Articles
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How To Machine Composites, Part 1 -- Understanding Composites
Composites are replacing metal in certain applications. What does this mean for machining?
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The New Rules of Cutting Tools — Rule #2: Demand App Expertise
The support of a knowledgeable tool supplier should be part of what you purchase with the tool.
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How To Machine Composites, Part 2: The Cutting Tool, Workholding and Machine Tool
In carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), the material removal mechanism is shattering instead of shearing. This makes it different from other machining applications.
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The New Rules of Cutting Tools — Rule #3: Diamond Shouldn't Be Rare
Consider PCD or CBN wherever capacity is tight.
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How To Machine Composites, Part 3 -- Milling Composites
Diamond shines for this shop when it mills composites.
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The New Rules of Cutting Tools — Rule #4: Focus on the Biggest Expense
Labor and machine time are where the real costs occur. The tool cost is tiny compared to the savings it delivers in these areas.
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How To Machine Composites, Part 4 -- Drilling Composites
Achieving acceptable tool life and hole quality in a material such as CFRP demands a drill designed with composites in mind.
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Turning The Tough Stuff
One of this aerospace shop’s many specialties is producing ring-shaped parts that are thin-walled, complex, tightly toleranced and made of difficult-to-machine materials such as Inconel, titanium or high-temperature alloys. Turning jet engine parts doesn’t get much tougher than this.
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The New Rules of Cutting Tools — Rule #5: Consider the Cutting Tool at the Start
Are you specifying the right machine? You can’t know until you know what tools you will use.
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How To Machine Composites, Part 5 -- Waterjet Cutting
For trimming composite parts, this shop describes where it uses machining centers and where it uses waterjet.
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Composites Keep A Big Machine Busy
On-machine inspection is part of the way this shop machines large composite structures efficiently.
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Could The Highest Price Cutter Be The Least Expensive?
An evaluation of different cutting tool technologies for machining carbon fiber reinforced plastics
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