The EDAF series features two models, the EDAF2 and EDAF3. The sizes of the EDAF2 is 53.2” x 95.5” x 98.4” and the EDAF3 is 59.1” x 102.4” x 100.8”. The EDAF2 has X-, Y-, and Z-axis travels of 13.8”, 9.8”, 9.8” and the EDAF3 has 17.7”, 13.8”, 13.8”. The EDAF2 provides worktable dimensions of 21.7” x 13.8” with a payload of 1,102 lb, while the EDAF3 offers table dimensions of 27.8” x 19.7” with a maximum payload of 1,764 lb.

Visit Jet Edge at www.jetedge.com for more details.

These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.

“While we would like to see first quarter growth rates continue, we are not surprised by the typical second quarter ebb and flow in capital spending,” Peter Borden, AMTDA president, said. “We have seen an additional month of substantial orders which helps to confirm that a sustainable recovery is taking place despite the buzz of those forecasting a W-shaped rebound. Industry forecasts for the year have been revised slightly upward by many sources and, if Congress passes the bonus depreciation allowance, this could accelerate growth even further.”

One of the authors who led this school of optimism in the future of technology was E.E. “Doc” Smith, an engineer by training and an author of “space opera” stories by avocation. His Skylark and Gray Lensman novels featured heroic protagonists who could whip up rays of the sixth order — whatever those were — that could drive space-ships [as he called them] at about a  million times the speed of light and burst planets like toy balloons.

In the Skylark series, super-genius man-of-action Dick Seaton, his wife, his buddy, and his buddy’s wife flit around the galaxy defending it from the monstrous Fenachrones bent on conquering the universe — nothing like having big plans after all — and defending themselves from their arch enemy Marc “Blackie” DuQuesne.

This is all very interesting, you might say — or might not, depending on your taste — but what has this to do with machining?

I’m setting the groundwork for a passage from Smith’s novel, “Skylark Three.” In the book, Seaton needs the help of the Osnomians, an advanced civilization of green humans, a million years old and composed of geniuses that make Brainiac seem like a slow learner.

Seaton enlists their aid in building a super-duper space-ship with which to defeat the Fenachrone.

“Building the generators,” Smith wrote back in 1930, “would have been a long and difficult task for a corps of Earthly mechanics and electricians, but to Seaton it was merely a job. The ’shop’ had been enlarged and filled to capacity with Osnomian machinery; machine tools  that were capable of performing automatically and with the utmost precision and speed almost any conceivable mechanical operation. He put a dozen of them to work . . . ”

Automatic machine tools capable of performing by themselves to “utmost precision” were as pie-in-the-sky for an engineer in 1930 as were starships. This was an era straight out of “The Bull of the Woods” where some machine shop tools still were powered by leather belts from a central motor.

Yet, a mere 30 years later, NC and CNC machines were entering the shop environment. Today, 80 years after Doc Smith posited the need for a million-year-old culture to produce automated machining, metalworking machines that can create parts from electronic drawings are within the reach of almost any machinist willing to invest the price of a new automobile.

What’s even more remarkable is that we now have machining technologies even science fiction couldn’t have predicted: electrical discharge machines, laser cutters, waterjets, plasma cutters, stereolithography, and laser sintering. Not to mention technologies now only in development.

Despite the current economic woes, I believe we live in a time that will be seen as the golden age of machining.

-Pete Nofel-

My biggest objection was the take-over of General Motors by the federal government. Okay, Our Beloved President isn’t sitting at the head of the board of directors like Donald Trump on that goofy TV show, but when you take Uncle Sugar’s dough, you’re a vassal, no matter how much you protest. The great thing about GM is that it didn’t even have to change its initials when it went from General Motors to Government Motors.

