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Articles written by Kate Bachman

Kate Bachman

Editor, STAMPING Journal®, FMA Communications, Inc.

Kate Bachman covers all forms of fabrication processes, especially laser and waterjet cutting. She also enjoys writing about metals and structural fabrication applications.

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Results: 54

	Older than Oscar® — Part II While it may seem as though movies and popcorn have always co-existed, the automatic popcorn machine actually was invented by Charles Cretor in 1893—before the first motion picture premiered. A century and a quarter-century later, manufacturer C. Cretors & Company, Chicago, celebrates its anniversary, success, and outright survival—bending and adapting through two world wars, the Great Depression, the advent of automobiles, television, the electronic age, dot.comera, globalization—and motion pictures. Publish date: March 9, 2010 Tech cell: Bending
	Older than Oscar Family-owned, fifth-generation manufacturer Irwin Seating Co., headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich. has been thinking about the comfort and functionality of the public seating it has manufactured for more than 100 years. The company's 35 presses are used to stamp the components that support the seats, mount them to the floor, and attach them to the backs; as well as pivots, brackets, and other internal mechanisms. Irwin does all the stamping, welding painting, and upholstery work in its 470,000-sq.-ft. facility. Some of the seating company's recent projects include the stadium seating for the New Jersey Devils, Miami Heat, and the Indiana Colts. Publish date: March 9, 2010 Tech cell: Shop Strategies
	Un repaso a las prensas de estampado This multi-source press selection article offers readers advice on the criteria to consider when buying a press. The article examines application suitability, drives, and controls as well as the usual suspects-- tonnage, frame construction, speed, and horsepower. This article is likely to be especially helpful to readers attendingMetalform in April. Publish date: July 9, 2009 Tech cell: Press Technology
	La seguridad continua presionando a las prensas La principal tendencia en prensa frenos de seguridad es garantizar la seguridad sin sacrificar velocidad o los operadores que dificultan la capacidad de trabajar de manera eficiente, por ejemplo los fabricantes de frenos de prensa. Esto empieza con herramientas, incluyendo segmentado o sectionalized herramientas que es ms ligera y fcil de manejar; caractersticas de seguridad que impiden que las herramientas no garantizada de la cada, y un menor nmero de cambios de herramientas. Adems, se logr con cortinas de luz, cmara y visin basada en sensores, mecnica y laterales y traseras, los guardias, as como la automatizacin y robots. Publish date: June 22, 2009 Tech cell: Array
	Stamper converting machined parts to stampings This article showcases the success story of stamper and tubefabricator A.T. Wall Company, which gained entry with a newcustomer and strengthened its foothold in a lucrative market segmentby redesigning a machined component as a stamped components,saving costs for its customer in the process. Publish date: May 28, 2009 Tech cell: Tool and Die
	Seleccion de prensas: soluciones Anchoring the March STAMPING Journal® --Press Issue--this multisourcepress selection article offers readers advice on the criteria toconsider when buying a press. The article examines applicationsuitability, drives, and controls as well as the usual suspects--tonnage,frame construction, speed, and horsepower. This article is likely to beespecially helpful to readers attending Metalform in April. Publish date: May 21, 2009 Tech cell: Materials Handling
	'Greenergy'—the Next Big Thing Since the dot.com boom and bust, everyone from investors to manufacturers to geeks have been looking for The Next Big Thing. Publish date: March 10, 2009 Tech cell: For CEOs
	Mining lucrative medical device prospects The medical device industry segment holds promise for growth, and profit for stamping companies willing to work within its regulations and challenges. Publish date: January 27, 2009 Tech cell: Shop Strategies
	What's up with scrap (besides price)? Today's escalated metals prices have made scrap a hot issue. Multi source article covers new trends and old favorites in efficient scrap handling and in minimizing scrap Publish date: September 16, 2008 Tech cell: Press Feeding
	Getting work from the New Domestics Stampers can take some steps to position themselves for work from automotive "transplants." In some cases, it's just a matter of being there--literally--locating in proximity. It's important to adhere to the unique requirements for material, practices. Publish date: July 15, 2008 Tech cell: For CEOs
	Silicon Valley stamper sizes up, down electronics California electronics stamper Scandic Springs Inc. faces challenges of stamping ever-shrinking electronics components as well as stamping larger parts, such as enclosures. Publish date: June 17, 2008 Tech cell: Fab Stories
	Sensors clear the way for high-speed stamping When you stamp 100 million automotive parts annually, as does Tennessee Stampings LLC, Portland, Tenn., you might accept die collisions as just part of the "traffic statistics." Not so. Before the dies ever hit the high-speed presses, they are properly sensored to prevent downtime, accelerate production. Publish date: April 15, 2008 Tech cell: Press Technology
