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CNC stands for computer numerical control. It refers to a computer “controller” that reads instructions code which dictates how a machine operates. And is typically associated with the removal of material such as metal for the creation of a complex part. The design and cutting is controlled by software programs like, CAM and others.

The earlier version of CNC was a system referred to as NC or Numerically Controlled machines, which were basically physically wired and their operating parameters where difficult at best to change, if at all.

Punched tape was used and continued to be used as a medium for transferring codes into the controller for many decades after 1950’s. It is now replaced with computer networks and software program that aid greatly to efficiencies and the ability to adapt mid project.

CNC machines have changed the tool and die industry and manufacturing in general since their introduction. The programs have lead to eliminating most of the human involvement. For example, curves are now as easy to cut as straight lines, complex 3-D structures are much easier to produce, and the number of steps to produce a part has been dramatically reduced.

Beside the efficiencies of manufacturing created by CNC, a further benefit has been a major improvement in quality control. With less human involvement more consistency in production, quality has been the result. Bottom line, CNC eliminates many mistakes and errors that human involvement can lead too.

In a company that focuses on CNC machining, they often set up a series of CNC machines sometime referred to as a Cell. The interesting thing here is that a series of CNC machines can be set up together allowing the part to go from one machine to the next, all without human involvement. For example, some companies have automated the process to the point that they will leave their machines running over night and over weekends with no operator involvement. Laser devices check for quality control and alert the controllers if any defects are found.

Mike Webster, Webster Engineering is a prototype and low-volume machine shop specializing in complex and precision metal work since 1962. Located in Roseville, Michigan, Webster Engineering is privately owned and certified to the ISO 9001:2000 International Standard. Webster Engineering has a reputation for providing solutions that exceed expectations for speed, accuracy, delivery, quality and cost - achieving real customer satisfaction. Contact Webster Engineering at 586-777-0116 or CNC Machining or complex prototype design

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First of all what exactly is CNC machining? It stands for computerized numerical control. But what CNC machining really means is perfection. It’s all about producing top quality parts on prototypes and low volume production runs at low costs and being as close to the original design as possible. Being an expert at the intricacy of the technology and capabilities is critical to achieving this goal. And we’re talking about 1 ten thousands of an inch here. The mind set for businesses that do their own CNC machining or are considering taking their current CNC machining in house, has to be perfection.

With low volume prototype production of 1 to 1,000 parts, CAM (computer aided manufacturing) programs must be used to truly optimize the CNC machining process. Applying best practices throughout, from design to manufacture, should drive the machined parts to your exact designs.

Keeping material scrappage as low as possible, will also help in keeping your costs down. In addition, working with skilled and experienced staff can play a major role in CNC machining that’s done properly. In that there is still an “art” side of CNC machining that needs experienced eyes to see and make immediate corrections and adaptations.

Quality control is a very important aspect of CNC machining. Every machining operation and part needs to have a process for inspection to ensure compliance to your specifications and designs. Completed products need to be evaluated and documented as proof positive that they meet your standards.

The critical thing here for businesses that are considering taking their CNC machining in house is that they should take their time to adequately plan and prepare. They should have a process and system for their prototypes. One or two mistakes will often eliminate any savings, and often raise the costs substantially than if they where to just to outsource the project in the first place.

Mike Webster, Webster Engineering is a prototype and low-volume machine shop specializing in complex and precision metal work since 1962. Located in Roseville, Michigan, Webster Engineering is privately owned and certified to the ISO 9001:2000 International Standard. Webster Engineering has a reputation for providing solutions that exceed expectations for speed, accuracy, delivery, quality and cost - achieving real customer satisfaction. Contact Webster Engineering at 586-777-0116 or CNC Machining or complex prototype design

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With today’s price of metals at such high prices it is no wonder that people are trading in their extra precious metals. You see it all over the web with regards to companies that will gladly melt down your gold, silver, platinum and more. People are stealing copper tubing and wiring from buildings being built. Armed guards are hired by some commercial builders these days just to protect their investments in materials for plumbing and wiring their building. Some of these metals end up in roll forming machines after going all the way through the metal reselling process.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. The run on silver in the seventies by the Hunt brothers lifted the price of silver over the fifty dollar mark and people were selling everything they had that was made of silver. People’s family heirlooms made of silver, gold and copper were melted down and made into all sorts of end products created by roll formers. Who knows, your grandmothers copper lamp may now be part of a copper roof on one of the new commercial buildings in your home town.

You may even find gold leaf and other beautiful uses of precious metals with a few maybe being sent through a roll form machine. You don’t see gold leaf and gilded art as much as you once did when they were building cathedrals and using gold more regularly, but you may find more of it in Asia were gold leaf is still used in most religious ceremonies.

