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The Global Machine Tool Boom Continues, Except in China

On the surface, the findings of Gardner Intelligence’s latest World Machine Tool Survey portray a seemingly ordinary year for the machine tool industry. But scratch the surface, and we find something remarkable happening: Major geographic regions for machine tools are moving in very different directions.

According to the latest survey, the results of which have recently been published, global machine tool consumption increased $4.1 billion, or 4.8 percent, to $91.9 billion in 2018. This made 2018 an apparently ordinary year, as the median annual increase in global machine tool consumption since 1961 is 4.2 percent. Plus, 2018’s consumption growth rate was slightly slower than 2017’s, which was 6.9 percent.

However, 2018 machine tool consumption was the fifth highest in real dollars. Further, 12 of the top 15 machine-tool-purchasing countries, which account for slightly more than 85 percent of global machine tool consumption, increased their consumption in 2018. That is just the seventh time since 1980 in which at least 12 of the top 15 countries increased their consumption in a given year. This happened in 2017, too.

Yet what makes 2018’s growth in machine tool consumption even more remarkable is what has happened in China. Since 2002, China has been the world’s leading machine tool consumer, and the country has consumed at least 33.7 percent of the world total since 2009. This was the case until 2018, when China’s consumption dropped 5.9 percent from $30.7 billion to $28.8 billion, and its share of global machine tool consumption fell to 31.4 percent.

What happened with China’s machine tool consumption in 2018 is perhaps partially a result of the trade war between China and the United States. However, it is striking that a year of better-than-average growth in global machine tool consumption occurred at a time when the world’s largest consuming country by far was down noticeably.

These circumstances mean that not only did 12 of the top 15 consuming countries increase their consumption in 2018, but they increased their consumption significantly. Their machine tool consumption increased by an average of 12.7 percent, and three of those countries—India, Italy and Thailand—increased their consumption more than 20 percent.

Meanwhile, other countries joining Italy among the top five machine tool consumers (which account for almost 64 percent of global demand) also significantly increased their consumption. The United States, Germany and Japan each increased their consumption more than 10 percent.

Of course, with China down, other leading countries, such as the United States, Germany, Japan and Italy, all increased their share by simple arithmetic. However, the United States is a particularly interesting case. Its global share of machine tool consumption in 2018 was 10.4 percent. That is the country’s? highest share since 2001 when it consumed 13 percent of all machine tools (more than China but less than Germany and Japan). Offshoring of U.S. manufacturing began in earnest in 2001 just when the United States’ share of global machine tool consumption started shrinking. Therefore, it is likely no coincidence that the United States’ share began to recover in 2011 at the onset of the reshoring movement. The increased share of the global investment in machine tools should keep U.S. manufacturing competitive for the next five to 10 years.

Global machine tool production has followed a pattern similar to consumption. In 2018, global machine tool production was $94.7 billion, which was an increase of $4.2 billion, or 4.7 percent. The increase was more than the median increase since 1961, which is 3.4 percent, but less than the increase in 2017, which was 7.7 percent.

Global production of machine tools in 2018 was also the fourth highest in real dollars, and production of machine tools is even more concentrated than the consumption of machine tools. The top 15 machine-tool-producing countries accounted for 93 percent of all machine tools made in 2018, and 13 out of the top 15 increased their production in 2018.

And, deep hole drilling inserts just like with consumption, China had a noticeable decline. In 2018, China produced $23.5 billion of machine tools, making it easily the world’s largest producer. However, 2018 production was down $1.6 billion, or 6.5 percent, compared to 2017. Further, China’s share of global machine tool production fell below 25 percent for the first time since 2008.

What makes it even more clear that the global machine tool boom continued in 2018 except for China is China’s imports of machine tools. In 2018, the country imported $9.5 billion of machine tools, which was an increase of 6.7 percent and the highest figure since 2014. The decrease in Chinese consumption and production combined with increased imports of machine tools indicate that the issue was isolated to the domestic machine tool market in China.

