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The Fabricator February 2018
The Fabricator is North America's leading magazine for the metal forming and fabricating industry. The magazine delivers the news, technical articles, and case histories that enable fabricators to do their jobs more efficiently. The Fabricator has served the industry since 1970.
The absolute necessity of aligning press brake tooling
- By Steve Benson
- Feb 12, 2018
- Bending and Forming
- Article
If a shop moves from conventional fabrication toward the precision market, an investment in precision-ground tooling can make a bending department much more efficient.
A 3-D CAD modeling case study: Focus on industrial design limits attention paid to future manufacturability
- By Gerald Davis
- Feb 8, 2018
- Shop Management
- Article
With the help of a case study featuring the design for a commercial coffee maker, columnist Gerald Davis shows how a focus on industrial design can help to place manufacturing issues on the back burner.
EcoSift designed to help with recycling waterjet abrasive
- By Sue Roberts
- Feb 8, 2018
- Waterjet Cutting
- Article
An abrasive management system can reduce waterjet operating costs by more than half without affecting cut quality, automate tank clean-out, and reduce the impact the process has on the environment.
Artificial intelligence makes machine maintenance more effective
- By Tim Heston
- Feb 7, 2018
- Testing and Measuring
- Article
An AI engine that mimics how a human ear hears could have big potential in the maintenance arena.
5 steps to successful career path management
- By Tim Heston
- Feb 7, 2018
- Shop Management
- Article
Many managers feel uncomfortable talking to direct reports about their career goals. But they avoid it at their peril, particularly when hiring millennials, and especially in these times of poaching and record low unemployment.
Scratching the surface of total productive maintenance
- By Jeff Sipes
- Feb 6, 2018
- Shop Management
- Article
As lead times continue to shrink, equipment availability becomes increasingly vital. If your company is focused on breakdown maintenance, it may be time to consider TPM.
Solving metal fabrication’s greatest problem: skilled labor
- By Tim Heston
- Feb 6, 2018
- Shop Management
- Article
A fabricator needs technology, but what really sets it apart are its talented people, and according to participants of FABTECH’s workforce development panel, the industry needs to engage to find more.
Vaporizing foil actuator welding: Joining by impact
- By Tim Heston
- Feb 5, 2018
- Metals/Materials
- Article
Vaporizing foil actuator welding (VFAW) uses the pressure from an electrically driven explosion to impact-weld dissimilar metals at high speed. It does this by changing a thin metal foil from a solid to a gas and using the pressure to push one base metal—over a short, controlled distance—toward another base metal. This all happens within millionths of a second, with impact speeds about twice the speed of sound in air.
Collaborative robots : An option for job shop welding automation
- By Tim Heston
- Feb 5, 2018
- Automation and Robotics
- Article
Collaborative robots are a welding automation technology for job shops to consider especially if they have difficulty justifying traditional welding automation.
Sassy Engines fires up plasma cutter to stay on top of production needs
- By Dan Davis
- Feb 2, 2018
- Shop Management
- Article
Sassy Engines is a leading engine manufacturer for the sport of tractor pulling. When lead times for small fabricated parts grew into several weeks, management decided to venture into the world of fabricating as well. It’s been a winning combination since that decision was made in early 2017.
Mergers and acquisitions in metal fabrication: The story behind one shop’s success
- By Tim Heston
- Feb 2, 2018
- Shop Management
- Article
In December 2017 a large injection molding operation purchased a $45 million custom fabricator, a large shop with high revenue diversity. No one customer made up more than 3 percent of revenue. One more thing: Seven years before, the fabricator was just an $8 million shop.
Steps to troubleshooting draw bending of tube
- By William Q. Tingley
- Feb 1, 2018
- Bending and Forming
- Article
Not all draw bending applications in a tube fabrication shop require a mandrel, a wiper, or the pressure die assist feature. However, understanding each of them can help a fabricator troubleshoot problems more accurately and quickly and determine the need for one of these if it is absent.
Looking for parts-sorting automation for fiber lasers
- By Dan Davis
- Feb 1, 2018
- Laser Cutting
- Article
Speedy blank creation has created a bottleneck on the back end of the fiber laser cutting machine. Fabricators in competitive markets are looking for automation to eliminate the need for people to break parts out of a nest. Some solutions are available, but the best is yet to come.
Panel benders, folding machines, and other alternatives for bending big sheet metal workpieces
- By Tim Heston
- Jan 31, 2018
- Bending and Forming
- Article
Have operators who strain their backs lifting large panels during the press brake forming cycle? It doesn’t have to be that way.
One fabricator’s blueprint for growing its business
- By Dan Davis
- Jan 31, 2018
- Shop Management
- Article
When other fabricators were cutting costs and postponing investments during the Great Recession, BTD Manufacturing, Detroit Lakes, Minn., was moving forward with plans to grow the business. Today the payoff is evident. The fabricator is growing because it has figured out what makes it special and how to maintain that with expansion and new blood entering the organization.
- Podcasting
- Podcast:
- The Fabricator Podcast
- Published:
- 04/16/2024
- Running Time:
- 63:29
In this episode of The Fabricator Podcast, Caleb Chamberlain, co-founder and CEO of OSH Cut, discusses his company’s...
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