The Chick One-Lok CNC vice system has been added to 1st Machine Tool Accessories’ (1st MTA’s) portfolio of high-productivity machining equipment.

Developed to meet the speed, precision and flexibility demanded by modern CNC machining operations, One-Lok is said to eliminate the shortcomings of standard knee-type milling machine vices.

The Chick One-Lok CNC vice system enables soft or hard jaws to be replaced with a single turn of a locking screw, to provide locational repeatability of 0.0008in (0.02mm).

With a maximum grip of up to 17in (432mm), One-Lok incorporates Chick’s Boltfast interchangeable jaw system, which enables soft or hard jaws to be replaced with a single turn of a locking screw, to provide locational repeatability of 0.0008in (0.02mm).

Machining accuracy is further enhanced by the unit’s ’squeeze’ clamping configuration, which applies an equal and opposite internal force to the fixed jaw as the moving jaw closes - providing virtually deflection-free component clamping with a maximum retaining force of 10,000lbf.

In operation, the vice also imparts a pull-down action to the workpiece for increased security and precision.

One-Lok features a ‘Qwikslide’ mechanism that allows the moveable jaw to be easily unlocked and slid forwards or backwards to achieve rapid setups.

A further feature of the unit’s compact, modular design is its hardened, precision-ground cast-iron base, which provides a solid working surface and eliminates swarf traps - reducing the need for fixture cleaning between machining cycles.

Available as a standalone workholding system complete with a set of hard jaws, toe clamps, operating handle and jaw-change T wrench, the One-Lok is complemented by a range of machining accessories, including stepped hard jaws, outboard mounted hard jaws, soft jaws, an adjustable workstop, foundation stops and locating keys.

Purpose-designed spacers enable existing knee-type milling machine vice jaws to be quickly installed to the One-Lok base unit without modification.

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/sts/sts127.html

The Business and Industrial Development Committee has approved a $90,000 loan to GT Machine Inc., according to Dan Pawlitzke, the city’s economic development supervisor.

The BIDC unanimously approved the loan at a meeting Tuesday, according to Pawlitzke.

GT Machine, which has been in business since 1998 and leases the incubator building at 1429A Wentker Court, will use the loan to purchase a CNC slant bed lathe and for costs associated with acquiring the machinery.

The $90,000 will cover about one-third of the cost with the remainder financed by a $180,000 loan from Investors Community Bank.

Collateral for the city includes a second lien on the new equipment as well as a second lien on all business assets and personal guarantees from the owners, Tom Jachimstal and Gary Messman, Pawlitzke said.

GT Machine already has a $200,000 loan from the city’s revolving loan fund. The loan was awarded at the end of 2007, and the first payment was in March 2008. The company has been making larger payments than required and now owes $120,500 in principal, according to Pawlitzke.

http://www.htrnews.com/article/20091210/MAN0101/91210098/1984/MANsports/Two-Rivers-BIDC-approves-second-loan-for-GT-Machine

In addition to teaching 3D modeling and rendering at CCS, Detroit-based designer Brian Oltrogge does fabrication for Massiearchitecture. In his spare time he does things like, oh, build CNC machines in his apartment out of MDF. As he explains,

After seeing you feature a small DIY CNC machine on your site, I thought I’d send you a link to my work. My machine is 98″ X 43″ and completely hand built in my spare bedroom in my apartment complex. After I designed my machine in Rhino, I started by plotting patterns full scale at Kinkos.

Hit the jump for tons-o’-shots of Oltrogge’s hand-rigged, DIY CNC. And be prepared to feel bad about your own DIY skills.

Investment firm W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE: WPC) announced today that CPA®:17 - Global, one of its publicly held non-traded REIT affiliates, has purchased the North American headquarters of Mori Seiki Co. Ltd., located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The newly completed building was developed and constructed by national real estate developer McShane Development Company. CPA®:17 - Global purchased the facility, which is leased to Mori Seiki on a long-term basis, for a total of approximately $33 million.

Founded in 1948, Mori Seiki has grown to become one of the largest manufacturers of machine tools in the world. They offer over 200 models, including Computer Numeric Control (CNC) lathes, multi-axis turning centers, and a multitude of other machine tools designed to increase customer productivity and efficiency. Mori Seiki operates 51 facilities in 22 countries and has an installed base of over 180,000 machines in 67 countries. Mori Seiki is rated A [Stable] by Rating and Investment Information, Inc., a prominent Japanese rating agency.