	Press selection—sorting it out Anchoring the March STAMPING Journal® --Press Issue--this multi-source press selection article offers readers advice on the criteria to consider when buying a press. The article examines application suitability, drives, and controls as well as the usual suspects--tonnage, frame construction, speed, and horsepower. This article is likely to be especially helpful to readers attending Metalform in April. Publish date: March 11, 2008 Tech cell: Press Technology
	Press selection—sorting it out Anchoring the March STAMPING Journal® --Press Issue--this multi-source press selection article offers readers advice on the criteria to consider when buying a press. The article examines application suitability, drives, and controls as well as the usual suspects--tonnage, frame construction, speed, and horsepower. This article is likely to be especially helpful to readers attending Metalform in April. Publish date: March 11, 2008 Tech cell: Press Technology
	Ridin' the storm out While other automotive suppliers are struggling or going under, Tier II supplier of ride control components Tennessee Stampings established a lean program that merited a regional manufacturs' award and helped them grow 23 percent per year. Publish date: October 9, 2007 Tech cell: Array
	Smooth landing for new airport terminal roof fabrication project The new Indianapolis International Airport terminal is one of the first airport buildings to be designed, fabricated, and built to survive the type of attack inflicted on the World Trade Center on Sept.11, 2001. The heart of the new terminal is designed to be a circular space—a civic plaza dominated by its great, arched roof. Fabricating the specialty sloping barrel joists, serpentine structural trusses, and torpedo columns for the curvilinear rolling roof presented unique challenges. Publish date: September 11, 2007 Tech cell: Cutting and Weld Prep
	Lifestyle trends expand use of lasers, ALAW presenters say ALAW 2007 was held April 17 to 19, in Plymouth, Mich. The second two days of the conference focused on laser technology in automotive research and applications and were geared mostly to manufacturing, production, product design, and R&D engineers.Societal demands driving greater dependence on laser technology are energy and environmental concerns, as well as customization. Publish date: July 10, 2007 Tech cell: Laser Welding
	Finishing stainless steel tube and pipe efficiently One big challenge in stainless steel tube finishing is the growing expectations about the surface finish. Tools and abrasives have improved to achieve better surface quality in less time. At the same time, fabricators require finishing methods that address health, safety, and environmental concerns. Publish date: May 8, 2007 Tech cell: Finishing
	Waterjet accelerates pace, provides speed secret Joe Gibbs Racing sports three Nextel Cup teams, winning three Cup championships in a seven-year period. Its drivers Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and J.J. Yeley are well-known race stars. Preparing the cars for each week's race is literally a race between races, as new components-speed secrets-are engineered and fabricated between Sunday night and Thursday. The company relies on a Flow waterjet to accelerate its manufacturing pace to meet the grueling deadlines Publish date: May 8, 2007 Tech cell: Waterjet Cutting
	High-speed cutting, end-finishing -- a means to an end Leading Edge Hydraulics improves tube cutting efficiencies with a high-speed cutter, plus integrated end forming for its fluid power tube manufacturing. Publish date: April 10, 2007 Tech cell: Tube and Pipe Fabrication
	Big shoulders, long strides Family-owned Hansen Steel Services started six years ago with a 600-ft. long empty building and a combined 144 years of experience and built it into a thriving job shop that shoulders large plate fabrications. Publish date: February 13, 2007 Tech cell: Fab Stories
	Safety still pressing for press brakes The leading trend in press brakes safety is to ensure safety without sacrificing speed or hampering operators' ability to work efficiently, say press brakes manufacturers. This starts with tooling, including segmented or sectionalized tooling that is lighter and easier to handle; safety features that prevent unsecured tooling from falling, and fewer tool changes. It is further achieved with light curtains, camera and vision-based sensors, and mechanical side and rear guards, as well as automation and robots. Publish date: January 9, 2007 Tech cell: Bending
	China's Unusual Tax Move Publish date: January 9, 2007 Tech cell: Industry Trends and Analysis
	Metals upsets, offsets, and onsets in 2007 Publish date: January 9, 2007 Tech cell: Industry Trends and Analysis
	Luminous aluminum makes light work Hapco Aluminum Pole Products, Abingdon, Va., fabricates aluminum light posts that must be beautiful while standing up to wind, and the forces of nature. Publish date: October 10, 2006 Tech cell: Tube and Pipe Fabrication
	Stud-maker throws church building a curve Radius Track, a fabricator specializing in its patented curved metal studs, replaced many of the heavy-gauge beams in the a church's dome frame with light-gauge steel studs. As a result, the dome was light enough to be supported without view-obstructing columns. Publish date: September 12, 2006 Tech cell: Roll Forming
