Computer numerical control, or CNC, is one of the most common and well-known automated processes in manufacturing. CNC machines help companies and individuals make manufacturing processes easier to inspect and control while reducing human errors. They’re used for milling, turning, plasma cutting, electrical discharge machining, water jet cutting, punching, drilling, laser cutting, and more. This […]

Aluminum is the name of the most abundant metallic element found in earth’s crust, which is part of the reason why it’s used in so many objects that we use every day. In fact, it’s the most widely used non-ferrous metal (meaning that it doesn’t contain any iron). Aluminum is found both in common objects, […]

Have you ever seen a beautiful piece of metalwork and wondered “how did they do it?” There are no seams, no signs of welding, and it appears as though it’s one piece. The surfaces are too complex to have been wrought manually, so what’s the secret? A 5-axis CNC machine. These machines have transformed the […]

Sometimes juggling all the requirements for tolerancing your part can feel like a circus act. As a design engineer, you must choose machining tolerances for fit, form, function, customer requirements, industry specifications,manufacturing capabilities, and don’t forget about making sure it can be inspected and properly defined. Whew! It’s a struggle to create parts which are […]

Steel comes in many forms: sheet metal, plates, bars and beams of various geometries, pipes, and of course, the solid stock material used when CNC machining steel. Steel is used for so many applications and by so many industries that it makes sense for there to be many different types of steel. But what’s the […]

Robots seem to be everywhere these days – working in movies, airports, food production, and even in factories making other robots. Robots have many different functions and uses, and as they become easier and cheaper to make, they become more pervasive in industry as well. As the demand for robotics technology increases, bot makers need […]