If you are looking for machines that help in the construction and manufacturing business then Samco Machinery is the place for roll forming equipment. Samco manufactures roll formers and other equipment used in the manufacture of the roll form process. With thirty-five years of experience they are always working with their customers to make the process more efficient and creative which results in a streamlined manufacturing process. For instance they offer a plug and play feature for quick and easy installation.

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Manufacturing is a process many don’t understand unless you are a part of it. The very thought of everything that must take place to get a raw material turned into a finished product is mind boggling. There are many steps in the process, often times not related except as a customer relationship. One manufacturing process may take the raw material and make it into something that many other manufacturers can use. Metal is one raw material that goes through a variety of processes prior to being a final useable product. The first step is mining. One of the final steps may be putting the metal through a piece of roll form equipment prior to assembly.

The mining may start as a strip mine where the earth is dug out of the ground and moved to a leach field. At the leach field the earth is piled up until it reaches a particular depth when a combination of liquids is poured over the earth, often times using a strong acid, leaving a wet slurry that allows the liquid to leach out the metals that were specific to that mix of liquid. The metal is collected at the bottom of the leach field and the process starts over. Before you can get a final product to the metal forming machine there are still many steps left.

Once the metal is collected it is taken away to another process in the manufacturing line needed to create a finished product. The metal must be refined before it can be made into sheets or rods or any other form it may be useful in. In order for the metal to go through a roll former it needs to have a specific thickness and follow other specifications.

There isn’t enough time to go through the whole process. The people at Samco Machinery can help you better understand the metal specifications you will be working with if you need to purchase roll form equipment, a metal forming machine or any type of roll former for your step in the manufacturing process.

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When you look at anything made of metal do you wonder how it was made? Do you ever think about the manufacturing process? Many of us never think about how things are made. We take for granted the fine details of the automobiles we use for transportation every day, the appliances we have in our homes for our convenience, the tools we use for work or for fixing things around the house and even the entertainment centers with all of the technological wonders we have for keeping us entertained day and night. Many of us have the luxury of parking our car in a garage every night yet we don’t even know what a garage door roll forming machine does to make it so nice looking.

If you’ve ever tried bending a piece of metal into a particular form, you know that it is not the easiest thing to do. You also may have found out that different metals form and bend differently. Knowing that, appreciating a metal forming piece of equipment is that much easier. The power and precision of a piece of equipment that forms metals is impressive to say the least. If you’ve ever seen a manufacturing floor or a television show about one then you also can appreciate what goes into bending metal. If you think about it most of the machines had to be made by bending metal and using some sort of roll forming equipment. There is not much in the way of manufacturing machinery that isn’t using metal in some form or another.

Television is a wonderful way to learn about the world we live in. The shows on how things are done are so entertaining. No one is getting killed and it’s not an opinion on how things get done. When you see a product made from beginning to end and it’s documented on television it is hard to have an opinion on how it is being made right in front of your eyes.

If you are looking for the best garage door roll forming machine or for the matter any metal forming equipment such as roll forming equipment then look up Samco Machinery. They are the world class producer of roll forming machinery.

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If you have ever been in a manufacturing plant you will see all kinds of machinery. If you think about it, everything you see has been made. Very seldom do you have anything in the raw form. Even most organic food has been handled and packaged to get to you. There are television shows based entirely on how things are made and it is fascinating. They show how cars are made including the automotive roll forming process prior to the typical automotive assembly line we’re accustomed to seeing. They show how raw materials are made into the products that can then be made into more refined products.

When looking at some of these processes the question always comes to mind, how much of it is art and how much science and engineering. Maybe it can even go into the realm of a mix. It can be art and science. After all, isn’t a growing flower both? The uncoiling of a Jasmine plant is fascinating as is watching an uncoiler spinning off strands of coiled copper wire in a manufacturing plant. They both require perfect timing and incredible engineering. Most people watching a time lapse video of a plant growing don’t think about how the stresses and strains of gravity and other forces of Mother Nature impact the ability to produce such beauty and intricacy. However, if you are an engineer in the manufacturing world, you may very well ask those questions when looking at a growing plant.

If you are a creator of bending machines then you may be paying attention to how the earth bends and molds itself into mountains and how old pine trees stay bent over for decades to be some of the oldest trees on earth yet remain so in often harsh conditions. To see the beauty of art and form in manufacturing equipment may be a stretch but then enjoying your surroundings is much less stressful than looking at everything as just another piece of metal.

A leader in engineering art form is Samco Machinery. They create the most efficient automotive roll forming machines and you may even find an art form in the use of their uncoiler with their bending machines if you use your imagination.

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If you want to learn stick welding it will take practice and a little patience to learn to do it in a way that will produce fine welds. This is an important thing to remember although some people may say they never had to practice much.