An bar peeling inserts example that the production of machine tools is even more concentrated than their consumption is that the top five producing countries—China, Germany, Japan, Italy and the United States—produce more than 70 percent of all machine tools. For global production to increase when the largest producer by far had a 6.5-percent decline means that the other top-five countries had significant production gains. The other top five countries had an average increase in production of 10.2 percent, but the United States lagged with just a 4.2-percent increase.

The World Machine Tool Survey contains much more information, including not only consumption and production data, but also data related to imports and exports, covering the top 60 machine consuming countries. New this year, the report includes import and export data on high-level machine types. To purchase the report and the data supporting it, visit gardnerintelligence.com.

The tungsten insert Blog: https://francisphy.exblog.jp/

# by williambea | 2023-12-28 13:08

Tungaloy Launches Small Diameter Indexable Shoulder Milling Cutter

Tungaloy has expanded its TungForce-Rec series of indexable square shoulder milling cutter. The series’ high insert density now includes 6 mm (.236″) diameter cutter bodies, which is said to be the smallest indexable shoulder mill available in the market, as well as size-04 inserts that are designed for axial cutting depths of up to 4 mm (.157″).

Featuring the V-bottom design of TungForce-Rec inserts in a compact form, the new size-04 inserts enable the cutter body to have a large core diameter and ample insert support, providing high tool rigidity and stability contrary to the small diameter.

The small size-04 inserts also enable TungForce-Rec04 to have a higher teeth density than conventional shoulder cutters of the same size, boasting two BTA deep hole drilling inserts teeth for an 8 mm diameter cutter and three for a 10 mm. This reportedly enables TungForce-Rec04 to run higher feed speed than competitors when being fed at the same rate per tooth, enabling increased productivity.

The insert design provides the flank face with an obtuse clearance angle for enhanced cutting edge strength and sharpness. Two insert grades are available: AH3225 is the first choice for steel and AH120 is suited for cast iron. According to Tungaloy, both provide high reliability and long tool life for extremely high shoulder milling productivity. rod peeling inserts 16 new inserts and cutter bodies are introduced in this expansion.

The grooving Inserts manufacturers Blog: https://williambea.exblog.jp/

# by williambea | 2023-12-25 11:24

Grooving Inserts, Holders Elevate Productivity, Tool Life

Walter USA has released Walter Cut MX grooving inserts. The inserts improve flatness and surface quality with their tangentially-mounted arrangement in the G3011/G3021 holders.

The MX grooving inserts feature self-aligning tangential clamping. The insert widths range from 0.031" to 0.127" (0.80 to 3.25 mm) with cutting depths of 0.24" (6 mm). The clamping interface between MX inserts and G3011/G3021 holders enables fast and user-friendly replacement of cutting edges with optimum accuracy during change-over.

Four cutting edges per insert increase user productivity. The inserts cannot be engaged incorrectly into the holders, and if one Carbide Drilling Inserts cutting edge breaks, the other edges remain usable.

Tool life is improved because of the Tiger-tec Silver PVD carbide grades. The carbide is said to reduce machining time through its optimized microstructure. The grades reduce wear because the integrity of the coating is not susceptible to thermal stress variations during wet and dry machining.

The toolholders enhance productivity of the grooving inserts, gun drilling inserts gun drilling inserts lengthening tool life with precision cooling on the rake face. The holders’ dowel-pin location feature ensures correct insert seating and indexing accuracy.

