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What Is a Mill?
Simply a Run of the Mill Question
The owner of the metalworking machine sales company woke up predawn to his cell phone ringing. The number was from the Eastern U.S., a couple of time zones away, ...
What Is a Lathe?
Take Your Metal for a Spin
In metalworking, a lathe is a machine that rotates a piece of metal at high speeds so that a tool applied to the surface of the spinning workpiece can cut or perform som...
What Are Metrology Machines?
How’s the Weather?
The new secretary at the used machine tool company was helping her boss with the annual inventory. Stopping in front of an optical comparator, she asked, “Does this measure atmo...
What Is an End Mill?
That Ain’t No Drill Bit
The machinist had been pestered by his neighbor’s son into giving him a part time job working in his shop. “I know all about machine tools and working with metal,” the kid ...
What Is a Gear Hobbing Machine?
What Is Hobbing?
Hobbing is a type of metalworking process that falls under the category of machining—using a machine to remove material from a workpiece to achieve the desired shape. Hobbing is u...
What Is Deburring?
A Burr in Your Saddle
Burrs are seldom considered good things. The rough, prickly husk surrounding the seeds of some plants is called a burr (often spelled with just one “R”). Those are the kinds that stick to the fur of animals to spread themselves out into a wide area to reproduce. They are pesky when they get caught on clothes and can be a real irritant to horses when they get under a saddl...