For years, Mazak has touted the advantages of multitasking equipment, ranging from its live-tool QuickTurn and EZ Series CNC turning centers to its Integrex turn-mills with B-axis milling spindles. The idea being shops can machine complex parts complete rather than running them across multiple mac

Innovative Controls’ in-house manufacturing capabilities enable it to design, assemble and ship assemblies —such as these gage bezels for fire trucks — faster than outsourcing those capabilities. Innovative Controls’ efforts to become vertically integrated with its

LeanWerks developed a process combining cutting tool, workholding and part-probing technologies to enable its turn-mill to machine five sides of this investment casting part in one setup. Photo Credits: LeanWerks Some years ago, ebbing oilfield business conditions spurred Ogden, Utah&rsquo

Automatic Products in Sumner, Washington, began as a job shop with cam automatics in the early 1990s. It now has more than 50 CNC machines. The shop began replacing cam automatics with Lico LNTS machines in 2017. Owner Joel Gregory says it was a difficult decision as he had learned the trade on c

Increasing economic optimism makes it a great time to reconnect with the precision machining industry to discover the latest technology and trends at the Precision Machining Technology Show (PMTS) 2021 set for August 10-12, 2021, in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Huntington Convention Center. PMTS brings i

Weisser's Hyperspeed Oval Turning (HOT) "out-of-round" machining unit enables hard and soft machining of reciprocating pistons for combustion engines made of aluminum and steel, hardened camshafts, polygonal profiles or shapes, and automotive fuel pumps, among other applications.

A cutting tool that takes advantage of a multitasking machine’s Y-axis motion can perform parting-off operations faster than conventional X-axis motion. Photo credits: Sandvik Coromant B-axis turn-mills and many live-tool CNC turning centers offer Y-axis motion perpendicular to the Z a

Manufacturing’s “need for speed” is truer today than in the past, as customers demand faster turnaround for products. And if one manufacturer cannot accommodate, the customer will find another company that will. Therefore, many machine shops are inventing processes — or i

It’s time to reconnect with the precision machining industry at the Precision Machining Technology Show (PMTS) 2021 set for August 10-12, 2021, in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Huntington Convention Center. This is the perfect opportunity to consider investing in updates for your company’s tec

Diversified Fittings’ two twin-spindle/twin-turret lathes are the shop’s most productive machines, offering the highest spindle utilization. Some shops have names that very accurately describe what they’re all about. Perry, Ohio’s Diversified Fittings is one. Craig Coga

This machine combines the fast production capabilities of a multi-spindle cam screw machine with the programming and precision made possible through computer numerical control (CNC). Photo credits: Davenport Machine The Davenport brand is no stranger to anyone in our precision machining industr

This compact CNC mill can be used for secondary operations and/or as a standalone production machine. It can be easily redeployed to different areas of a shop, if necessary. Photo credits: Trak Machine Tools For all the advances in multitasking turning technology over the years — live too

There can be economic advantages using a chucker lathe to machine parts from shaped blanks created by processes such as casting, forging and metal injection molding (MIM). The goal of this concept using near-net-shape components is to limit the amount of roughing operations and finish the part with

Some time ago, I got the chance to visit Vallorbs, a machine shop in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, that has a wealth of experience with Swiss-type lathes. Of course, it also faces the challenges of needing to train new employees how to run such sophisticated machines. Like many other shops, Vallo

This video illustrates how laser turning works. Credit: GFH GmbH   In the precision machining industry, lasers have not played a prominent role beyond part marking and engraving, but they have been added to Swiss-type lathes to cut tube material primarily for medical applications. Lasers ha

By developing a more accurate machining process for mating helical rotors, this Whipple Supercharger’s supercharger models can more efficiently force air into an engine for higher horsepower gains. Custom workholding and form tools enable the company to precisely mill supercharger rotors in

This on-machine probe scans the complete contour of this component’s slot at a rate of 2 meters per minute to ensure 2-micron slot parallelism. Photo credits: Blum-Novotest. A number of shops use on-machine touch probes to speed setups or perform in-process measurement of machined feature

Brothers Rich (left) and Adam Gent have brought a wealth of new CNC technology to Gent Machine, a shop that initially relied solely on screw machines such as this Davenport displayed in its Cleveland facility. Contract shop Gent Machine was established in 1927, but perhaps the biggest changes h

AMRC engineers Joe Thickett and Emma Parkin show off their micromachined portraits of the queen. (Photo credits: Starrag.) When two University of Sheffield (England) engineers wanted to show off the micromachining capabilities of the Starrag Bumotec mill-turn machining center, they chose a uniq

This video briefly describes how minimum quantity lubrication works on a CNC lathe, and how to set it up. Video credit: Unist Inc.   Having as much control as possible over machining processes is what most machinists strive for. The amount and application of coolant delivered during the chi