The lathe machine cutting tools Blog: http://standard.ldblog.jp/

# by williambea | 2023-12-22 11:49

Carbide Drills Offer Coolant Through Capability

OSG Tap & Die’s BTA deep hole drilling inserts Hy-Pro-Carb drill series now features 8D sizes. Designed for a range of materials, the drills’ point and flute geometry is said to reduce thrust forces and chip size. Higher feeds and metal removal rates may be achieved with the addition of coolant-through capabilities. The applied multi-layered TiAlN coating resists thermo-cracking from heat, improving wear resistance. Common DIN shank sizes improve rigidity and gun drilling inserts gun drilling inserts reduce the number of toolholders needed to accommodate them. The drill series includes 3D and 5D sizes in both solid and coolant-through models, and 8D size in coolant-through only.

The threading Insert Blog: https://jacobupton.exblog.jp/

# by williambea | 2023-12-21 11:36

Broken Up Programs Limit Broken Tools

Thanks to workzone-mounted cameras and other remote machine monitoring and control technology, personnel at Hard Milling Solutions (HMS) can respond immediately to any problems during the shop’s two lights-out shifts. However, determining the source of the problem when a machine’s laser tool probe triggers an alarm for wear or breakage can still take a great deal of time. In these instances, the shop relies on another strategy to get spindles spinning again as quickly as possible, one that’s exceedingly simple to execute. That is, to segment part programs by posting tool paths for different operations separately, rather than as a package.

The essential idea is that determining why a one-hour program alarmed out is far easier than determining why a 10-hour program alarmed out, says Corey Greenwald, HMS founder and president. That’s because after an alarm, the program essentially “rewinds,” he explains. So, the process of discovering when a problem occurred (let alone why) requires retracing steps, sometimes all the way back to the first toolpath. Even if the 10-hour program calls for hourly checks for tool wear or breakage with an integrated laser probe, the only benefit of an alarm is ensuring that the machine shuts down and that the problem doesn’t get any worse. Posting the program in hourly segments instead, with a laser check after each, makes troubleshooting faster by isolating the portion of the machining routine where the error occurred.  

In some cases, a simple visual check of the part might be enough to determine which operations completed before the alarm. However, HMS’s mostly mold and die industry work, which often involves taking multiple, light passes across the same complex geometry, makes these visual checks less reliable than they might sound, Mr. Greenwald says. “If you’re squeezing down into a tight crevice, it can be hard to see with the human eye whether you've got a 6-ball (6-mm ballnose end mill) or a 3-ball in there,” he explains. He adds that segmented programs come in particularly handy when multiple operations use the same cutting tool, particularly when those operations don’t occur in sequence. “With one big program that’s errored out, all you’ll know is which tool is in the spindle.”

Although this concept is gun drilling inserts gun drilling inserts straightforward, it might not work for every shop. HMS has standardized largely on Makino, which supplied seven of the shop’s eight high-speed, hard-milling VMCs. That builder’s Professional 5 CNC offers two capabilities that facilitate HMS’s segmented programming approach. One is the capability to customize program names. This helps employees understand what’s happening during a particular portion of the machining routine, and Mr. Greenwald says it comes in particularly handy when multiple, non-sequential operations employ the same cutter (examples of typical names for HMS program segments include “10-mm rough” and “6-mm semi-finish”). Perhaps more importantly, the CNC enables running multiple programs in sequence, and that list can be displayed in the DNC list. “You Carbide Turning Inserts could write a macro to list the operations with other controls, but when it errors out, it’ll just rewind to the beginning. With the Pro 5, it’s easy to have a list of every program that’s going to run, and they’ll run one after the other. If there’s an alarm, the program segment where it occurred will show up as incomplete.”

Segmented programming certainly comes in handy, but this is a shop that thrives largely on ensuring tools don’t break or wear prematurely in the first place. For an operation focused so heavily on unattended machining, process reliability and predictability are paramount. Although far more involved than segmented programming, HMS’s approach to ensuring that reliability and predictability is rooted in very simple concepts. Essentially, the shop makes the most of its CAM software tool library by painstakingly tracking machining parameters for every job, then standardizing on the most effective settings for particular combinations of cutting tools and materials. This March-issue feature article tells that story.   

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# by williambea | 2023-12-19 15:04