	Mission: Spectacular scrap handling operations Stampers, precariously squeezed by tight margins, high material costs, and increasing pressure to be leaner, have issued a request: we want our scrap handling operations to be faster, trouble-free, and more productive. Fortunately, the latest generation of scrap handling equipment makes that mission possible. New machinery, trending toward a greater use of invisible forces and high-tech gadgetry befitting a spy thriller, is equipped with sensors, edge-guide systems, automation, and magnetic forces, equipment manufacturers say. In addition, significant improvements have been made to the scrap handling equipment itself to save space, minimize jams, and to keep it moving. Publish date: July 11, 2006 Tech cell: Materials Handling
	Metal fabricating in a new millennium The forming and fabricating of the 925-foot BP Pedestrian Bridge located at the east section of Chicago's Millennium Park, and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion is explored. Publish date: May 9, 2006 Tech cell: Art and Sculpture
	Hot forming: Strong meets light Cosma International applies its own hot-forming technique to stamping automotive metal components such as A and B pillars, roof headers, roof rails, rockers, door intrusion beams, and bumpers, to meet new CAFE standards for weight, NHTSA requirements for strength, and to counter problems with springback in UHSS components. Publish date: May 9, 2006 Tech cell: Press Technology
	Metalfab: All that glitters is metal Lights. Camera. Fabricate?! You get home from work after fabricating all day, kick back with a cool one, and turn on the tube just to see more metal fabrication, on-screen, as entertainment. If it's not "American Chopper" or "Monster Garage," it's "Biker Build-Off," "Monster House" or "American Hot Rod." What's the fascination with fabrication? Do shows like these put a new spin on the image of metal forming and fabricating? Have they inspired younger generations to consider metal fabricating as a profession? Why have TV producers zoned in on these types of shows? Publish date: April 11, 2006 Tech cell: Fab Stories
	American Fabricator How do you get to Hollywood? Ride a motorcycle when you're 3 years old, start welding at 8, and rebuild a car engine at 9—if you want to be the lead fabricator on American Chopper, that is, one of the most popular metal fabrication-as-entertainment reality cable TV shows airing on the Discovery Channel. Paul Sr. and Paul Jr. Teutul are the highly visible father-son pair usually featured in the media. But it is Vincent DiMartino who is the fabricator behind the bikes, the muscle behind the biceps, the grin behind the guns. Vinnie surmised that the automated waterjet from Flow Intl., Kent, Wash., is probably the most sophisticated equipment he uses, and that much of what he fabricates for the choppers is cut on OCC's waterjet. Publish date: April 11, 2006 Tech cell: Waterjet Cutting
	Imagination fabrication BCI Burke, Fond du Lac, Wis., is the oldest playground and park and recreation equipment manufacturer in the country. As the company grew and its product offerings and colors multiplied, it found it needed to address problems with long leadtimes. Burke looked at every possibility for improvement, including processes improvements, inventory organization, manufacturing equipment purchases, and personnel productivity improvements, including crosstraining. Publish date: February 7, 2006 Tech cell: Tube and Pipe Fabrication
	Trends for stainless steel tube in automotive applications Evidence that stainless steel has potential as a material for automotive components—for its high strength-to-weight ratio for overall weight reduction, good dent performance, corrosion resistance, and formability—was presented by ISSF members at the SAE International™ 2004 SAE World Congress, in Detroit. Publish date: September 13, 2005 Tech cell: Tube and Pipe Fabrication
	Judging the quick and the die Overseas competition, high material costs, just-in-time schedules, demanding quality requirements, stringent safety standards, and industry consolidation are the forces driving trends in the quick die change industry, industry experts say. These forces have intensified the need for quick-die-change equipment and processes, as well as for larger quick die change equipment, equipment that will not damage sensors, and more efficient die storage that can be integrated with quick die change equipment. Publish date: August 9, 2005 Tech cell: Tool and Die
	Parting the Waters Hayward Pools improves punching of pool heaters using DuraBlade parting tool. Publish date: July 12, 2005 Tech cell: Punching
	Rising to great heights in Great Falls When Waterjet Extreme Technologies (WET), Great Falls, Mont., was asked to bid on a large and lofty fabrication project as part of the Great Falls International Airport redesign, co-owners John Kramarich and Rip Rippetoe viewed the inherent challenges as opportunities to explore the limits of their capabilities while dealing with a limited budget. Publish date: April 11, 2005 Tech cell: Waterjet Cutting
	Sensors help stamper get firmer foothold in motorcycle part fabrication Publish date: February 8, 2005 Tech cell: Tool and Die
	Implementing a stamping sensor program—uphill Publish date: January 11, 2005 Tech cell: Tool and Die
	On the road again Contract manufacturer Morton Metalcraft talks about how it faces challenges in fabricating weldments and assemblies for heavy-duty equipment, including ramping up after a slowdown—with machines, manpower, and material, and revising material flow. Publish date: November 9, 2004 Tech cell: Fab Stories
