“In great deeds, something abides. On great fields, something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls…”
– Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at the dedication of the Maine Monuments at Gettysburg

Please Join Us!

Opening Reception with Howard Coffin

Friday, June 7
5:30-7:30pm

Vermont’s foremost Civil War historian, Howard Coffin, will read from his new book, Something Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s Vermont. The museum’s exhibits, Full Duty: The Civil War Collection of Howard Coffin and Arming the Union: Gunmakers in Windsor, Vermont reopen May 25, and are, once again, on the State’s Top Ten ‘things to see and do’ in Vermont this summer.

Thank you to everyone who caught the missing date for the opening reception in our last e-newsletter!

Spend a few minutes on Shapeways.com, an online marketplace, and you get a glimpse of a very odd future. You can buy mustache cuff links, a pencil topper shaped like a Roman halberd, a pixelated bust of a glowering Steve Jobs, or a set of dice modeled on the Deathly Hallows of “Harry Potter” fame. All the items are designed by the site’s users and can be manufactured by Shapeways using 3-D printing technology. And they’re all for sale.

The Internet is now alive with creative physical objects like these. Although most may seem whimsical to the casual browser, they reveal some serious intellectual-property quandaries that will only deepen as the era of 3-D printing unfolds.

One is copying. Using 3-D scanners, it won’t be difficult to translate the exact dimensions of an existing object into a digital file and upload it for sale. That means you could replicate all kinds of physical things that others have created — many of them unpatented and not subject to copyright — and profit from them. You might be able to counterfeit expensive designer sunglasses and sell them at a steep discount to the originals. Or, as the Harry Potter dice indicate, you could appropriate your favorite pop-culture artifacts and apply them to new products.

Such repurposing may soon be routine. And it will be difficult, maybe impossible, to stop. In response, established companies attempting to curtail such practices — or simply leveraging flaws in the intellectual-property system — might overreact, suing a promising new industry with such vigor that they forestall legitimate innovation.

So how should we prepare?

Stopping Meddlers

First, for established companies worried that digital meddlers might copy their products for profit, it’s possible that new technology could help. A team at Virginia Tech University, for instance, is experimenting with embedding quantum dots into 3-D printed material. Companies could tag products with identifying markers to help prevent counterfeiting. It may be decades before such technology is in common use, however, and the history of digital-rights management in other fields suggests that plenty of challenges will arise along the way. For example: It might not work.

Lawsuits, of course, offer another strategy, and they may often be justified. But most industrial designs aren’t patented, and large companies that do have IP protection for their merchandise would be wise to consider the lessons of the music industry before rampantly suing. The analogy is inexact but instructive: Record companies spent years and millions of dollars alienating customers while failing to prevent pirated use of their work. Belatedly, iTunes, Spotify and other services made paying for music easy. Although the industry’s revenue hasn’t recovered, music companies have found a way to adapt to disruption.

Which brings us back to the Harry Potter dice. Let’s say the dice are a hit on Shapeways, and Warner Bros. — which manages the Harry Potter brand — thinks they represent an infringement. The company could demand that Shapeways take the dice down. It could sue. Or it could find a mutually beneficial way to profit — say, by negotiating a license.

Even better, argues Michael Weinberg, a vice president at the digital-advocacy group Public Knowledge, Warner Bros. could simply publish a general license that would allow any inventor to make Harry Potter products, provided they notify Warner Bros., give it a percentage of the revenue and adhere to certain parameters. That won’t sit comfortably with companies that want to maintain tight creative control over their products. But given that 3-D printing may lead to an explosion in copied goods, such an agreement could offer a competitive advantage over companies that prefer expensive (and possibly ineffectual) litigation.

New Model

One of the big differences with the music business, however, is that 3-D printing won’t just pit huge corporations against small-time users; it may pit everyone against everyone. If you’re a small manufacturer of 3-D printed gadgets, you may not have the resources or time to apply for IP protection while the whole Web is copying your ideas and profiting from them. And you may not have the money to start suing.

