Vertical Machining Centers: A 2026 Buying Guide What to Look for When Choosing Your Next VMC Walk into almost any modern machine shop and you’ll see rows of vertical machining centers that appear remarkably similar. Comparable travels, familiar CNC controls, and long lists of standard features can make it seem like one VMC is much like [...]
Chatter. Poor tool life. Dimensions that don't repeat. These and other common machining problems can ruin an otherwise good day. A high-quality machine tool solves these shop floor woes, and does so for many years to come. Uptime goes way up. So does part accuracy and profit margins. Best of all? You'll have happier customers and [...]
Tired of waiting on external suppliers for outsourced parts? Or how about the "Oops, my bad" apologies you get when one of them ships a batch of nonconforming product?" You're not alone. Entrepreneurs, product developers, prototype shops dealing with increased demand—all of them wonder, "What can we do to improve our supply chain?" The answer? Wean [...]
CNC Machines for Aerospace Parts: What You Need to Know Precision, reliability, and repeatability are critical in the aerospace industry—and that’s exactly where CNC machines shine. From turbine blades to landing gear components, aerospace manufacturers rely on advanced CNC technology to meet tight tolerances and demanding material requirements. High-Performance Materials, High-Precision Machines Aerospace components are often [...]
Tariffs. Political divisions. A chronic skilled labor shortage. With all that's going on today, no one can predict what’s next for manufacturing. Even so, there are several ongoing machining trends helping to shape the future for CNC machine shops, whatever they make. And going forward, the most successful ones will be those that followed the Boy [...]
After years of equipment breakdowns, this shop owner decided he’d rather make parts than repair tired machine tools. He’s never been happier. Dean Kauffman makes rollers. He makes them by the thousands. Big rollers, small rollers, all used by steel mills to make the round, square, and rectangular bar stock that other manufacturers then turn into [...]
Kent CNC has introduced the New KHV-500 Combination Horizontal/Vertical Machining Center with the industry standard 0i-MD control by FANUC. By combining a horizontal machining center with a vertical machining center, this cutting-edge versatile machining center allows for faster setups and parts loading and unloading, improved accuracy, floor space maximization, and capital investment reduction. Two Spindles Are [...]
Thinking about changing out your CNC toolholders? Big decision. Most machining centers today come standard with a CAT or BT-style spindle interface, and for the lion’s share of milling operations, these do the job quite nicely. But sometimes, an alternative to traditional “steep taper” CNC toolholders is in order. Source: nextgentooling.com Choose the Right [...]
The rigger just called. Your first CNC lathe or machining center will arrive this Friday. You unpacked the toolholders last week. The workholding is ready. You’ve lined up the first few jobs. The big question now? What approach will you take on CNC programming? Will you buy a CAM system and sit through a training class or two? Or will [...]
High-speed machining was once a niche technology, known only to aerospace shops making large airframe components. No more. High-speed machining (HSM) use is now widespread. So are its counterparts high-feed (HFM) and high-efficiency (HEM) machining. All are now common in shops of all sizes and specialties. That said, shops wishing to pursue a more productive path [...]