Stick welding is one of the basic methods of welding that many students learn as they are just beginning to learn welding. This is also a method of welding that is high in demand because people need this help whether they are working iron, pie, boilers or building ships.

You will find that you will need the skills of all types of positions including flat and horizontal and ventricle or overhead welding. All of these will take some time to learn and some will be more challenging than others.

Here are some tips to help you make a better weld:

1. The right electrode for the job — many people aren’t sure of the size of the electrode they should use and this is important to know. The size of the electrode will depend on the situation you are welding within. In this situation you will be fighting against gravity if you are doing the weld vertically so you will want to use an electrode that is AWS classified as 7018 because they are low in their powder content.

2. A weld shelf makes a good guide — if you are doing vertical or horizontal welding you will need something that the electrode can follow so you don’t loose any of it to gravity. You can do this by creating a serious of little shelves so you can do a section at a time so that you can continue to work above a weld that you have already laid. This will create a situation where one puddle will freeze in time to hold the next weld.

3. Don’t undercut if possible — this can happen because you have to weave the electrode and sometimes your work may be gouged and not have enough fill metal. When this occurs, you will be working against gravity because it will work to pull your fill metal away from the space you are working. You can reduce your puddle size to help you have more control in this situation.

4. Stay away from weird sizes for your metal — most metal will come in specific sizes that are always common. These metals will be easier to find and you can weld them fester. Stick with the ones that are AISI-SAE 1015 to 1025 so that you can be sure that you have what you need.

5. Make sure you know your arc length — a good rule of thumb is to use an arc length that is the same distance from the metal as your electrode’s thickness. As an example, if you have an electrode that is ¼” thick, then have your arc ¼” thick. Also remember that as you use the electrode, you will have to move it closer to the metal.

These tips will help you develop a more even weld and keep things more controlled.

Go to WelderWorld.Com to get your free ebook on Welding at Welding. Welder World also has a Welder Forum where you can discuss welding with other welders and get tips for welding or showcase your welding work. Come to WelderWorld.com to check out our new community site all about Welding and get your free ebook on the basics of Welding at Learn Welding. You can Find Welder World at welderworld.com

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When you are looking for tips on how to make your MIG(GMAW) welding better and safer it is important to remember why you are using this method. It is also important to know some advantages and limitations of this method before you get started.

Some of the advantages of using this method include:

- You can use it with any commercial metals so you don’t’ have to worry about compatibility.
- You are doing a continuous weld and it pulls electrode wire off a spool.
- You can perform this method in many different positions.
- Your weld deposition rate will be higher than any other alternative process.
- You make more money because you can work faster.
- You can learn to manipulate the gun fairly easily.
- You can also adapt the process to other types of applications like mechanical and robotic.

There are a few limitations to this method however. These are things you need to know:

- You are going to pay more for your equipment and it can be more complex to work with.
- You might have a little difficulty in hard to reach places because the torch is bulky and has several cables.
- If you have wind or drafts around while you are using this method you can compromise your gas shielding.
- You’ll need to dedicate some time to training to get the correct parameter selection.

With these things in mind, here are a few tips to make your welding process better:

1. Remember that most MIG (GMAW) applications will use a direct current polarity. This means that once you set the correct parameters you won’t have to change anything in the process because it regulates itself.

2. The electrode extension is important because its length will determine the arc you will have when you are working. You have to set the length before you start. The current will flow in the wire and it will heat the length of your wire; then the current will heat your arc.

3. The short circuit method of transfer should be used if you want to weld thin materials or large gaps in a joint. This method uses the lowest range of current and small electrodes. This will insure that you have low head and a small, quick weld pool that will freeze.

4. The Globular method of transfer should not be used if you can get away from it because it is so difficult to control. You can use it on flat services but there are other methods that work better. It also makes spatter uncontrollable.

5. If you need to weld thicker sections use the spray transfer method because you can use a higher current and a higher deposition rate than other methods. You can get a spatter free stream of drops and this method can be used in all of the welding positions.

Finally, when you are purchasing MIG(GMAW) supplies make sure that you purchase them from a reputable dealer. Also check all of the parts to see if they are working before you make the final purchase.

Go to WelderWorld to get your free ebook on Welding at Welding. Welder World also has a Welder Forum where you can discuss welding with other welders and get tips for welding or showcase your welding work. Come to WelderWorld to check out our new community site all about Welding and get your free ebook on the basics of Welding at Learn Welding. You can Find Welder World at http://www.welderworld.com

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This process is called by many names and it basically is a welding process that uses an arc to heat metal that needs to be joined. The welder uses a continuous feed filler metal (a consumable) electrode and this is used on the work-piece. This type of welding also must use a shielding that is provided by a gas or a mixture of gasses.