Commenting on the acquisition, W. P. Carey Managing Director Gino Sabatini noted, “Mori Seiki is an established market leader in the machine tool industry, and their North American headquarters facility is a high quality asset that is critical to their business and located in one of Chicago’s prime corporate areas. We feel this acquisition is a strong addition to our portfolio and is indicative of how real estate leased to solid tenants can, even in the current market, provide liquidity to its owners.”

W. P. Carey & Co. LLC

W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE: WPC) is an investment management company that provides long-term sale-leaseback and build-to-suit financing for companies worldwide and manages a global investment portfolio approaching $10 billion. Publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (WPC), W. P. Carey and its CPA® series of income-generating, non-traded REITs help companies and private equity firms unlock capital tied up in real estate assets. The W. P. Carey Group’s investments are highly diversified, comprising contractual agreements with approximately 300 long-term corporate obligors spanning 28 industries and 15 countries. http://www.wpcarey.com

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. A number of factors could cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievement to differ materially from those anticipated. Among those risks, trends and uncertainties are the general economic climate; the supply of and demand for office and industrial properties; interest rate levels; the availability of financing; and other risks associated with the acquisition and ownership of properties, including risks that the tenants will not pay rent, or that costs may be greater than anticipated. For further information on factors that could impact the Company, reference is made to the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

COMPANY CONTACT:
Kristina McMenamin
W. P. Carey & Co. LLC
212-492-8995
Email Contact
PRESS CONTACT:
Guy Lawrence
Ross & Lawrence
212-308-3333
Email Contact

Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer, long known for its close association with sports timing technology, has announced a new in-house manufactured chronograph movement as part of its 150th anniversary celebration. The movement, which features a number of interesting technical details and operates via a traditional column wheel, carries the designation of Caliber 1887. This number is not random; it references the year in which the company–at that time known simply as Heuer–pioneered an oscillating pinion which would prove revolutionary to the construction of chronograph mechanisms in general.

According to a press statement from Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of TAG Heuer, the Caliber 1887 and its process of conceptualization to production has been a project nearly four years in the making. Along the way, over 20 million Swiss Francs have been spent, with 45 employment positions created across the brand’s various manufacturing facilities. The bridges, mainplate and other key movement parts are manufactured in TAG Heuer’s Cornol site by ultra-modern CNC machines. Complete movements are assembled in a dust-free environment in TAG Heuer’s newest manufacturing wing in La Chaux-de-Fonds, again using the benefits of the most modern technology to significantly automate the process. The resulting product promises to set an ideal balance between significant production levels, functional reliability, and superior horological quality.

The TAG Heuer Caliber 1887 chronograph movement is self-winding, and recharges its mainspring barrel via a distinctly skeletonized centrally mounted rotor; the design and decoration of this latter component echoes the dialwork of many of the latest models in TAG Heuer’s Carrera timepiece collection. Fully wound, the mechanism will drive the watch for 40-50 hours, the lower figure being applicable if the chronograph mechanism is allowed to run continuously. A bridge with distinctive cutaway sections reveals the most important and technically fascinating parts of the mechanism, including the distinctive double lever and a visually dominant blued column wheel which precisely controls the start, stop and return to zero sequences. The glucydur balance wheel pulsates to and fro 28,800 times per hour and features an eccentric adjustment screw that enables the TAG Heuer watchmakers to precisely adjust the rate average to a tolerance of -4/+4 seconds per day. Dimensionally, the Caliber 1887 movement stands 7.1mm in height and has a diameter of 29.3 millimeters.

TAG Heuer has emphasized that while the Caliber 1887 will enrich the current palette of TAG Heuer in-house movements, it won’t eliminate the brand’s use of proven calibers from other manufacturers, including Zenith, ETA, and Dubois-Depraz. The house is also forthright in pointing out that outside suppliers will play a small but important role in the makeup of the Caliber 1887 movement itself, most notably in such escapement components as the balance wheel and hairspring.

http://www.vialuxe.com/News/style-fashion-celebrity-news-TAG-Heuer-Caliber-1887-A-New-InHouse-Chronograph-Movement/4236,29985

Over the next few weeks, the company will be re-stocking is demonstration CNC machine tools from its nine showrooms in the UK.

