April 2010 – Overview of Turning Centers

Last month’s newsletter was an overview of the differences between vertical and horizontal CNC mills. This month we are continuing the topic but discussing turning centers, and mill/turn machines. If you are designing parts that are round, or more-or-less round, there is a good chance that a turning center is the most suitable machine to…

Pro CNC Newsletter Featured on MMS Blog

For the past 17 months, Pro CNC’s president Paul Van Metre has published a monthly eNewsletter providing advice on Design for Manufacturability (DFM). The newsletter has recently been featured in a blog entry from Derik Korn of Modern Machine Shop , one of the premier metalworking print and online publications. The title of the blog…

February 2010 – Raw Material Sizes

Last month’s newsletter was a case study showing changes that were made to a real customer part to save them money. This month we are going to look at the available sizes and forms of raw material, and their related costs. I would like to say thank you to John Hunt from Lockheed Martin for…

January 2010 – Case Study #3

Last month’s newsletter was a case study showing changes that were made to a real customer part to save them money. This month we are going to look at a third case study, unfortunately one without a good ending. We were asked to quote on this part below. It was part of a large package…

December 2009 – Case Study #2

Last month’s newsletter was a case study showing changes that were made to a real customer part to save them money. This month we have a second case study, where we look at a part as it was originally designed, and then look at the changes that we made to make it more cost effective…

November 2009 – Case Study #1

Last month’s newsletter discussed threads and plating. This month we are going to start a series of case studies, where we look at a part as it was originally designed, and then look at the changes that we made to make it more cost effective to machine. We were asked to machine this part below…

October 2009 – Threads and Plating

Last month’s newsletter discussed designing and machining plastic parts. This month (which marks the first anniversary of our newsletter !!!) we are going to discuss the combination of threads and plating, addressing some of the common issues and things to avoid and look out for. When a part has threaded holes and it is plated,…

August 2009 – Learning from Our Mistakes

Last month’s newsletter discussed countersinks and chamfers. This month we are going to discuss an unfortunate situation that was expensive and that could have been easily avoided. We hope that people can learn from our mistake. Please read this carefully to get the full effect of this situation. We got an order for a pretty…