The new free eBook covers types of bearings and bearing maintenance.

Emerson Bearing, a Boston, MA-based bearing company catering to niche markets nationwide and the sister company of Action Bearing which serves the New England market, recently announced the availability of a complimentary eBook for machine tool applications.

Emerson Bearing’s latest free resource entitled, “Bearing Solutions for Machine Tool Applications” covers types of bearings used in this industry, common applications, and how to maintain proper care and lubrication.

Today’s machine tools rely on various specialized components to operate smoothly and efficiently while holding tight tolerances. Specific machine tool bearing applications include machining centers, automatic screw machines, grinding machines, high speed spindles, rotary tables, water jet machines, and more.

Machine tool bearings are designed with distinct geometries, features, and materials that make them suitable for specific machining purposes. Anticipated load pressure, temperature fluctuations, exposure to chemicals, and other factors influence the type of bearing best suited for a particular application. Ball and roller bearings are among the most versatile bearing types and are used in everything from turbine engines to medical equipment.

According to Steve Katz, president of Emerson Bearing and Action Bearing, "This comprehensive guide will help to provide a better understanding of the various bearing types and how each will respond to specific operating conditions. It also covers how to maximize the life and performance of your machine tool and its components with proper maintenance, regular inspection and lubrication.”

Learn how to improve workingholding efficiency.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the pressure it’s placed on supply chains, hiring needs, and skills training only exacerbated the inherent inefficiencies of existing approaches to workholding. Current workholding processes involve single-application aluminum soft jaws, introducing resource challenges, and requiring a significant amount of time, skill, and raw material before a single part is milled. Re-thinking traditional soft jaw processes to focus on adaptable solutions eliminates entire steps from an existing process, simplifying workflow and curtailing the time, effort, and cost expended in traditional workholding. In this presentation, you’ll learn how ground-breaking innovations in the CNC machining workflow have a huge impact on several pain points in the industry. Furthermore, you’ll see how allowing lean in-house manufacturing operations and limiting vulnerability to supply chain disruptions will ultimately save your operation time and money.

Meet your presenter Rachel Short has been an executive within technical solution companies for more than 15 years. She holds a B.S. in business management from the University of Colorado and is currently the managing director for the Norgren Workholding division of IMI Precision Engineering. Her career focus continues to be in the development of solutions for customers that’ll positively impact the success of their business. Rachel is a native of Colorado and in her spare time she enjoys waterskiing.

About the company Norgren is part of global engineering organization IMI plc. IMI is at the forefront of delivering the solutions we need in a changing world and is focused on creating tremendous value by solving key industry problems in attractive markets. Norgren has a proud history of creating innovative engineering solutions in precise motion control and fluid technology, and we collaborate with our customers across more than 50 countries in critical areas such as factory automation, material handling, rail, energy, process control, life science and commercial vehicles. From improving speed, productivity, reliability, and efficiency of equipment, to generating significant energy and cost savings, Norgren’s high-quality solutions are designed to help customers pursue progress, achieve new goals, and overcome problems. We offer the capability, resources, engineering intelligence, and global support infrastructure to tackle the largest project demands.

KEDCO’s studio is designed to develop startup companies to advance existing technology and manufacturing.

The Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. (KEDCO) announced the launch of a Medical Technology Accelerator Studio, which will develop a pipeline of MedTech startup companies to complement and advance existing product development and manufacturing capabilities in Warsaw, the Orthopedic Capital of the World.

"We want our community to be known for how it supports entrepreneurs. We already have a strong foundation, with thriving businesses both large and small, and by establishing this pathway for innovation in our own backyard to support Kosciusko County and area businesses, we’re planting seeds to benefit our area for decades to come," said KEDCO CEO Alan Tio.

The community is capitalizing on its resources to facilitate future innovation through a partnership between KEDCO and NEXT Studios, a group of startup founders who’ve developed accelerator studio-model programs in markets and industries throughout the state. The program launch is supported by funding from the Don Wood Foundation and Kosciusko County.

"This unique program will help to ensure that we continue to cultivate new innovations, startup companies, and new opportunities in our community," said Kosciusko County Commissioner Cary Groninger.

The MedTech Studio is the first of its kind in the area. KEDCO will kick off the program with several events, including a "Now What’s Next?" information session on July 21 in Warsaw followed by a series of events facilitated by NEXT Studios including:

The events will be repeated with participating companies and startups to build capability within the local teams to continue programs in the future.

"More than 80% of all new jobs originate from companies under five years old," says John McDonald, managing entrepreneur with NEXT Studios. "Building a supportive ecosystem to facilitate entrepreneurship is key to long-term sustainability. And KEDCO is leveraging its resources to engage its community and its workforce to build amazing things to come."

Meeting space for the program will be available to companies in Downtown Warsaw, with support from MED Institute for equipment and technology needs for the space.

Discover the use of robotics in relation to gauging.

This session provides attendees with an overview of how to automate quality inspection and dimensional gaging with collaborative robots. We’ll provide best practices for getting started with automation, particularly for small-medium manufacturers that have limited automation experience. Learning objectives for this session include:

• Getting started with quality control (QC) automation • Best practices for implementing collaborative robots in a quality department • Robot video demonstrations with automated gaging • Automation with existing shop floor gage • Building a business case and return on investment for implementing automated inspection tools • Industry trends in automation

Stefan Friedrich joined New Scale Technologies in 2016 in sales of precision micro-mechatronic products, moving to the New Scale Robotics division in 2018. He’s developed partnerships with Universal Robots and gage suppliers to develop New Scale’s product offerings and also standardize automated inspection systems, such as the Q-Span Workstation. He regularly teaches industrial manufacturers how to use collaborative robots with gaging instruments, helping them automate quality tasks and improve productivity.

New Scale Robotics makes do-it-yourself (DIY) automation tools for automated gaging. We are a manufacturer of robotic tools and a systems integrator that specializes in combining robotic part handling, measurements using calipers and other gages, and automated data logging. Our products integrate with small collaborative robots to make automation affordable for small- and mid-sized companies. We solve problems requiring intricate part handling and precision part measurement.

The partnership allows users to pre-check machines setups and catch errors early.

Scytec Consulting Inc. celebrates its tenth year of transforming shop floors worldwide with DataXchange, adding value to machine monitoring platforms including additional data collection protocols and Microsoft Teams integration for instantaneous alerts on machine performance. Scytec DataXchange is a machine monitoring communication system that offers a cloud subscription with a no-commitment month-to-month pricing option, or as an on-premise deployment.

Scytec Consulting Inc. is proud to announce a partnership with CGTech and the integration of DataXchange into the digital twin standard VERICUT. CGTech VERICUT is combined with CGTech’s new module called CNC Machine Connect in the launch of VERICUT 9.3 to enhance the quality of the simulation. Through CNC Machine Connect, end users have pre-check option which verifiy key aspects of machine setups, such as main NC programs, subprograms, work offsets, cutting tools, and their length offsets matching the simulations produced in VERICUT. Located mismatches can be corrected to ensure the program continues to run with no unwanted effects. CNC Machine Connect currently supports modern Fanuc 0i and 30i series controls.

Future releases will expand CNC control types and the ability to live stream the machining process and review data post machining to see how it compares to the VERICUT project with insight into axis position, overrides, and tooling. End users will have the ability to investigate potential issues that have caused parts to be out of specification, review any modifications to the NC program subroutines, or feed rates and spindle speeds.