I should offer some full disclosure here. My old man — requiescat in pace — worked for Ford. It was a golden time for automotive workers. He was able to retire after 30 years with financial and medical benefits that weren’t gold-plated, they were solid gold plated in platinum. I suspect that when he died, and his retiree benefits stopped, the price of each Ford dropped by $1.73. Growing up, I took part of his family benefits plan, so I’m more than a little invested in the health of the US auto industry.

That said, I admit that I was a patron of General Motors. My Blushing Bride and I leased or purchased Pontiacs for the past 12 or 15 years, that’s six of them. We bought our last one a couple of months before GM decided it was such a lousy car company that it needed public funds to keep going. The day I heard that GM became an adjunct to the federal government, I vowed to avoid GM. When I heard that GM had killed the Pontiac brand, General Motors was dead to me.

But, I have been tempted of late to perhaps give them another chance. Our dealership — who has treated me and My Blushing Bride extraordinarily well — may switch over to the Buick line after they had the Pontiac nameplate yanked out from under them. I suppose being a successful dealer doesn’t mean the company owes it anything. Just another example of how corporate-speak — “Our employees are our greatest asset” — isn’t worth the powder to blow it up.

What convinced me to never buy another GM product is the company’s latest decision to ghetto-ize the C word: Chevy.

According to corporate [and probably government] drones, “Chevy” is no longer an acceptable word that can be used by GM employees. Yeah, it carries so much negative baggage with it:

• “Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own”
• “Drove my Chevy to the levee”
• “Out in the back seat of my ‘60 Chevy”

I expect it now has the negative cachet in GM that the N-word and B-word have. The same corporate geniuses that drove the biggest, most success car company into the ground [in a Chevy, no doubt] has instituted “cuss-jars” for the use of “Chevy.” Say the C word, owe a quarter to the cuss jar, or perhaps as in Cool Hand Luke, spend a night in the box.

When the lease on our Pontiac GXP is up at the end of they year, I think I may visit a car dealer who has a franchise for the T-word automobiles.

Long live Our Beloved President.

- Pete Nofel -

Other features include:
• Programmed rate of material removal to keep tool and work piece temperature consistent, and to dissipate heat with chips;
• Automatic feed rate adjustment and automatic depth of cut to maintain programmed material removal rate, eliminate excessive material conditions, and minimize tool wear, heat build-up and vibration;
• Intelligent side milling and slot milling – with programmer override – to provide the fastest possible cycle time, with feed rates and Z-depth adjusted in slot milling for constant material removal;
• Smoothing radius to maximize tool use, minimize cycle time, and extend programming flexibility;
• Contour ramping to maximize material removal in tight areas, with safe access, while minimizing cycle time; and
• Up to 100 percent step-over for cleanup without leaving any material standing.

For more information about GibbsCAM go to www.GibbsCAM.com.

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The YMC430 Micro Center, from Yasda Precision America Corp., Elk Grove Village, IL, is capable of processing molds for Light Emitting Diodes – LEDs. LEDs are the latest trend in backlighting technology for Liquid Crystal Displays – LCDs.

LEDs are a semiconductor-based lighting solution that overcomes the limitations of commonly employed Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps – CCFL. Where CCFLs require a high voltage power supply and are often the highest power-consuming component in large format display, LED backlight units deliver higher brightness than CCFL and better power efficiency.

The YMC430 features rigid construction and spindle stiffness. Focusing on high speed and high accuracy motion control in micro machining, the micro center’s table – Y-axis – is assembled on the X-axis. The lighter table unit is controlled by linear motors and linear guide ways. A solid H-shaped column unit supports the Z-axis, and a cradle-type design headstock holds the spindle unit without thermal distortion. The YMC430 performs positioning accuracy by ISO230-2 0.356µm for X-axis, 0.508µm for Y-axis and 0.316µm for Z-axis.

X, Y, and Z travel are 400 × 300 × 250mm; table size is 450 × 350mm; table loading capacity is 100kg; spindle speed is 40,000 rpm; spindle nose is HSK-E32, ATC: 32 tools and the machine masses eight tons.

To learn more visit www.yasda.com.