CNC MACHINES

CNC machine software PartMaker to exhibit

PartMaker has announced that it will be exhibiting its CADCAM software for CNC machine tools, lathes, turning centres and other items of precision engineering.

The company is to attend the Precision Machining Technology Show (PMTS), the only event which focuses solely on production machining, to promote its self-titled software which has undergone several updates since it demonstrated its last incarnation at the previous PMTS two years ago.

Now promoting a much-improved ease of use, PartMaker states that its attendance at the show is important as it aims to help companies overcome any bugbears with any applications they may be running, supporting companies in the US and other business travellers from Europe.

The company stated: “Many PartMaker users report being able to reduce machine set-up time by up to 50 per cent versus their previous means of programming by generating accurate CNC programs and visualizing the machining process off-line.”

PMTS is taking part at the Great Columbus Centre in Columbus, Ohio between April 28th and 30th.

Swiss turning centers

In collaboration with Citizen Machinery Tech Center in Elmira, N.Y.

Hardinge Inc. has developed and now manufactures standard TF-25 OG overgrip collets for Cincom M20 and L20 lathes. Overgrip collets — also referred to as over-the-shoulder collets — are used on a pick-off spindle when it is required to clear a shoulder and grip on a smaller diameter beyond. A good example of this type of part would be a screw. Extra spread is required to open the collet wide enough to go over the screw head or larger diameter.

Hardinge’s collet design incorporates teardrop slots and reduced wall thickness for maximum flexibility for the overgrip pick-off process. A double-angle taper reduces the contact surface to provide for quick opening of the collet. Hardinge hardened and ground collets provide high accuracy and repeatability with precision in the collet back bearing and concentricity at the gripping area. Order holes are finish-ground on a high-precision Tripet internal grinding machine. The grip diameter, grip length and the recessed part diameter are required to manufacture an overgrip collet for a specific part. A semi-finished stock program is in place at Hardinge to provide a quick order turnaround.

The Cincom M20 and L20 Swiss Turning Centers have extra stroke built into their sub-spindle to accommodate an over grip collet with a recessed part diameter (extra spread requirements) to 3 mm. Hardinge manufactures headstock collets, pickoff collets and carbide guide bushings for all Citizen machines.

http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/Issue/Article/False/83862/Issue

Read More Articles on Cnc Turning

CNC Has Automated MQL Technology

ITW Rocol North America has combined SpiderCool and Accu- Lube

technologies to allow CNC machining center applications to aim the minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) nozzle at the cutting edge of multiple tools of varying lengths without operator intervention.

SpiderCool MQL systems atomize Accu-Lube lubricant within the SpiderCool nozzle assembly. Microdroplets of lubricant are then directed through an extended nozzle tube. A specially designed tip and integrated laser allow the operator to direct the nearly invisible stream of lubricant so that a concentrated spray pattern is accurately applied onto a cutting tool as far as six inches away.

The company said that with these two products it is now possible to realize the advantages of near-dry machining and automated nozzle positioning. Benefits claimed include unattended operations, increased tool life, improved cycle time, better part quality, elimination of coolant disposal, corrosion free machines and improved operator safety, all while promoting a cleaner, healthier environment. Return on investment is typically only a few months on a single shift application.

http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/Issue/Article/False/83866/Issue

Amish Hackers

The Amish have the undeserved reputation of being luddites, of people
who refuse to employ new technology. It’s well known the strictest of
them don’t use electricity, or automobiles, but rather farm with manual
tools and ride in a horse and buggy.  In any debate about the merits of
embracing new technology, the Amish stand out as offering an honorable
alternative of refusal. Yet Amish lives are anything but
anti-technological. In fact on my several visits with them, I have
found them to be ingenious hackers and tinkers, the ultimate makers and
do-it-yourselfers and surprisingly pro technology.

Homebuilt gas powered ice cutter to make ice for non-electric icebox.

First, the Amish are not a monolithic group. Their practices
vary parish by parish. What one group does in Ohio, another church in
New York may not do, or a parish in Iowa may do more-so. Secondly,
their relationship to technology is uneven.  On close inspection, most
Amish use a mixture of old and very new stuff. Thirdly, Amish practices
are ultimately driven by religious belief: the technological,
environmental, social, and cultural consequences are secondary. They
often don’t have logical reasons for their policies. Lastly, Amish
practices change over time, and are, at this moment, adapting to the
world at their own rate. In many ways the view of the Amish as
old-fashioned luddites is an urban myth.

