What is Electrochemical Grinding(ECG)? Electrochemical grinding is a process that removes electrically conductive material by grinding with a negatively charged abrasive grinding wheel, an electrolyte fluid, and a positively charged workpiece. Materials removed from the workpiece stay in

What is Ion Beam Machining? Ion beam machining (IBM) is an important non-conventional manufacturing technology used in micro-/nanofabrication, using a stream of accelerated ions by electrical means in a vacuum chamber to remove, add, or modify the atoms on the surface of the object. In IB

What is Plasma? Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, first systematically studied by Irving Langmuir in the 1920s. It consists of a gas of ions atoms or molecules that have one or more orbital electrons stripped (or, rarely, an extra electron attached), and free electrons.

What is Surface Finish? Surface finish, also known as surface texture or surface topography, is the nature of a surface as defined by the three characteristics of lay, surface roughness, and waviness. It comprises the small, local deviations of a surface from the perfectly flat ideal (a true

What is Surface Roughness? Surface roughness, often shortened to roughness, is a component of surface texture. It is quantified by the deviations in the direction of the normal vector of a real surface from its ideal form. If these deviations are large, the surface is rough; if they are s

What is Protractor? A protractor is a measuring instrument, typically made of transparent plastic or glass, for measuring angles. Some protractors are simple half-discs. More advanced protractors, such as the bevel protractor, have one or two swinging arms, which can be used to help measure

What is Brazing? Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, with the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal. Brazing differs from welding in that it does not involve

What is a Grinding Machine? A grinding machine, often shortened to grinder, is one of the power tools or machine tools used for grinding, it is a type of machining using an abrasive wheel as the cutting tool. Each grain of abrasive on the wheel’s surface cuts a small chip from the workpiece

What is Underwater Welding? Underwater welding is performed while the welder is submerged, often at elevated barometric pressures. This introduces a variety of challenges that require specialized skills and training that are taught at CDA Technical Institute (formerly Commercial Diving Acade

What is a Drilling Machine? A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driver chuck. with hand-operated types dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating. A drilling machine, also

What is a Boring Machine? A carpenter’s boring machine is a hand-driven machine to bore holes in beams such as in the process of making a mortise or making holes for the wooden pegs which hold mortise and tenon joints together. Boring machine, device for producing smooth and accurate hole

What Is a Micrometer? A micrometer is a measuring instrument that can make extraordinarily precise measurements. Most micrometers are designed to measure within one one-thousandth of an inch! That’s a close fit. Exact measurements like this are necessary when even the smallest of space betwe

What is A Planer Machine? A planer is a type of metalworking machine tool that uses the linear relative motion between the workpiece and a single-point cutting tool to cut the workpiece. A planer is similar to a shaper but larger, and with workpiece moving, whereas in a shaper the cutting to

What is a Broaching? Broaching is a machining process where a sharp, hardened, toothed tool removes material from a workpiece in a consistent, continuous, and accurate way. The process of broaching uses a tool with raised teeth of differing sizes that precisely cut away a specified amount of

Jigs or fixtures? The two terms are easy to confuse. You’ll often find them paired together and despite sharing similar functions, the two are not interchangeable. Let’s learn the subtle differences between these manufacturing tools by examining how they are used to improve manufacturing qualit

What is Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM)? Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a non-traditional machining process based on removing material from a part by means of a series of repeated electrical discharges between tools, called electrodes, and the part being machined in the presenc

Have you heard of ultrasonic machining? Also known as ultrasonic vibration machining, it’s a manufacturing process that’s used to remove material from a workpiece through the use of high-frequency vibrations combined with particles. An ultrasonic tool essentially creates many small vibration

What is Arc Welding? Arc welding is a welding process used to join metal to metal by using electricity to generate enough heat to melt metal and the melted metals, when cooled, resulting in a joint of the metals. It is a type of welding that uses a welding power supply to create an arc betwe

What is MIG Welding? Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding is an arc welding process that uses a continuous solid wire electrode heated and fed into the weld pool from a welding gun. The two base materials are melted together forming a join. The gun feeds a shielding gas alongside the electrode help

What Is Additive Manufacturing? Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a transformative approach to industrial production that enables the creation of lighter, stronger parts and systems. As its name implies, additive manufacturing adds material to create an object. Ad