FEATURES

Father's Day--Revisited

I can remember the first manufacturing job I had after graduating high school. I was a stockhouse and trestle laborer at a blast furnace in Warren, Ohio. My father thought it would be a good experience and maybe give me an incentive to work a little harder in college. Good thinking, Dad.

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How Online Communities Can Help Businesses, Part 3

The cultural impact of online communities on manufacturing's future can’t be overemphasized.

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Keeping Jobs In North America

Whenever I’ve been asked to go to a trade show or conference, I have always kept one thought in mind: “What will I learn that will help keep manufacturing jobs thriving here in North America?” My attendance at the PMPA’s National Technical Conference helped me understand that despite the many challenges our industry faces, we have a lot to be optimistic about in the precision machining industry.

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Role Of Nitrogen In Free Machining Carbon Steels

One of the least understood fatcors affecting machinability of steel is the role of nitrogen.

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Industries

Straight From The Source

Seeing the cold drawing process up close can provide an entirely new appreciation of the barstock used in a shop. Here's how one mill makes the most of the process.

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Bar Feeds

Successful Untended Operation

Machine tool accessories can make or break untended operation.

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The Big Meeting On The Big Island

The “Big Meeting” is the PMPA’s annual meeting, celebrating the association’s 75th anniversary. The event will be held October 17 to 21, 2008, at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, Waikoloa “The Big Island,” Hawaii. Of course, there will be special recognition of this tremendous accomplishment for the association and its membership. But this year’s annual meeting is not just another anniversary.

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Measurement

Top Ten Ways To Improve A Machine Vision Process

Machine vision is an area that, if set up correctly, can reduce process inefficiencies. Here are specific steps that, without proper setup, can cause non-value-added downtime to the machine vision process.

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Turning Machines

Universal Lathe Improves Turning Capability

Peter Brotherhood (Peterborough, United Kingdom), a steam turbine manufacturer, recently discovered a bottleneck when turning a range of power-generation components. When the company implemented a Gildemeister CTX 620 V4 linear universal turn-mill center by DMG, however, the problem fixed itself.

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Workmanship

Workmanship is an important term that’s often relied upon as the final arbiter in acceptance of our products. ASTM and other agency standards sometimes have workmanship clauses. One example is ASTM A 108, the standard specification for steel bar, carbon and alloy, cold finished. In ASTM A 108, Section 9 is titled, “Workmanship, Finish and Product Presentation.” So what is this thing that we call workmanship, and how will we know it when we see it?

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