This type of welding is also called short circuit transfer. In the MIG process, when the wire actually touches the metal to be connected, it lets go of the metal that does the welding. This makes sure that metal doesn’t transfer across an arc so there is no puddling.

Also known as gas metal arc welding, the MIG(GMAW) process uses a metal gun to provide this service instead of a torch so that you get a direct current going to the metal. You can use both constant current and alternating current systems to also produce this method of welding.

GMAW uses four ways to transfer metal. These are:

Globular - this method is difficult and used the least because it has a tendency to spatter because the gun will move to a high heat without warning. This makes the welding surface come out with flaws. This method uses carbon dioxide so the electrode tends to produce a ball of melted metal that cases irregular shapes that are bigger than the electrode. They then drop and falls onto the piece you are working on which causes a spatter. This is difficult to control as you would imagine.

Short circuiting - this uses a smaller current than the globular method but it still uses carbon dioxide. Because of the lower current you can actually weld thinner metals together with this method. This method is similar to the globular method because drops of melted metal from the electrode still forms, but it causes the electrode to short circuit instead of the drops falling on the work. This closes off the arc but comes back again because the surface tension pulls the metal goblet from the tip.

Spray - this was the first method for transfer used with GMAW and used to weld aluminum and stainless steel. The difference with this process is that the electrode metal passes through an electric arc that is stable and goes all the way to the workplace. This stops spattering and you get a weld finish that is higher quality than in other methods. You also will watch as the current and voltage increases so you get small, vaporized steam droplets instead of large globules.

Pulse spray - this last one is a newer way of doing this type of welding that uses a continuous current that pulses and melts the filler wire. In each pulse a small droplet of metal will fall.

This also allows the welder to use a lower current. The welder gets a more stable arc and this stops spatter and the short circuiting process. Because this process is slower, argon gas is used instead of carbon dioxide as the shielding gas.

Go to WelderWorld to get your free ebook on Welding at Welding. Welder World also has a Welder Forum where you can discuss welding with other welders and get tips for welding or showcase your welding work. Come to WelderWorld to check out our new community site all about Welding and get your free ebook on the basics of Welding at Learn Welding. You can Find Welder World at http://www.welderworld.com

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The acronym TIG stands for Tungsten Inert Gas Arc Welding and the acronym GTAW stands for Gas Tungsten Arc Welding this is the same process but it is referred to by these two different names. In the situation you will be welding using an electric arc that generates the heat. You then have a tungsten non-consumable electrode that then produces the weld you are attempting to make.

One of the things that have to happen in this type of welding is that the particular metal that you are welding has to be shielded from contamination in the atmosphere or you will get a poor weld. Because of this, the area is shielded using an inert gas like argon; this is used with a filler metal where necessary.

This type of welding needs constant current to flow across the arc using an ionized gas called plasma. Plasma also has metal vapours within it. You will usually use GTAW if you have to weld thin metals like stainless steel, aluminium, magnesium or copper allows. GTAW also gives the person who is operating the welding process more control of the weld.

What this means to the weld is that it is a stronger weld and has a higher quality than many other types of welding. Many experts say that it is harder to learn, is complex and can be slower than other welding techniques.

Some welders like using a different kind of torch to produce plasma arc welding which is very much like this one but a little different. This type of welding will give a more focused welding arc, but usually this is done through automation.

How It Operates

The reason this welding process is the most complicated or difficult to master is because the welder has to use a smaller arc length; they have to be able to have a very steady hand. If they aren’t able to keep a distance between the electrode and the piece they are working on, the piece can become contaminated and there can be problems with the weld.

This is also a two handed process because you have to be able to hold the torch in one hand and feed a filler metal into the space that you are welding. You can see that this is a very intricate process and one that requires high skill.

There are a few types of welding that will not require this type of weld and the individual will not have to use filler material these types include: edge, corner and butt joints. These types of welds are called autogenous or fusion welds (Source: Wikipedia).

A welder who is highly skilled in this process is able to alternate between using the torch and then using the filler material in a pretty fast way. As they do this the filler rod can be taken out as the electrode moves forward, and it doesn’t have to be taken out of the gas shied. This is a highly developed process for those who can do it well.

GTAW can operate using several different currents: positive direct current, negative direct current or alternating current. This will all depend on how they set up the power supply in the beginning.

Go to WelderWorld to get your free ebook on Welding at Welding. Welder World also has a Welder Forum where you can discuss welding with other welders and get tips for welding or showcase your welding work. Come to WelderWorld to check out our new community site all about Welding and get your free ebook on the basics of Welding at Learn Welding. You can Find Welder World at http://www.welderworld.com

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