The Bradbury Company, Moundridge, Kansas, has recently installed two Mori Seiki CNC Machining Centers.

The company, operating out of a 184,000-sq.-ft. facility with 264 employees, produces roll-forming equipment, levelers, folding equipment and automated production systems for any size rollformed product.

The two new pieces of Mori Seiki equipment, needed to keep up with the company's growth, include: a NH6300 50 taper horizontal machining center with a I OK spindle, dual pallets and 60-tool magazine; and a NV5000B 40 taper vertical machining center (the company's second) with a 14K spindle and a 30-tool magazine.

This equipment joins several other Mori Seikis as well as other brands of equipment purchased through Maruka U.S.A.

"The performance of the Mori Seiki equipment is superior," noted Richard Nichols, plant 1 manager for Bradbury. "We have improved cycle times by as much as 60% compared to our previous equipment. The service provided by Maruka is great. They focus on what is the best machine for our needs."

The assortment of equipment at Bradbury is quite impressive. This includes: a DMG linear drive 5-axis machining center; a Mori Seiki ZT2500 twin spindle, dual turret lathe; a Giddings & Lewis PC50 boring mill along with several other CNC mills, lathes and grinders.

Industries served by the Bradbury Company include: automotive custom roll-forming; decking; grain storage; HVAC; lighting; metal building; office furniture; industrial doors; sectional overhead doors; shelving and racking; steel framing; transportation and specialty products. All equipment produced by the company is customized to meet each customer's needs.

"With our 25% increase in turnover from 2005 to 2006, our challenge is to make continual improvements to increase our throughput," stated Bradbury's CFO Bruce Weaver.

The Bradbury Co., Inc. is the parent company of The Bradbury Group; an organization of companies encompassing over 400,000 square feet and 500 employees engaged in the manufacture and supply of rollforming equipment worldwide. Other companies located in the United States include: American Machine & Rollform Technology, Inc.; Beck Automation, LLC; Custom Rollforming Corporation and Marion Die and Fixture. International companies include: Hayes International in New Zealand; Hayes Steel Framing Systems in Australia; Bradbury International (U.K), Ltd. and Bronx England in the United Kingdom; Bradbury Machinery (Shanghai), Ltd. in China and Metform International in Canada.

Based on single-piece frame cast from polymer composite material, Genesis(TM) 130H can be installed and re-located with no special lifting equipment. Direct-drive spindle motors eliminate need for mechanical adjustments, while cam-driven double gripper loader enables part load/unload times of 2 sec. Work area is isolated from machine frame to minimize thermal expansion from contact with hot chips. Stainless steel cutting chamber with steep inclination ensures that chips fall clear of work area.


Rochester, New York, February 16, 2006-- Gleason's new Genesis(TM) 130H CNC Vertical Hobbing Machine features a revolutionary new design that optimizes dry machining, significantly reduces floor space requirements and greatly improves cycle times.

The 130H Hobber is the first in a new family of gear production equipment from Gleason called Genesis(TM). All of the Genesis machines share a common platform: a single-piece frame cast from an advanced polymer composite material, which can be made faster, more accurately and with inherently more rigidity than conventional cast-iron assemblies. This common platform design also ensures a small, compact machine footprint and enables the user to install and re-locate the machine with no special lifting equipment or special foundations.

While the 130H Hobber can accommodate wet cutting processes, it is particularly well-suited for dry machining. The work area is completely isolated from the machine frame to minimize thermal expansion from contact with hot chips, and a stainless steel cutting chamber with steep inclination ensures that chips fall completely clear of the work area.

The 130H Hobber is equipped with an innovative new mechanical cam-driven double gripper loader fully integrated into the machine. As a result, costly non-productive time can be cut to a minimum, with part load/unload times as short as two seconds.

Unlike conventional hobbing machines, the Genesis 130H utilizes a new, patent-pending hob drive system to eliminate complicated mechanical and hydraulic clamping systems. Instead a simple "D-Drive" system enables the spindle to transmit more torque, with less runout, and at the same time accommodate the use of larger diameter hobs for greater performance and longer tool life.

The 130H also features direct-drive spindle motors, which further reduces setup and machining times by eliminating the need for mechanical adjustments and change gears. Higher acceleration/deceleration rates and increased torque, combined with faster axis motions reduce non-cutting time between cycles and increase overall productivity during machining.

Other significant features include:

o An Easy Access Service Module that consolidates hydraulics, lubrication and pneumatics into one location.

o Optional on-board chamfering and deburring capability.

o Availability of the latest SIEMENS or FANUC controls and the latest Gleason software running in a true Windows[R] environment.

o The chip conveyor may be located from either the side or rear of the machine to meet any cell/system arrangement.

Gleason Corporation is a world leader in the development, manufacture and sale of gear production machinery and related equipment. The Company's products are used by customers in automotive, truck, aircraft, agriculture, construction, power tool and marine industries and by a diverse set of customers serving various industrial equipment markets. Gleason has manufacturing operations in Rochester, New York; Rockford, Illinois; Dayton, Ohio; Plymouth, England; Munich and Ludwigsburg, Germany; Bangalore; India, Studen, Switzerland; and Harbin, China and has sales and service offices throughout the North and South America, Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region.

Indianapolis, IN April 15, 2004 — With a unique patented element design and back-flush feature, the Series FN1 filter from SMC,
generates no industrial waste, as there are no replaceable filter elements, thus saving you cost of filter elements, maintenance and help achieve your goal to be environmental friendly to meet ISO 14001 standard.

The element of the FN1 filter is constructed of a series of grooved filter plates and wave washers placed one above the other and compressed by a compact cylinder on the top of the filter. When the element is compressed, foreign matter in the fluid is trapped in between the plates and washers. Decompressing the element allow the foreign matter to be back flushed and washed away for collection, eliminating the need for element replacement and providing a low maintenance operating regime. Recompressing continues normal operation.