Like all legends, the Amish myth is based on some facts. The
Amish, particular the Old Order Amish — the stereotypical Amish
depicted on calendars – really are slow to adopt new things. In
contemporary society our default is set to say “yes” to new things, and
in Old Order Amish societies the default is set to “no.” When new
things come around, the Amish automatically start by refusing them. 
Thus many Old Order Amish have never said yes to automobiles, a policy
established when automobiles were new. Instead, they travel around in a
buggy hauled by a horse. Some orders require the buggy to be an open
carriage (so riders – teenagers, say – are not tempted with a private
place to fool around); others will permit closed carriages. Some orders
allow tractors on the farm, if the tractors have steel wheels; that way
a tractor can’t be “cheated” to drive on the road like a car. Some
groups allow farmers to power their combine or threshers with diesel
engines, if the engine only drives the threshers but is not
self-propelled, so the whole smoking, noisy contraption is pulled by
horses. Some sects allow cars, if they are painted entirely black (no
chrome) to ease the temptation to upgrade to the latest model.

Horse-drawn diesel combine, from Old Order Amish

Behind all of these variations is the Amish motivation to
strengthen their communities. When cars first appeared at the turn of
last century the Amish noticed that drivers would leave the community
to go shopping or sight-seeing in other towns, instead of shopping
local and visiting friends, family or the sick on Sundays. Therefore
the ban on unbridled mobility was aimed to make it hard to travel far,
and to keep energy focused in the local community. Some parishes did
this with more strictness than others.

A similar communal motivation lies behind the Old Order Amish
practice of living without electricity. The Amish noticed that when
their homes were electrified with wires from a generator in town, they
became more tied to the rhythms, policies and concerns of the town.
Amish religious belief is founded on the principle that they should
remain “in the world, not of it” and so they should remain separate in
as many ways possible. Being tied to electricity tied them into the
world, so they surrendered its benefits in order to stay outside the
world. For many Amish households even today, you’ll see no power lines
weaving toward their homes. They live off the grid.

To live without electricity or cars eliminates most of what we
expect from modernity. No electricity means no internet, TV, or phones
as well, so suddenly the Amish life stands in stark contrast to our
complex modern lives.

Going home after school.

But when you visit an Amish farm, that simplicity vanishes. The
simplicity vanishes even before you get to the farm. Cruising down the
road you may see an Amish kid in a straw hat and suspenders zipping by
on roller blades. In front of one school house I spied a flock of
parked scooters, which is how the kids arrived there. Not Razors, but
hefty Amish varieties.  But on the same street a constant stream of
grimy mini-vans paraded past the school. Each was packed with
full-bearded Amish men sitting in the back. What was that about?

Turns out the Amish make a distinction between using something
and owning it. The Old Order won’t own a pickup truck, but they will
ride in one. They won’t get a license, purchase an automobile, pay
insurance, and become dependent on the automobile and the
industrial-car complex, but they will call a taxi. Since there are more
Amish men than farms, many men work at small factories and these guys
will hire vans driven by outsiders to take them to and from work. So
even the horse and buggy folk will use cars – under their own terms.
(Very thrifty, too.)

The Amish also make a distinction between technology they have
at work and technology they have at home. I remember an early visit to
an Amish man who ran a woodworking shop near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Most of the interior of the dark building was lit naturally from
windows, but hanging over the wooden meeting table in a very cluttered
room was a single electrical light bulb. The host saw me staring at it,
and when I looked at him, he just shrugged and said that it was for the
benefit of visitors like myself.

However while the rest of his large workshop lacked electricity
beyond that naked bulb, it did not lack power machines. The place was
vibrating with an ear-cracking racket of power sanders, power saws,
power planers, power drills and so on. Everywhere I turned there were
bearded men covered in saw dust pushing wood through screaming
machines. This was not a circle of Renaissance craftsman hand tooling
masterpieces. This was a small-time factory cranking out wooden
furniture with machine power. But where was the power coming from? Not
from windmills.

The boss, Amos (not his real name: the Amish prefer not to call
attention to themselves), takes me around to the back where a huge
dump-truck-sized diesel generator sits. It’s massive. In addition to a
gas engine there is a very large tank, which I learn, stores compressed
air. The diesel engine burns fuel to drive the compressor that fills
the reservoir with pressure. From the tank a series of high-pressure
pipes snake off toward every corner of the factory. A hard rubber
flexible hose connects each tool to a pipe. The entire shop runs on
compressed air. Every piece of machine is running on pneumatic power.
Amos even shows me a pneumatic switch, which you can flick like a light
switch, to turn on some paint-drying fans.

The Amish call this pneumatic system “Amish electricity.” At
first pneumatics were devised for Amish workshops, but it was seen as
so useful that air-power migrated to Amish households. In fact there is
an entire cottage industry in retrofitting tools and appliances to
Amish electricity. The retrofitters buy a heavy-duty blender, say, and
yank out the electrical motor. They then substitute an air-powered
motor of appropriate size, add pneumatic connectors, and bingo, your
Amish mom now has a blender in her electrical-less kitchen. You can get
a pneumatic sewing machine, and a pneumatic washer/dryer (with propane
heat). In a display of pure steam-punk nerdiness, Amish hackers try to
outdo each other in building pneumatic versions of electrified
contraptions. Their mechanical skill is quite impressive, particularly
since none went beyond the 8th grade. They love to show off this
air-punk geekiness. And every tinkerer I met claimed that pneumatics
were superior to electrical devices because air was more powerful and
durable, outlasting motors which burned out after a few years hard
labor. I don’t know if this is true, or just justification, but it was
a constant refrain.