	Prefinishing trends towards growth Publish date: October 12, 2004 Tech cell: Finishing
	10 burning questions you asked about the steel price meltdown December came, and the Section 201 tariffs went out under the tide of global and World Trade Organization (WTO) pressure. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, material price increases hit the metals industry like a tidal wave that made the tariff increases look like gently lapping wading waves. "The Perfect Storm," it's been called. Publish date: May 4, 2004 Tech cell: Metals/Materials
	New bends in the roll As more commercial buildings are designed with larger open spaces, the beam spans grow longer, and the beams must be bigger and heavier. This requires ever-larger section bending rolls to accommodate this demand. In addition, the trend toward the use of higher strength steels has taxed the capabilities of plate roll bending equipment. These changes and other emerging demands have driven the trend toward the use of CNCs, inline material handling, and larger angle bending rolls. Publish date: April 6, 2004 Tech cell: Bending
	US. DOC Offers Export Assistance Publish date: March 11, 2004 Tech cell: For CEOs
	Goin' Global The U.S. is considered to be the best consumer market in the world. However, competition for this market has increased as more and more countries have cast their rods in the U.S consumer pool. Publish date: March 11, 2004 Tech cell: Industry Trends and Analysis
	Laser cell system gives job shop the home field advantage Contract manufacturer CGI Automated Manufacturing Inc., Cicero, Ill., fabricates parts as an outsource resource for vertical manufacturers. The company started out as a stamping operation, then added other fabrication technologies, including welding, press brake forming, drilling, punching, rolling, shearing, and cutting. Publish date: February 12, 2004 Tech cell: Laser Cutting
	Appliancemaker reduces downtime with stamping press feed system The Whirlpool Co. builds refrigerators at its facility in Fort Smith, Ark. The company stamps the appliance parts—large and small, galvanized, cold-rolled, and aluminum—on approximately 35 presses. The majority of its stamping presses are straight-side machines, although some are open-back inclinable (OBI), and a few are hydraulic. Publish date: January 13, 2004 Tech cell: Press Feeding
	Taking tubular aluminum scaffolding to new heights For the company that broke the world record for building the tallest freestanding structure with a 320-foot scaffolding (the Statue of Liberty restoration project in 1984, see Sidebarat bottom of page)designing and constructing the scaffolding for the Washington Monument restoration project was just a natural next step. Publish date: December 11, 2003 Tech cell: Tube and Pipe Fabrication
	Advancements in waterjet technology When Jack Budd, president of Precision Waterjet, Orange, Calif., purchased his first waterjet system seven years ago, he expected most of the company's work to come from the aerospace industry, which was robust at the time. When business from that industry tapered off, he searched for new customers in the architectural, signage, and automotive aftermarket industries. Publish date: July 24, 2003 Tech cell: Waterjet Cutting
	Hot spots for U.S. metal fabricated exports Increased global competition for customers on their home turf has driven U.S. metal fabricators to throw their nets wider to international markets. With this in mind, fabricators should look at the lists of the countries purchasing the most U.S. metal fabricated tools, machinery, products, and partially assembled goods as a road map to export opportunities. Publish date: July 10, 2003 Tech cell: Bending
	Fabricating technology advancements drive new plate finishing trends The same industry forces of nature—globalization, economic conditions, quality demands, and safety and environmental regulations—that are pressuring metal fabricators to do more, better, and faster with less are blowing no less forcefully on finishing fabricators. Publish date: July 10, 2003 Tech cell: Finishing
	Riding on the cusp of something great Kevin Robb's sculptures seem to defy gravity, arrest time, encroach space. Each sculpture is a moment freeze-framed; each element seems to be impossibly suspended. Publish date: May 15, 2003 Tech cell: Art and Sculpture
	Folding technology opens doors for stainless steel appliance fabricator The H.L. Lyons Co., Louisville, Ky., began 40 years ago as an X-ray equipment company in the basement of Keith and Livingston Lyons parents' house. It later became a general metal fabricating business. Publish date: March 13, 2003 Tech cell: Folding
	Steel Fiction Metal sculptor Robert Toll's transition from economist to recognized artist has been as startling and fiction-like as is his featured sculpture in the film, "Pulp Fiction." He is most noted for his sinewy, life-size figurative pieces. He uses oxyaceytlene to heat and bend steel rod, then welds the pieces together. Publish date: September 4, 2002 Tech cell: Art and Sculpture
	Exporting— Exploring Foreign Frontiers The U.S. export assistance network of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce offers U.S. companies help with exporting issues. The network provides marketing research, financial assistance, leads and contacts, legal assistance, trade advocacy, and trade events screening. Publish date: August 29, 2002 Tech cell: Industry Trends and Analysis