Here’s where more flexible intellectual-property laws may help. One option to consider is autility model. Like patents, utility models, which exist in Germany and many other countries, grant the holders the exclusive right to produce, use and market their inventions. But there are a few crucial differences. They’re cheaper to obtain and their term is shorter (usually seven to 10 years, as opposed to 20 years for most utility patents). They’re also nonrenewable. The patent office doesn’t examine the invention in detail to see if it complies with the requirement of being “new, nonobvious and useful,” so the registration process is much faster. But anyone can challenge, for a fee, whether your invention actually does meet those standards — and the losing party pays for the proceedings. The utility model is weaker than a patent, but would offer small companies a fast and low-cost way to shield their inventions and start seeking investment.

Innovators would also benefit from legislation that discourages companies from amassing broad patents on inventions that they don’t intend to bring to market but nevertheless hope to profit from via lawsuits and threats. The Shield Act — a bipartisan bill introduced in the House that would force such “non-practicing entities” (more commonly called trolls) to pay defendants’ legal costs if they lose a lawsuit – isn’t perfect, but it’s on the right track toward curtailing abuse.

Dear Shop Doc,

We need to make multiple passes back and forth to clean a part, but we need to compensate for brush wear. Cutter compensation has so many stops and starts and weird movement limitations regarding rotation direction and feed direction. There has to a better way.

Done Compensating

Dear Done,
I too have experienced irritation when dealing with cutter compensation. There may be another way, but it depends on your machine.

Some machines have what are called “common variables.” They are variables you can use for part counting, tool life tracking, or other uses. How the machine uses these variables is defined by the program.

I used variables in a similar situation on a RoboDrill machine with a Fanuc control.

My repetitious move was to be along the X axis, so I needed to define the location of the surface on the Y axis. This was programmed in a G57. If I called up the G57 and Y zero, the machine would bring the wheel to a location where the edge of a new wheel would lightly touch the part surface if moved across the part. When the brush wears, it no longer performs adequately.

To compensate for the change in wheel diameter we need to modify the Y position. I chose to use variable 514 for the wear compensation. In the following program excerpt, the program calls up the work shift, subtracts wear value 514 from the Y zero position, stores the result in 524, then moves the part to the new Y location stored in 524. Using the variable in this manner allows the machine to move in both the X+ and X- directions without stopping the spindle. This method can be used for any side of the part with minor changes to the program and math.

G57X0Y0
#524=0-#514
Y#524
G0Z-30.0
G1X100.0 F250.0
X0
X100.0
X0
X100.0

There are some risks involved with this method. For example, if a mistake is made when entering the value into the variable cell, a machine crash could result. An easy solution to this problem is to have the program check the value of the variable against a predetermined min/max value before making any tool move.
In the program example below, the value in cell 514 is checked to make sure it is between zero and 7.01. If the variable check is false, the program jumps to block 778, which stops the program and prints the following message to the screen: #514 OUT OF RANGE

Locate near top of program:
IF[#514GT7.01]GOTO778
IF[#514LT0]GOTO778

Locate after the M30:
N778#3006=1(#514 OUT OF RANGE)

The method as detailed above requires the machine operator to maintain the proper amount of variable value required for acceptable performance results. An automatic method is also possible, but only if the tool wear is predictable and consistent. In the example below, the value in cell 514 is incremented by 8 microns each time the program runs. The increment value can be whatever the expected wear-value per part is. This method also allows the machine operator to override this value by changing the 514 value manually.

#534=#514+.008
#524=0-#534
#514=#534
Y#524

The common variables and math functions can be used for many things. Read your machine manual or contact your machine service company for more information on your machine.

A longer more detailed version of this “Shop Doc” can be found at www.todaysmachiningworld.com.

Mark Bos
Robert Bosch Fuel Systems

Mark Bos is a manufacturing process engineer with Robert Bosch Fuel Systems in Grand Rapids, Mich.

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Leonard and Thais Graff in Paris, 1960

Every month I get an emailed catalog from DelMonico Hatter, promoting their stylish hats — Borsalino, Stetson, Kangol — the best brands. Ernest DelMonico, who runs the firm, is a third generation hatter from New Haven, Connecticut, and his merchandise is first rate. I once bought a black Kangol cap from them to go with my navy and tan ones. Frankly, I rarely wear a hat. Only when I dress up and put on the navy cashmere topcoat I bought twenty years ago do I wear a Kangol. I’m a hood or baseball cap guy.