I visited one retrofit workshop run by a strict Mennonite.
Marlin was a short beardless man (no beards for the Mennonites). He
uses a horse and buggy, has no phone, but electricity runs in the shop
behind his home. They use electricity to make pneumatic parts. Like
most of his community, his kids work along side him. A few of his boys
use a propane powered fork lift with metal wheels (no rubber so you
can’t drive it on the road) to cart around stacks of heavy metal as
they manufacture very precise milled metal parts for pneumatic motors
and for kerosene cooking stoves, an Amish favorite. The tolerances
needed are a thousand of an inch. So a few years ago they installed a
massive, $400,000 computer-controlled milling (CNC) machine in his
backyard, behind the horse stable. This massive half-million dollar
tool is about the dimensions of a delivery truck. It is operated by his
14-year old daughter, in a bonnet. With this computer controlled
machine she makes parts for grid-free horse and buggy living.

One can’t say “electricity-free” because I kept finding
electricity in Amish homes. Once you have a huge diesel generator
running behind your barn to power the refrigeration units that store
the milk (the main cash crop for the Amish), it’s a small thing to
stick on a small electrical generator.  For re-charging batteries, say.
You can find battery-powered calculators, flashlights, electric fences,
and generator-powered electric welders on Amish farms. The Amish also
use batteries to run a radio or phone (outside in the barn or shop), or
to power the required headlights and turn signals on their horse
buggies. One clever Amish fellow spent a half hour telling me the
ingenious way he hacked up a mechanism to make a buggy turn signal
automatically turn off when the turn was finished, just as it does in
your car.

Nowadays solar panels are becoming popular among the Amish.
With these they can get electricity without being tied to the grid,
which was their main worry. Solar is used primarily for utilitarian
chores like pumping water, but it will slowly leak into the household.
As do most innovations.

The Amish use disposable diapers (why not?), chemical
fertilizers, pesticides, and are big boosters of genetically modified
corn. In Europe this stuff is called Frankenfood. I asked a few of the
Amish elders about that last one. Why plant GMOs? Well, they reply,
corn is susceptible to the corn borer which nibbles away at the bottom
of the stem, and occasionally topples over the stalk. Modern 500
horsepower harvesters don’t notice this fall; they just suck up all the
material, and spit out the corn into a bin. The Amish harvest their
corn semi-manually. It’s cut by a chopper device and then pitched into
a thresher. But if there are a lot of stalks that are broken, they have
to be pitched by hand. That is a lot of very hard sweaty work. So they
plant Bt corn. This genetic mutant carries the genes of the corn
borer’s enemy, Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a toxin deadly to
the corn borer. Fewer stalks are broken, the harvest can be
semi-mechanized, and yields are up as well. One elder Amishman whose
sons run his farm told me that he’d only help his sons harvest if they
planted Bt corn. He said he told them he was too old to be pitching
heavy broken corn stalks. The alternative was to purchase expensive,
modern harvesting equipment. Which none of them want. So the technology
of genetically modified crops allowed the Amish to continue using old,
well-proven, debt-free equipment, which accomplished their main goal of
keeping the family farm together. They did not use these words, but
they considered genetically modified crops as appropriate technology
for family farms.

Artificial insemination, solar power, and the web are
technologies that Amish are still debating. They use the web at
libraries (using but not owning). From cubicles in public libraries
Amish sometimes set up a website for their business. So while Amish
websites seem like a joke, there’s quite a few of them. What about
post-modern innovations like credit cards? A few Amish got them,
presumably for their businesses at first. But over time the bishops
noticed problems of overspending, and the resultant crippling interest
rates. Farmers got into debt, which impacted not only them but the
community since their families had to help them recover (that’s what
community and families are for). So, after a trial period, the elders
ruled against credit cards.

One Amish-man told me that the problem with phones, pagers, and PDAs
(yes he knew about them) was that “you got messages rather than
conversations.” That’s about as an accurate summation of our times as
any. Henry, his long white beard contrasting with his young bright eyes
told me, “If I had a TV, I’d watch it.” What could be simpler?

Article resource:http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/02/amish_hackers_a.php

165 jobs Miller Electric cutting

Citing the struggling economy, Miller Electric Mfg. Co. announced Thursday it’s cutting 165 jobs, or about 12 percent of its work force of 1,400 in the Appleton area.

The company, which makes arc welding and plasma cutting equipment, blamed weak global economic conditions and a decline in demand for its products.

Miller is a subsidiary of Illinois Tool Works of Glenview, Ill. It had announced 95 job cuts in November.

In addition to the cuts, all Miller employees will take two weeks of unpaid time off this year, and the firm plans two non-consecutive weeks of plant shutdowns.

Miller president Mike Weller said the company will keep working to seek new opportunities for growth, such as product development to help customers stay competitive.