Anyone who has purchased a new tool for a shop or consulted on a machine sale knows that some people in the manufacturing world promise more than they can deliver.

This piece of software will triple your productivity and cut energy use by 83%. This bar feeder will double the speed of your lathe, collect any chips that fall, and make a heck of a cappuccino. No matter what challenge your business is facing, the one thing they’re selling is all you need for a profitable, successful future.

The problem is, sometimes they’re right. The first person to try to convince a shop to attach a computer to its numeric controls probably had people questioning his claims. And the shops that passed on CNC systems quickly found themselves at a disadvantage to competitors willing to take that risk.

The key to separate impossible promises from opportunities to leverage cutting-edge technology is education. Hearing from multiple, well-informed experts gives you the information to ask the right questions. A few sessions at the largest manufacturing technology show in North America might not turn you into the leading authority on Industry 4.0 or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), but it can help you make sense of some of the claims you hear about technology.

To be held Sept. 11, 2018, Hannover Messe USA’s Integrated Industries Conference (IIC) offers three tracks focusing on key trends that are transforming industry – advances in motion, design, and automation; integration of multiple manufacturing and digital systems; and Industry 4.0/IIoT, the process for digitizing and analyzing manufacturing from design through shipment.

These conferences cover the nuts and bolts of advanced manufacturing – practical adoptions of new technologies instead of promises for magical transformations. Speakers will discuss linear motors, machine tool monitoring, robotic downtime, adaptive controls, abrasives, tool holding, cabling, and parts cleaning – showcasing technologies that could be applied immediately to improve cost effectiveness at most facilities.

IIC has long been a part of IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show – promoting advanced manufacturing. Hannover Fairs USA has expanded its presence at IMTS 2018, grabbing more show space and renaming its co-located show Hannover Messe USA. The new name ties the show and conferences to Hannover Messe, the world’s largest annual manufacturing technology show, held every April in Germany.

Attending the IIC can enhance your IMTS 2018 experience, providing the background and context you’ll need to evaluate claims. Advanced technologies are transforming how the best companies make amazing products, and a little bit of training can help you recognize the opportunities that will propel your business into the future.

Sincerely, 

Robert Schoenberger

Editor

rschoenberger@gie.net

Following layer-by-layer, metallic, ceramic, or other powder fusion using laser additive manufacturing (LAM), cooling rates are extremely rapid. Since they are unlike conventional processes, optimal conditions are not yet known to obtain the best properties, delaying uptake of LAM in safety-critical products, such as biomedical devices. Researchers needed a method to see inside the LAM process to better understand and optimize laser-matter interaction and powder consolidation.

A team of researchers working with scientists at I12, the Joint Engineering Environment Processing (JEEP) beamline at the U.K.’s Diamond Light Source Research Complex at Harwell, built a LAM machine that allows users to see into the heart of the process.

Professor Peter Lee from The University of Manchester, who leads the project explains, “The LAM process is very fast, taking place in milliseconds, and to investigate we need microsecond resolution, which can only be achieved with the brilliance of a synchrotron [such as the Diamond facility]. It allows us to follow the process from powder, through melting, and then solidification back into the final solid shape.”

The LAM process replicator (LAMPR) allows imaging and quantifying formation of the melt track as the layers are printed. Designed to fit on the beamline and mimick a commercial LAM system, windows are transparent to X-rays to see into the heart of the LAM process as it happens.

X-ray radiography with high temporal and spatial resolution uncovers key mechanisms of laser-matter interaction and powder consolidation during LAM, including the formation and evolution of melt tracks, spatter patterns, the denuded zone (a powder-free zone), and porosity in the deposited layers. The time-resolved quantification of the pore and spatter movements gave crucial information on flow velocities and direction.

The results clarify aspects of the physics underlying LAM. The previous hypothesis was that the formation of surface porosity on finished objects was due to incomplete melting or insufficient liquid feeding. However, this research reveals that it’s formed via a pore-bursting mechanism. Pores near the surface escape into the atmosphere, leaving behind a surface depression.

Results reveal that the continuous track of melted material often occurs via pre-melting ahead of the main track, driven by surface tension (Marangoni flow), before merging into the main track. Metal vapor and heating of inert gas is a potential source of defects, forming a plume which ejects powder and molten droplets away from the main track.

The LAMPR allowed the team to create a process map illustrating how to tune the LAM process to produce a quality product with minimal trial and error. Unlike a traditional process map, synchrotron imaging produces a mechanism map, which reveals the fundamental physics limiting the process window. This enables the alloy, conditions, or process to be altered to overcome the restrictions and obtain a more efficient processing environment.

Diamond Light Source
www.diamond.ac.uk

Research Complex at Harwell
www.rc-harwell.ac.uk

1. How is a high-performance drill different from a general-purpose one?

Designed for specific materials, unique drill point geometries are ground into the drill to make it self-center without centering or spotting operations. This helps to reduce costs by eliminating tools and reducing cycle times. General-purpose geometries are not material specific, and while their point geometries are robust, they are not designed to take advantage of a given material’s machining characteristics. Along with unique point geometries, high-performance drills feature material-specific coatings and edge treatments that further enhance performance and tool life.

2. Besides point geometry, are other material-specific designs needed?

All features of the drill’s design need to be considered – number of flutes, shape of the flutes, web or core diameter, margin size, or width – all these features influence chip formation and flow in the hole-making operation.

3. How do the number of flutes, lands/margins impact drill performance?

General-purpose drills tend to produce holes with a lobing or triangular tool path, as they do not have high-performance geometry. They produce holes that are out of round and not the desired size. By designing special point geometry, along with flute and margin considerations, a drill produces much more accurate holes. Multiple flutes and margins help stabilize the drill, so it follows the intended tool path more accurately.

4. Why are some drills coolant-through and some not?

Coolant-through is mainly used to get coolant into deep holes and aid chip evacuation. This eliminates the need for peck drill cycles which increase cycle times and risk damaging carbide drills. In many cases, shorter length-to-diameter tools, such as 3xD, do not require coolant-through. In cases where coolant-through is not required, non-coolant-through tools are less expensive and will run just as effectively. In longer or deeper drill applications, coolant-through drills, especially when the machine tool has high-pressure coolant through the spindle, can greatly enhance productivity of the hole-making operation.

5. Why are some drills made with nominal plus tolerance and others are made with nominal minus tolerance?

Drill manufacturers produce drills to an industry standard of their choosing: ISO, ANSI, DIN, or JIS. Diameter tolerances are spelled out differently in each standard, which must be taken into consideration when selecting a drill. Is the drill being used as a pilot drill for a deep-hole application? If so, then the pilot hole should be produced with a drill that has plus tolerance, and the following deep drill should have minus tolerance to avoid interference. Drills do not produce holes as oversized as in the past, due to holders and machine spindles that run with lower total indicated runout (TIR). This impacts the hole size produced, so drills with plus tolerances make up this difference.

The Quick Vision Active measuring system is an easy-to-operate, space-saving model with advanced functionality to meet contact and noncontact measuring needs. The system uses interchangeable objective zoom lenses for efficient, flexible measurement.

QVPAK software uses edge detection and pattern recognition to locate and orientate the coordinate system with minimal operator input, ensuring accurate and repeatable measurement results.

Mitutoyo Corp.
IMTS 2018 Booth #135215