But I do love DelMonico’s hats. He was featuring a Homburg last Sunday, trying to capitalize on the opening of the new Great Gatsby film set in the Roaring Twenties.

I could never wear a Homburg hat. Too David Niven or Walter Pigeon, but I was fascinated by the catalog photos of the hat with the details about the materials and design specs, down to the brim size and choice of bands and feathers.

I love the idea of Homburgs, fedoras and panamas. I just don’t like wearing those things on my head.

Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones, could pull it off. How I’ve wanted to wear one of those bruised, brown fedoras like Indy and outfox the Nazis. But could anybody really wear one like Dr. Jones? When I try to imagine myself as the fearless archaeologist with the sweaty brown fedora, I end up seeing myself as Yosemite Sam, the three foot tall Bugs Bunny character with the four foot hat covering everything but his mustache.

I was visiting friends recently in Austin, Texas. My wife Risa and I made the mandatory stop for Western wear at Allen’s Boots. Risa bought a pair of cowboy boots. It’s what a Chicago lady does in Austin. Damn, I wanted a Stetson. I tried several on. Beautiful hats, soft brim, silk lining. Looked ridiculous on me. It would have resided forever in my closet.

Where did this gut fascination and rational rejection of hats come from?

It’s a father-son thing, I’m sure.

My Dad, Leonard Graff, could really wear a hat. He rarely left the house without one. He owned several fedoras — the real fur felt articles. On his one and only trip to Europe in 1960 he went to the temple of hats, the Borsalino factory in Alessandria, Italy. He brought a beret home for me and I cherished it. My father even had a Homburg for formal occasions and a pork pie for light ones.

At 6’6″ tall with a made-to-order suit, Serge overcoat and a navy Borsalino fedora, he was an imposing man. I wish I could wear a hat like him, but it’s just not me. My father had the big personality to go with his big frame.

He died in 1996, right around this time of year, and I think of him every day.

I love the idea of hats. I study them, I imagine them on my head, but I can’t wear a hat like my father did. They were him. They were Indiana Jones. And that’s okay.

At this point in my life, I’m happy to just be me.

Question: Do you try to be like your father?

We are a mold shop specializing in cutlery molds with large cavities and tiny details, usually from 420 stainless steel hardened to 48 to 50HRC. Some corner radii are as small as 0.008”. For years, we have been using EDM machines to burn our hardened cavities and cores—a very time consuming process. I’ve heard that high-speed hard milling is the new process for mold-making. Can it really replace our EDM?

-Make Us Faster

Dear Make Us Faster,

You are right. High Speed Machining (HSM) has made a huge impact on the mold-making process in recent years. HSM is a machining process using smaller tools with high rpm and feed-rate to perform faster, lighter cuts. Surprisingly, tackling hard milling is simplified using this high-speed technique. Conventionally, cutting hardened tool steel with large tools generates a lot of heat that breaks down the end mill rapidly, making milling an impractical option. Hence the EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) became the standard process to machine hardened steel. With HSM however, every cut is small, light and fast, minimizing thermal effects and lowering heat transfer to the end mill, so the tool will last to finish the cavity. Together with the advances in cutting tool technology, HSM Hard Milling has become a very practical alternative with major savings in time and cost.

To determine whether HSM can replace your EDM process, you must study the characteristics of your mold cavities. Obviously a 90 degree sharp internal corner can only be accomplished with EDM. For big cavities, milling is always faster than EDM. As for small features, the recommended rpm goes up proportionally as the end mill radius goes down. Small radius alone is not the issue. What makes hard milling difficult is when the end mill becomes too slim and therefore lacks strength to support its cutting. It is the ratio of the end mill diameter to neck length that is important. When hard milling with end mills under 1/4”, the rules of thumb are: a 1:3 ratio is considered stubby, 1:5 is practical, 1:8 is difficult and requires a lot of careful programming, and 1:10 probably is the limit.

