February 2013 VOL. 150, NO. 2 FEATURES 51 | Big, Heavy and Automated:
Machining for Seafloor Recovery Extracting oil and gas in the deep ocean requires heavy duty expertise. But the tight skilled labor market is forcing more efficient use of capital equipment through single set-up and automation.
63 | Agility Delivers Workholding Dollars “What we are seeing is a trend toward quick change and the ability to change from part to part within families with little or no setup, especially for a rejuvenated auto industry,” said Jeff Estes, director, Partners in THINC (Charlotte, NC). “We’ve been adamant in telling people that workholding is one of the essential components that they have to consider in automating a process.”
73 | Betting Big on MultiTasking Newest CAM releases offer better multitasking, multiaxis support, and usability enhancements. The cost benefits of deploying multitask machine tools are undeniable, with multitask machines offering the ability to perform many machining operations on parts with just a single setup.
85 | Becoming Jacks of All Trades Brad Carney, a founder and owner of Carney-Echelbarger Machining (C-E; Kokomo, IN), discusses how diversification helped his business grow from a building behind his parents’ house to a new 8400-ft² facility.
DEPARTMENTS 10 UPFRONT
An Exciting New Energy Future 12 CALENDAR
14 QUALITY SCAN Inspect Your Parts Before You Make Them 19 SME SPEAKS
Inspire, Prepare and Support
23 NEWSDESK Production Tax Credit Extended
37 TECH FRONT ROVs Travel Deep in Subsea Energy Search
43 SHOP SOLUTIONS Miller Welding Doubles Down on Laser Processing
ON THE WEB
Thread Milling in Energy-Recovery Operations At the heart of fracking are pumping units capable of generating extraordinary pressures. The threaded ports are critical. http://tinyurl.com/energythreading
83 KNOWLEDGE EXPRESS 96 HOUSTEX SHOW PREVIEW 108 CLASSIFIEDS 109 AD INDEX
The Cover: A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) suspended under a tether-management system (TMS) top hat is being lowered into the water. Once the two reach working depth, the ROV submarine is released and controlled by the tether which carries power, data, and communications to controllers on the surface. Source: FMC Schilling Robotics