The ex-demo machines all have very low running hours, are said to be in excellent conditition and are being offered at greatly discounted prices.

The ex-demo machines are being offered for sale at an event at Haas’ Leicester showroom on Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10, December.

Opening times are from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, but stock is limited and machines will be available on a strictly first-come-first-served basis.

http://www.machinery.co.uk/article/20998/Heavily-discounted-Haas-machines-offered.aspx

Dec 07, 2009 – Plasma Technologies, a leader in CNC plasma systems integration is excited to announce an easier, faster way for integrators to retrofit plasma and oxy-fuel cutting machines. The QuickFit line of retrofit packages transforms an otherwise difficult process into a simple one by providing all components and cables making retrofits as plug and play as possible. Just mount the components and plug them in. This innovative new design drastically reduces costly mistakes and customer downtime.

Plasma Technologies’

The FlashCut CNC Universal Benchtop Retrofit Kit turns a manual benchtop mill or mill-drill into a heavy-duty, precision CNC machine saving thousands of dollars.  The entire system including a new mill, motors, electronics, cables and software is now available for under $5,000.

The FlashCut CNC Universal Benchtop Retrofit Kit also works with existing manual mills including:

•   Grizzly
•   Enco
•   Harbor Freight
•   Rong Fu
•   Jet
•   MSC
•   Smithy

This Universal Benchtop Retrofit Kit, http://www.flashcutcnc.com/CNC-kit-Universal-Benchtop-Re …,  is a high-quality retrofit system, engineered and built in the USA. It is designed to work seamlessly with the world-renowned FlashCut CNC software, controls and motors. There is no machining or drilling necessary to an existing mill. This retrofit kit can be installed it on a machine in less than one hour. There is also an optional ball screw kit for even greater precision.

All of FlashCut CNC retrofit kits are available in servo motor and stepper versions and use FlashCut’s intuitive Windows-based control software. The FlashCut CNC software drives a standard USB Signal Generator.

“Our engineers designed the Universal Retrofit Kit as a response to the hundreds of requests from customers for FlashCut CNC controls and motors as a CNC add-on to a newly purchased low-cost manual mill or drill. Many of these requests were for heavy-duty machining.” says Ron Worth, co-founder of FlashCut CNC.  “After years of input, testing and design, we developed a high quality, robust and elegantly affordable solution.”

The FlashCut CNC website can provide quick, on-line quotes for the new Universal Benchtop Retrofit Kit or for desktop machining tools and software like the FlashCut CNC 3000 Mini Mill, http://www.flashcutcnc.com/3000_tabletop_mini_mill.php

http://www.prlog.org/10434521-universal-benchtop-retrofit-kit-breaks-cnc-price-barriers.html

The ABC’s of CNC is the first video to bring all of the complex technical issues of the CNC hobby together into one complete training resource. The ABC’s of CNC teaches about all of the hardware, electronics, and software issues to get started quickly and easily with a CNC router, mill, lathe or laser cutter in a home workshop.

(PRWEB) December 1, 2009 — The ABC’s of CNC video DVD, which has just been released for full public distribution, will teach the CNC hobbyist all of the basics about computer controlled woodworking, machining or metal fabrication. The video teaches everything need to get started in the fascinating and rewarding CNC hobby.

With a CNC router, CNC mill, CNC lathe, or laser cutter or plasma cutter, it is possible and practical to cut and machine highly detailed,extremely accurate parts. A CNC machine will open up a whole new world in the home workshop for model airplane enthusiasts, model railroaders, woodworkers, artists, and craftsmen. The ABC’s of CNC is a two hour video that is packed with information about how CNC works, what hardware, what electronics, and what software you need to get started.

Design, draw, program and cut parts with a typical home computer. Learn how to buy a CNC or build a CNC machine. Cutting very accurate, reproducible parts is now easily accomplished in a home workshop, without any special training in electronics, computer programming or machining. Learn all about this all-inclusive video at www.abcsofcnc.com CNC technology can be overwhelming, but with the proper training and advice, it becomes logical and do-able… in a home workshop environment. The costs of the hardware and electronics have come way down. A very basic Windows PC computer will do everything that is necessary.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/just-released–the-abcs,1069380.shtml