Having said that, please bear in mind that HSM also compliments the EDM process. Mold cavities typically consist of free-form surfaces that are machined with ball end-mills, and the “cusp” between paths decides the final surface finish. For example, a 1/8” ball end mill with 0.003” step-over will produce a “cusp” height of 18 micro-inches. A silky smooth surface finish requires densely packed tool paths that make machining at a high rpm and feed-rate essential for cycle time reduction. This is true for both hard milling and electrode machining.

When you are considering HSM for your shop, please be aware of the upfront costs associated. A true high speed machine costs more than a conventional CNC machining center. They typically have bridge construction and are equipped with high-speed motor spindles with anywhere from 20,000 rpm to 50,000 rpm. Other critical features to look into include advanced CNC with look-forward capabilities, large storage, Ethernet connection and thermal control. Last but not least, it is the human factor, from process planning and tooling selection, to programming and setup that separates the men from the boys in HSM implementation.

-Jesse Xi Chen
Jesse Xi Chen Compumachine Inc.

Fort Washington, PA – Starting in May 2013, PartMaker Inc., a division of Delcam Plc, has launched a new, monthly webinar series for manufacturing professionals focusing a number of advanced manufacturing techniques. Each webinar will focus on an important area of education in advanced manufacturing. Each webinar will be conducted by a member of the PartMaker applications team with extensive knowledge and hands-on experience in advanced manufacturing principals and methodologies.

The idea behind this webinar series is to educate manufacturing professionals on some of the technological trends in CNC machining which allow manufacturers to make parts more productively. This webinar series will be purely educational in nature and is not intended to promote any particular PartMaker application or other technology vendor. The goal of this webinar series is to provide the manufacturing community and on-demand resource to learn about the latest trends in the industry and perhaps provide individuals a forum to pose the questions they were always afraid to ask. The Advanced Manufacturing Educational series webinars an always be found at http://www.partmaker.com/webinars/.

“The CNC machining industry is at a real crossroads,” says Delcam’s PartMaker Inc. Division President Hanan Fishman. “Even while the employment market continues to struggle, our customers are finding it difficult to find the individuals with the knowledge and experience to take advantage of today cutting edge manufacturing technology. A big part of the reason for this is because neither our primary nor higher education systems has made a commitment to teaching advanced manufacturing principles. We have a number of excellent vocational schools with committed instructors teaching the basics of machining and a number of colleges and universities doing an outstanding job developing the engineers of tomorrow, but instruction in advanced manufacturing principals seems to be falling through cracks of our traditional educational system.”

“With this new educational webinar series it is our intent to help bring more awareness of advanced manufacturing methods to our industry, so CNC manufacturers can remain more competitive and take better advantage of the latest manufacturing technology available to them.”

More on PartMaker

PartMaker is a Knowledge Based Machining system, allowing it to provide a substantial gain in programming efficiency by remembering the tools, material and process information necessary to machine individual part features. It thus relieves the user from reentering the same features information for subsequent parts. It also improves productivity by placing the emphasis on tool management functions.

PartMaker pioneered the field of CAM software for Turn-Mills and Swiss-type lathes with its patented Visual Programming Approach for programming multi-axis lathes with live tooling. It assures quicker learning and easier use. It makes an extensive use of pictures to help the user describe tools, part features and machining data. Synchronization of tools working on multiple spindles is achieved by a few mouse clicks.

PartMaker Inc. is a subsidiary of Delcam Plc, the world’s leading developer and supplier of complete CAD/CAM software solutions. Delcam Plc is publicly traded on the AIM exchange in London. While PartMaker is sold direct in North America by PartMaker Inc. PartMaker is sold overseas through a network of sales partner offices operating in over 120 countries.

Dear Shop Doc,

One of our operators came from another shop and told us that we can use Custom Macro for tool life management, but he doesn’t know how. I checked the manuals but don’t see anything obvious. Can you help?

Through the Grapevine

Dear Grapevine,
Custom Macro programming, also known as parametric programming, is capable of performing many different tasks, even ones not specifically outlined in the programming manual.

