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Lean on Us

Recently, we added a new emphasis zone to our Web site. The zone focuses on various aspects of lean manufacturing. Pulled from the archives of Production Machining and Modern Machine Shop, this new zone is a one-stop place to find out about lean manufacturing and meet numerous shops that have successfully implemented it.

Moreover, thanks to the multi-media capabilities of the Internet, you can see and hear video presentations in addition to reading articles. We invite your input to this new zone and welcome hearing any suggestions or experiences you have had with lean and are willing to share with other manufacturers. Please visit the Lean Manufacturing Zone and let us know what you think.

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CNC Bar Pullers

Untended operation can be the ultimate time-saver and key to efficiency. For the CNC lathe, a bar feeder or bar puller can allow the lathe to continue producing parts without involvement from an operator. Generally, the only interruptions would come when the stock has run out or if small offset adjustments need to be made. With the right prep work, untended machining capabilities can make a big difference on the bottom line because they allow the shop to continue producing even after the personnel have left for the day.

In today’s economic environment, as shops gear up for better efficiency, they might tend to be slower on the draw for large capital investments. While the benefits of a top-of-the-line bar feeder may be obvious to the folks on the shop floor, clearing the expense through accounting may be a tough sell.
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Wipe Away Rough Surfaces

While pondering a topic for this month’s column, the term “wiper inserts” caught my attention as I was browsing PM’s Web site. I wondered why the word “wiper” is used to describe this certain type of insert.

After doing some research and talking to my editor, Chris Koepfer, I learned that the explanation is really quite simple. A wiper insert has an edge behind the cutting tool nose radius that “wipes” or smoothes the scalloped tops that would otherwise have been created. According to Sandvik Coromant, “On a conventional insert, the nose of the edge is only one radius. The wiper edge, however, is made up of a large, main radius complemented by several smaller radii.”
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