Archive: 2018

Modern machines use industrial-strength moving parts. Happily, that’s a development that has produced incredibly fast and productive equipment lines. Not so happily, those machines have been known to cause nasty injuries. Mechanical punch and shearing machines are not immune to such incidents. Equipped with powerful hydraulic pistons and heavy moving parts, they embody a very […]

Spark machining uses electrical discharge energy to subtract metal from a workpiece. Known as EDM spark erosion technology (Electrical Discharge Machining), the manufacturing process solves the kind of machining puzzles that can stymy EDM deprived workshops. Let’s delve deep into the technology, the methods, the applications, and the equipment that makes this intricate metal shaping […]

Despite the label, CNC Turning tools don’t spin when there’s cutting work to be done. In reality, metal workpieces are mounted and set spinning. Like a clay turning table, the metal part receives its shape. Only, it’s a cutting tool, not a sculptor’s hands, that imparts the encircling cut profiles. To apply that shape, the […]

As any competent engineering student can guess, this is an incredibly dense subject. CNC Milling and Machining, which recruits computer control systems, has entire libraries dedicated to its study. To better understand the discipline and all of its machine-associated, software dominated elements, let’s start at the beginning. Then, after defining the machining doctrines, albeit in […]

An armoury-worth of surface grinding services, each aimed at the precise processing of all sorts of metal objects, sits waiting inside an engineering shop. The abrasive buzz travels the length of the shop floor, and a trail of sparks can be seen arcing high into the air. Masters of all things grinding-related, this hypothetical metal […]

There’s something about tool steel grades, especially when they’re used in punches and dies. The metals feel incredibly dense. Way back at the milling plant, a suitable steel alloy has been selected. It’s a coarse-grained material with a ready to adapt microcrystalline structure. Beyond the fabrication process, the tool grade steel is heat treated and […]

Hardened carbide steels, all extensively heat treated, last for thousands of punching operations. Even equipped with dense material backbones, however, punch breakage is an unavoidable problem. To some extent, operator error is a known causative factor. The shut height is incorrectly set, the wrong strip-starting procedure is utilized, or some other operator-generated blunder is ongoing. […]

Production facilities rarely rely on single-stage machine operations. For example, progressive stamping dies sequentially form large batches of raw materials, which flow as blank strips through various tooling stations. It’s a high-volume process, in other words, one that incorporates punching, coining, and bending operations into a single line. Hence, the “progressive” descriptor. Peeking deep inside […]

Even the finest punches, those made from ultra-hard tool steel, age. Time is a tool’s enemy here, and there’s no way to put time on pause. However, there are operational factors in motion, which can be regulated. For instance, just by incorporating a planned maintenance program, punches extend their lifespans. Meanwhile, behind the controls, there’s […]

Tool steels are hardened alloys. They’re shaped into sharp-edged cutting and forming profiles. However, in order to retain those rigid geometrical outlines, tool alloys need heat treatment work. With the post-manufacturing work, the super-hardened metals gain additional mechanical strength and material durability. They won’t succumb to abrasive wear, nor will they experience metal fatigue when […]