Machine Tool & Material Removal

The SCHUNK KONTEC KSC centric clamping multifaceted vise has optimal jaw support for I.D. and O.D. clamping with long base jaw guidance. It can be easily adapted for conventional clamping, short clamping depths for 5-sided machining, mould parts, plates or saw cuts. This innovative vice has already set itself apart on the market because of […]

The Department of Defense has awarded the 14th Manufacturing USA institute—the Advanced Robotics Manufacturing (ARM) Innovation Hub—to American Robotics Inc. The eighth DoD-led institute, the ARM Institute joins the Manufacturing USA network in its collective effort to help revitalize American manufacturing and incentivize companies to invest in new technology development in the United States. Headquartered […]

Due demand for the SCHUNK KONTEC KSC 80, SCHUNK has expanded the product line to include KSC 125 and KSC 160 in a variety of lengths and jaw configurations. More after the jump. This centric clamping vise is a multifaceted component that has optimal jaw support for I.D. and O.D. clamping. It can be easily adapted […]

For decades we have had the Machine Tool Show in Chicago every two years.  Currently the show, formerly know as the International Machine Tool Show is now being re-branded as the International Manufacturing Technology Show.  And that’s a good thing.  They get to keep the same IMTS letters. While the show has a long tradition […]

by Steve Meyer, Contributing Editor One company is leveraging CAD, vision systems and robotics to make dramatic improvements in grinding large castings. The next generation of grinding will not look anything like the past. Traditional machining and grinding processes have been around for a long time. Historians record that one of the earliest known lathes […]

The number of research reports studying the robotics industry is growing exponentially. To date in 2016 there have been 109 on subjects ranging from overly broad to very drilled-down views of the industry. Prices range from $800 to $6,500. Below are short profiles of 62 of those reports; the other 47 can be seen here. Many of the…

by Steve Meyer, Contributing Editor Decades of exposure to the realities of keeping farm equipment running have provided FireFly Equipment with insight to the problems, and the solutions, needed to making highly automated agricultural machinery a reality. Forest for the trees? Sometimes we get too close to a problem and the big insights escape us. […]

Festo introduced today the Handling Guide Online configurator for Cartesian robots. This new productivity tool significantly reduces engineering overhead for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and speeds delivery to laboratory equipment, electronic light assembly, end of line packaging, food and beverage, automotive, and machine tool manufacturers. More after the jump. Equipped with basic application information such […]

Kitagawa North-Tech — maker of workholding products, standard and custom engineered solutions and services — now sells a new Automated Jaw Pallet System (AJPS) for Robot tended CNC Mill and Turning cells used in flexible automated production environments. The Kitagawa Automated Jaw Pallet System in conjunction with Kitagawa Promano Grippers provide seamless flexibility in a Robot tended machining environment by […]

In the last post there was some discussion of how positioning is accomplished from a general perspective.  As with all things in the world of mechatronics there are at least three perspective on the subject; mechanical, electrical and control.  In order to understand the performance requirement, the underlying variable that ties everything together is the […]

The Kurt SideWinder vise provides vertical workholding without interfering with an existing host vise or the spindle. SideWinder vise expands the capabilities of 6 or 8 inch vises by adding vertical clamping above and behind the host vise and provides easy spindle access for secondary or final machining operations. SideWinder mounts to any vise with […]

Like the Tower of Babel, control system programming in the past was the domain of  many disparate languages that did not interact across disciplines.  Programming has been a crucial element of control systems since the inception of automation itself.  The early days of the PLC were built on the language of electrical wiring diagrams used to […]

The next generation of design is going to be something remarkable.  Consider the impact of part fabrication in which complexity has no impact on cost.  In fact, the more complex part the part construction the less it will cost. Why? Because the cost of a 3D printed part is almost exclusively based on the weight […]

The United State automotive industry has recovered its production capacity to 16,000,000 vehicles a year for domestic consumption.  That’s a lot of cars.  It’s important because car making is one of the 4 or 5 largest segments of economic activity and because of the industry’s size, it impacts the entire economy. That means on average […]

Because of the many options in the field of robotics, end users sometimes face a dilemma in choosing between entry-level and high-performance features. People have different perceptions of how to define performance, speed, power or expensive controls. The best approach is to use a defined set of sizing and selection criteria to determine the required […]

Work is what we do to feed, clothe and house ourselves.  Work in the last 100 years has changed so dramatically that it may not be recognizable as work. What started as simple mechanical automation to reduce the labor required to make things like clothing, has evolved over the years into the daydream of producing […]

The future of manufacturing is here.  The rate of change is nothing short of amazing.  The implications for the near future of American industry are hard to predict, but my optimistic side says we are looking at a manufacturing rennasisance.  This will not be without turmoil, change is never easy.  But the potential for success […]

The origination of the term “mechatronics” is credited to Tetsuro Mori, an engineer at the Japanese company Yaskawa, in 1969, who was working to develop an industrial robot. The mechatronics discipline has always given engineers a unique perspective on machine tool design, building and use in the manufacturing world. However, it was the automotive industry […]

In the emerging economy there is a critical dependency on linear actuator technology.  Not just linear actuators, but linear actuators that give high performance at low cost. I am intentionally vague on the performance.  Performance can mean many things.  For heavy machinery and forestry industry machinery, hydraulic actuators with high force and high power density […]

There are several aspects of the mechatronics challenge in robotics.  In the previous post, I hinted at some, but on reflection the list is significant and all the issues should be considered. Managing the trajectory is a challenge on computing level just to crunch the numbers and resolve the mechanical organization of the robot into […]

I stumbled on some amazing videos of advanced machine tool centers at the European Machine Tool show in 2011.  These machining centers were demonstrating some very high performance software called hyperMill developed by Daishin Seiki of Japan.  The company’s website is in Japanese, but you will find some high profile video on YouTube, and it […]

According to a story in Seeking Alphaª, Apple plans to purchase billions of dollars of industrial robots from Fanuc for placement within Foxconn’s factories in China. Neither Apple nor Foxconn have confirmed the piece. It takes 141 steps to make an iPhone and passes through 325 pairs of hands over 5 days. Although labor only…