machining of a massive crankshaft suggests some of the possibilities of turn-milling. Not all shops realize possibilities such as this even on their own smaller-scale turn-mill equipment.

A complement to the turn-mill footage, this video clip shows a turning operation for a massive crankshaft.

Minimum quantity lubrication does not require a special machine tool or special tooling. This video makes the case for MQL and describes how to apply it effectively.

The vertical-bed design used on this twin-turret lathe offers accuracy advantages for turning shafts.

Here is a different way to think about the slice in your golf game. This footage comes from a Web site exploring the lighter side of waterjet machining.

Bryco Machine recently reorganized its shop floor to implement a leaner process. Here is a narrated tour through the shop.

streaming_file=Citizen_R07&streaming_file_name=Citizen_R07&streaming_vpath=mmsonline&p_sec=1 This part machined on a CNC Swiss-type lathe includes 0.008-inch slots machined through precision sawing. The lathe performing this work uses linear

Hard turning can reduce, and in some cases eliminate, finish grinding operations. Because it is a single-point turning process, however, it will produce feed marks on a part’s surface no matter how much the feed rate is reduced. This may be tolerable for non-finish-critical diameters, but is unacceptable for shaft

streaming_file=Citizen_A20&streaming_file_name=Citizen_A20&streaming_vpath=mmsonline&p_sec=1 This video shows a machining cycle on a CNC Swiss-type lathe that takes advantage of more sophisticated features involving the subspindle. The subspi

View this video to see clearly how a CNC Swiss-type lathe works. On a machine of this type, the guide bushing moves the part along the axial direction so the tool can remain close to the point of support. Thread whirling is one of the operations in this machining cycle producing a bone screw. Video Length: 3.25 minutes

Electrodes with thin walls , ribs or other delicate features can be machined in one piece with HSM, because the light cuts put so little pressure between the cutter and the workpiece. This can do away with the need to use separate electrodes for these features. Reducing the EDM process to just one electrode redu

This is an approach to rough milling in which straight lines are replaced by “curlicue” circular moves of constant radius. Potential benefits include: Faster metal removal. Making the constant circular curve the only direction change allows a high feed rate to be consistently maintained. Longer tool life. The

This video demonstrates thin wall machining. Taking the weight out of some parts by machining them with thinner walls is not a new idea. But the thinnest walls require light cuts that may be too time-consuming at lower speeds. HSM changes the equation. By combining light cuts with high feed rates, HSM permits thin

This video demonstrates high speed machining. High Speed Machining offers a way to mill complex structures in aluminum that were never practical before. Makers of structural components can achieve thinner walls for reduced weight and machine monolithic structures that save on assembly. Makers of fuel syste

To mill thin walls in aluminum using fast light cuts, machine on alternating sides of the wall all the way down, jumping the wall with each new pass. This leaves the wall supported on both sides by unremoved stock close to where the tool is cutting. The video illustrates this. When a pattern of thin walls makes up

Feeding into the material at full depth and full feed rate can shorten tool life. Enter the workpiece gradually with a series of ramping moves. Two alternatives are presented. CAM animation courtesy of Mastercam. Video courtesy of Carboloy. streaming_fi

Some CNCs can interpolate axes along mathematical curves. A single program block can describe a complete curve that might once have required several blocks of short lines. The potential benefit is higher feed rate. This is true even when the CNC has plenty of processing power. Curve interpolation lets the control

This video clip illustrates micromilling at a high tool L:D ratio.

A machining center able to maintain precise control at high feed rates makes it practical to machine holes through helical milling as an alternative to drilling. The same speed permits faster drilling, too, so helical milling won’t necessarily be the best approach. Here are applications where helical milling is li

This video demonstrates hole making. Hole making often involves sequential operations such as drill-then-tap. Combination tools that perform these operations simultaneously can eliminate tool changes, saving cycle time. Many combination tools call for helical interpolation. The video shows the same series of hole

This CAM feature applies to workpieces with pockets separated by thin walls. Instead of machining any pocket all at once, every pocket is machined a little at a time to keep all of the walls supported from both sides throughout the cycle. Click here to see one level of a workpiece machined through incremental pock

A vacuum system for the machining center draws particulate through the center of the tool.

CAM software with a re-machining feature can create tool paths for removing just what stock remains after high-feed-rate moves have rounded off internal corners. Rest milling (to machine the "rest" of the material) is a term for re-machining. Rest milling generally employs multiple passes. When just one pass is

Video shows the performance of coated carbide, diamond-coated, PCD and veined PCD tools in carbon fiber reinforced plastic.

Video shows the performance of coated carbide, diamond-coated, PCD and veined PCD tools in carbon fiber reinforced plastic.

Video shows the performance of coated carbide, diamond-coated, PCD and veined PCD tools in carbon fiber reinforced plastic.

Video shows the performance of coated carbide, diamond-coated, PCD and veined PCD tools in carbon fiber reinforced plastic.

Turning automation helps this shop produce parts more efficiently.

Here is video of the five-axis motion required to trim a relatively simple composite component.

Slow-motion video shows the effect of a micograin tool coating in drilling CFRP.

Milling cuts out features of a composite structure, then cuts the structure itself out of the setup.

In this shop, high speed machining makes sense at 4,000 rpm. While the disciplines the shop put in place made a new 15,000-rpm profiler dramatically more productive, high speed machining would have remained valuable even if the new machine never came. Acoording to a co-owner of this shop, high speed machining has no need for speed.

Curt Reed uses advanced grinding techniques in the pursuit of short-run, sub-micron work that other shops can’t perform or won’t attempt. His shop’s commitment to its customers is reflected in the high level of equipment sophistication and applied grinding acumen.

This clamping system allows a workpiece to be rigidly clamped while raised up from the surface of the worktable on a five-axis machining center. Moving the workpiece away from the table creates clearance for the spindle nose and cutting tool when the table swivels the workpiece for multi-sided machining, or when the spindle head rotates and swivels to do contouring or sculptured surfaces. Without this clearance, the user may be forced to refixture the part or to switch to a longer, less rigid tool.

It doesn't take sophisticated technology to perform plunge roughing effectively. In fact, if you are making due with a less effective machine, plunge roughing deserves even more serious consideration. (Includes video.)

With all of the titanium that will be required for a new aircraft, any of 1,000 spindles might benefit from the tools and techniques described here.

High speed, five-axis scanning promises to give throughput on coordinate measuring machines a big boost. Entire manufacturing strategies may be up for rethinking as a result.

Installing a machine tool that combines milling, turning, boring and other processes changed this job shop’s outlook.

Lately, several cutting tool manufacturers have re-examined indexable insert drills, seeking to overcome the disadvantages of unbalanced cutting forces inherent in their design. One of the most recent developments along these lines is the CoroDrill 880 introduced by Sandvik Coromant.

Machining magnesium is risky business, as the chips and dust generated are flammable. A research consortium has developed a novel way to extract magnesium particles out of the machine by vacuuming them through a hollow tool and spindle during machining.

Combining a rotating tool with rotating work produces a machining operation that is distinct from standard turning or milling.

streaming_file=Citizen_M320Y&streaming_file_name=Citizen_M320Y&streaming_vpath=mmsonline&p_sec=1 This intricate machining cycle on a CNC Swiss-type lathe reveals how a turning center capable of X-, Y- and Z-axis motion in milling can be effec