The process of filtration and back flushing cycle can be carried out manually or automatically. The control circuit for the cycle operation can be built using a totally pneumatic or electro pneumatic circuit, for which SMC provides the required pneumatic components. In automatic operation, a differential pressure switch indicates filter element clogging

The FN1 series filter operates in tandem with the FNR reservoir, which stores the fluid required for back flushing, and FND dust recovery filter for collecting the debris. All three units are primarily constructed of stainless steel SUS304 and form an integrated circuit for industrial waste removal.

The filter is compatible with water (industrial and distilled), water-soluble and oil based coolants: petroleum (Oil, kerosene and xylene) and ammonia hydroxide, sodium hydroxide and alkalis. Seal material is available as either nitrile rubber or fluoro rubber to suit the application.

The filter element is available in two types, cylindrical and step type. The cylindrical type has a smooth peripheral surface, as the dimensions of the filter plate and wave washer are the same. The element is ideal for filtering fluids that contain dust with same particle size, as it provides a larger filtration area and easier dust separation. The step type element has an uneven (stepped) surface, since the dimensions of the filter plate is smaller than that of the wave washer, and is recommended for fluids containing dust particles with large variance in sizes

Element lengths are either 250mm or 500mm with respective flow rates of 40 liters per minute and 80 liters per minute. (at 20-micron filtration). Compatible reservoirs have tank capacity of either 1.1 liters or 1.8 liters. Maximum operating pressure of the filter is 1.0 Mpa and maximum fluid temperature is 80ºC.

For larger flow rates SMC also offers 200 liters per minute filter as a special, and also the standard filters can be mounted in parallel

SMC Corporation also manufactures actuators, airline and air preparation equipment, high-purity products, vacuum ejectors, instrumentation, and a host of fittings, tubing and accessories applicable to the machine tool, general machinery and automation industry. With their online product specification tool called E-Tech, customers can specify products, validate part numbers, use sizing calculators and download native CAD files to help select suitable products, and verify selection.
Subsidiaries and joint ventures of SMC Corporation have been established in 38 countries, with sales having grown to a 20% share of the world market, earning it the acclaimed “Global 500″ industry rating. SMC has a total of 14 production facilities, 3 of which are in North America –Indianapolis, IN, Los Angeles, CA. and Mississauga, Ontario. SMC’s global presence enables to provide best customer service in any part of the world.

November 11 2003–World Wide Machines (WWMachines.com) announced today the immediate availability of a new machine communications hub for remote monitoring of unattended equipment. The wwHub machine communications hub is a complete communications hub providing data connectivity between programmable logic controllers (PLCs), remote terminal units (RTUs), and database servers. The wwHub machine communications hub monitors 1 or more PLC/RTU and exchanges data with 1 or more database. The wwHub package enables secure database-driven monitoring and control system development without the use of expensive proprietary software.

The wwHub package features data acquisition capability, a user-configurable polling cycle, multiple database connectivity, bidirectional communications and SSL encryption. The standard, off-the-shelf wwHub package provides automated dial-out communications for monitoring remote equipment by modem. The standard package also has automated ISP dial-up support for hub PCs that do not have continuous internet connections.

A primary function of the wwHub is to transact data between a network of PLCs/RTUs and the WWMachines.com data center. Other uses include low-cost, powerful intranet maintenance sites for remote equipment and database logging from PLC and RTU networks. Target markets include oil&gas production, municipal water and wastewater systems, pollution control, automatic merchandising systems, HVAC, and manufacturing.

The wwHub is available free of charge to end users, and provides standard configuration tools for MODBUS protocol and MySQL database servers. Technical support and training are available on a fee-for-service basis. The wwHub is 100% compatible with WWMachines.com hosted machine web sites and wwHMI. The wwHub can support many OEM proprietary serial protocols, and is available for OEM licensing and private label.

CNC machining is a job sits comfortably atop the hierarchy of manufacturing jobs. A skilled machinist can command a very good salary in fact $60,000 a year or more is not uncommon.

As a CNC machinist your job will also be more secure and safe from outsourcing. This is due to the level of skill required to be successful and while simple tasks such as assembly are being outsourced a rapid rate. This is not to say that outsourcing will have no effect in the machineing field, or that your job will never be outsourced because any job white or blue-collar is facing the outsourcing pinch.

Finding a job as a CNC machinist shouldn’t be too hard. Most manufacturing companies have machining departments and there are many shops that specialize in just CNC. Landing one of these jobs will be much easier if you have some machining experience, or if you have a degree from a technical college. If you don’t have a degree from a technical college or any experience I’ll tell you a little trick that will allow you to sneak in the back door, and land that CNC job and even beat out more qualified candidates.

You’re going to want to research perspective companies and find the pay scale for their CNC positions. Once you got a list of prospective companies go apply for an entry-level position at that company. Punch press, sweeping what ever just get in the door.

How will this help you get a CNC job? 90 percent of all manufacturing companies promote from within. They’ll give current employees preferential treatment before hiring an outsider even if the current employee is lacking experience for the open position.

Keys to getting promoted in a to a CNC operator position:

You’ll need a strong work ethic.

Perform well on the job.

Have a good attitude.

Show a willingness to learn and make it known that you want to learn about CNC machines.

And most important be dependable. that means always show up on time, and always volunteered to work overtime if it’s available.

Note these tips for getting ahead only apply to non-union jobs because they promote people based on performance where most union jobs only look at seniority.

As a trained as CNC machinist you will never have to worry about job security that is not to say you’ll never get laid off, but if you do you need only send out your resume to prospective employers or place it online listing your qualifications and you’ll be getting a job offers in no time.