Macro programming allows the use of variables, logic, arithmetic, conditional branches, and custom alarms. For tool life management, we’ll need to use most of those functions. Ideally you should make a flow chart to outline the sequence of events that need to take place. In this case, you want to check the life remaining on all tools and either run a part or have the machine generate an alarm to notify the operator that a tool needs to be changed. Since all this needs to take place before machining, you can put that part of the Macro at the beginning of the program.

You should use variables to hold the life count and the life number for each tool. I like to relate the variable register number to the tool number. Let’s assume there are four tools and they are T0100, T0300, T1100 and T1400. We will use variable numbers 501, 503, 511 and 514 to hold the life count and variables 101, 103, 111 and 114 to hold the tool life value. Values stored in variables 100-149 are lost when the power is switched off. Variables 500-531 retain the value at power down.

O1234; (Machining program number)
#101=1000; (Tool life value for T0100)
#103=500; (Tool life value for T0300)
#111=775; (Tool life for T1100)
#114=2300; (Tool life value for T1400)

Setting the tool life from the program ensures that the proper values are used and saved. Next, you need to check the life of each tool. For this you can use a conditional BRANCH statement.

IF[#501 GT #101] GOTO 1000; (If the count in #501 is greater than the life set in #101 skip to line N1000)
IF[#503 GT #103] GOTO 3000;
IF[#511 GT #111] GOTO 11000;
IF[#514 GT #114] GOTO 14000;
(Normal machining program goes here)

At the end of the program you need to add to the tool life count and list the alarms. With the alarms you will also reset the tool life count so that you don’t have to rely on the operator to remember.

(End of normal machining program is here)
#501=#501+1; (Add one to the tool life count of tool T0100)
#503=#503+1;
#511=#511+1;
#514=#514+1;
GOTO 9999; (Skips over alarms and goes to M30 code)

N1000 #501=0; (Reset life count for T0100)
#3000=1 (TOOL LIFE OVER CHANGE TOOL T0100) (Alarm to stop machine with message)
N3000 #503=0;
#3000=1 (TOOL LIFE OVER CHANGE TOOL T0300)
(Repeat for #511 and #514);
N9999 M30; (End of program)

The GOTO statement will cause the program to skip over the alarms while the previous IF GOTO statements will cause them to be read. There are lots of different ways to program this. Submit your program in the comments on the Shop Doc Blog at www.todaysmachiningworld.com.

Dan Murphy
REM Sales LLC

Hamsters sharing a carrot

This is an unpaid, unprompted shout-out to the Precision Machined Products Association’s (PMPA) Listserve.

Every day, members jump on the association’s email forum with technical problems they encounter. It’s esoteric inside baseball stuff generally, far above my pay grade, yet invariably several folks quickly offer their unique experience in solving the tough machining challenges and other shop issues that come up for people living in cubicles of doubt.

A single company could never aggregate a fraction of the knowledge located in the heads of members of this small trade association.

One thing that makes the Listserve work so well is that it has a few very simple ground rules, some of which are not even articulated, yet are well understood by the group. One rule is that technical members who join the PMPA at significant cost, partly to gain access to the members at meetings, must never use the Listserve as a sales tool. Another is to always be helpful and never condescending when giving advice to other members.

A few years ago a particularly egocentric and bombastic PMPA member announced on the Listserve that he would never give out proprietary information that he had learned through hard experience. He mocked his peers for giving away the “family jewels” to potential competitors in the association. Previous to this incident he was already considered a bully by many members and eventually he was ostracized from the Listserve. Today he no longer is a PMPA member.

I know there are many other professional groups with wonderful collegial exchanges on the Web, but the PMPA cadre of dedicated online savants like Dan Murphy of Tsugami, Bob Drab of Corey Steel, and Miles Free of the PMPA staff seem unique in their willingness to be highly accessible resources, always willing to interrupt their workdays to give help to their struggling peers. The cool thing is to see competitors or possible future competitors jump into the colloquy to give valuable, hard-earned knowledge to help each other.

