DATRON high speed machining centers are employed by thousands of manufacturers worldwide in countless applications – milling, drilling and engraving a wide range of different materials. From medical device manufacturers milling intricate printed circuit boards (PCB) for pacemakers to firearm

There are some distinct differences between thread milling and tapping. This article explains the advantages and disadvantages of each so that you can make an educated decision about the strategy that will work best for your parts. Tapping: Advantages and Disadvantages The greatest adva

Securing small, thin pieces of metal during the milling process can be a big challenge. There are several ways to do it, but which produces the most favorable results? Mechanical fastening is one option, but it’s often ruled out when the part is so small that it simply does not have enough

I often hear machinists complain about the difficulties in milling acrylic. Their problems range from chipping, melting, “bird nesting” (the gathering of material around the cutting edge of the tool) and not being able to achieve clear, see-through surfaces and edges. Even seasoned manufactur

The Dental Lab Network is an online community where I’m often asked about the DATRON D5 Dental Milling Machine’s features and how they compare to other machines on the market. Recently, a lab that’s interested in milling titanium parts for dental implants had raised the following questio

Learn from BNC Engineering what it takes to bring CNC capability in-house. Nestled in the outskirts of Seattle, amidst a quaint residential neighborhood, you’ll find a rather modest garage that is packing some serious manufacturing capability. This little workshop is the home to BNC Engine

Lately, our blog has featured a great deal of information, with posts featuring tips, how-to’s, and the overall benefits of setting up in-house prototyping. Of all the benefits we’ve explained, there is a major advantage that is worth emphasizing for its larger reach beyond your in-house p

Why Building Machines for Speed and Efficiency Means Doing Things Differently. I’ve heard it hundreds of times. At trade shows, during demonstrations, in online forums, on social media… It usually goes like this: Person asks: “How much does this machine weigh?” I respond: “This DATRO

Understanding how vacuum chucks work, and how they can make your life easier. We answer questions about our machines daily, but sometimes, we receive even more interest in our vacuum tables. While vacuum tables are not a wholly uncommon accessory in the CNC machining world, DATRON approach

Fast Tracking your ROI by Producing More Parts, Not Setups There’s a lot to be said for flexing your creative muscles in manufacturing. Shop owners and machine operators alike can appreciate the situation of being presented a square peg and having to force it through a round hole – and sti

5 Things You Didn’t Know About the M8 Cube Buying things sight-unseen has become the norm in the modern era of Amazon and all things e-commerce. However, there are still some things that you really owe it to yourself to see in person first before pulling the trigger. When it comes to CNC m

Microsoft Research & Development Lab Uses DATRON Machines For Rapid Prototyping Microsoft’s “Building 87” is a massive complex of laboratories that house some of the most advanced manufacturing technologies in the world, so it comes as no surprise to find over a dozen DATRON CNC machin

Most Efficient Way To Machine Small Aluminum Parts Producing Higher Quantities, and a Higher Quality, in Less Time Comes Down to RPM We’ve all been there. A job comes in that needs small cutting tools, and all we have is a 40-Taper VMC. So, we figure just put on some adapters to r

The DATRON next© control CNC software is one of those smart technologies that comes along and just improves how we work. After years of manual data entry, painstakingly slow part set-up, rerunning jobs due to set-up errors, and going from machine to machine to check job status – suddenly, that’s

​Hello, and welcome to the Hurco blog. I will be updating and posting something new each week on a variety of different subject matter: high-speed and 5-axis machining, workholding, the latest control technologies, and Hurco tips-and-tricks…just to name a few. My name is Mike Cope and I

There are a number of features built into today’s modern CNC controls that are designed to make life easier for the programmer, and each of these has its own special place in our personal box of “go-to” tools; tools that we use to be more productive. For me, Hurco’s Absolute Tool Length

Hurco’s patented ASR feature (Automatic Safe Repositioning) is a very powerful tool for 5-axis NC or CAM programmers. One of the biggest problems when posting 5-axis NC code is configuring the post to always output safe, reliable data to reposition the tool-tip without causing the machin

When programming a part we often need measurement data that just isn’t on the print - and short of some very involved Trigonometry, or redrawing and analyzing the part in a CAD system, there hasnt been a good way to find these reference dimensions…until now! Hurco allows the operato

Have you ever needed to make the same dimensional change to multiple conversational blocks in the same program…and cringed at the thought of tediously changing them one at a time? Well, cringe no more! Hurco’s Modify Dimension function makes this a simple task. For example: you are engr

In the past, when programming rectangular shaped geometries on the Hurco control, in which the four corners weren’t square or didn’t all have the same size radii, the feature needed to be programmed using a Milling Lines & Arcs data block. However, with the introduction of the latest