I am a member of the Machinery Dealers National Association (MDNA) and I cannot imagine my peers using a Listserve format to offer advice to one another on how to value machinery, though on a one on one basis I have experienced dealers sharing knowledge, but in a guarded way.

My one critique of the PMPA is that it has been only moderately successful in marketing the Listserve’s value to potential members in the machining universe. For the relatively modest price of admission to the PMPA organization, members get the cumulative knowledge of potentially thousands of seasoned pros, many of whom will unselfishly attempt to solve the most onerous of machining problems.

Question: Would you share hard-won expertise with a competitor in a trade group?

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill., May 7, 2013 – GF AgieCharmilles will host a special anniversary open house event commemorating the company’s 60 years of Electrical Discharge Machine (EDM) technology development. Scheduled for June 27 – 28 at its North American headquarters in Lincolnshire, Ill., the two-day 60th Anniversary Event will include educational seminars, training sessions and technology demonstrations along with special celebration activities.

Sixty years ago, GF AgieCharmilles began its research and development of EDM. The upcoming event will highlight the results of that extensive experience with demonstrations of the company’s latest wire and sinker EDM technology from automatic wire changing capability to the industry’s most advanced EDM Human Machine Interface (HMI). The event will also showcase the company’s high-speed and high-performance milling machines, 3D laser surface texturing machines and automation solutions.

Attendees of the 60th Anniversary Open House Event will be able to participate in presentations covering a wide range of topics related to milling, EDM and laser technology. Some of the topics covered will touch upon EDM cutting performance and part surface finish improvements, 5-axis machining and laser surface texturing.

Presentations will include:

• Common CNC Platforms: A New Era of EDM User Interface
• How to Cut Accurate Parts on High-Speed 5-Axis Milling Machines
• 3 + 2-Axis Milling: The New Game Changer in Manufacturing
• EDM Hole Drilling – Fast, Easy and Accurate
• Increased Machine Uptime Through Optimized Service and Support
• Automation: The New Paradigm in Manufacturing

GF AgieCharmilles partner companies will also be on hand demonstrating their latest technologies, offering applications support and participating in presentations. Those partners in attendance at the event will be Seco Tools, REGO-FIX, Hirschmann, System 3R, Poco Graphite, Fraisa, 5-th Axis and Nikon.

The wide range of machines on display will demonstrate applications specific to the key industries as well, such as aerospace, mold and die, medical and e-manufacturing. Machines featured at the 60th Anniversary Open House will include:

• Mikron HSM 200U LP 5-Axis High Speed Milling Machine
• New Form 20 CNC Diesinking EDM
• Mikron HEM 500U 5-Axis High Efficiency Milling Machine
• New CUT 300SP Wire EDM US Premiere
• New CUT 200MS Wire EDM US Premiere
• Mikron HPM 1350U 5-Axis High Performance Milling Machine with a Siemens Control
• CUT 2000 AWC OilTech Wire EDM with an Automatic Wire Changer
• CUT 1000+F OilTech Wire EDM
• LASER 1000 5Ax Laser Texturing System with a Pallet Changer
• DRILL 300D EDM Drilling Machine with an Auto Tool Changer US Premiere
• CUT 20P Wire EDM
• DRILL 20 EDM Drilling Machine
• Mikron HSM 400U LP 5-Axis High Speed Milling Machine with Linear Motor Technology
• Mikron HPM 450U Milling Machine 5-Axis High Performance Milling Machine
• FORM 200MS High Precision Sinker EDM

Manufacturers interested in attending the 60th Anniversary Open House can register at go.us.gfac.com/OpenHouse2013.

About GF AgieCharmilles

GF AgieCharmilles is the North American leading supplier of laser texturing center, wire EDM, CNC and manual diesinking systems and high speed/high performance 3- and 5-axis milling machines. For more information on the company’s products and services, contact Gisbert Ledvon, GF AgieCharmilles, 560 Bond St., Lincolnshire, IL 60069-4224, Tel: 1-800-CTC-1EDM. Gisbert.Ledvon@us.gfac.com, Fax: 847-913-5340, or visit http://www.gfac.com/us.