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Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is an amazing technology that can manufacture complex shapes in a variety of conductive materials — and it produces tightly toleranced parts with excellent finishes. EDM is a subtractive electro-thermal manufacturing method that utilizes electricity to erode the surface of a part.  Basics of Electrical Discharge Machining In general, EDM can […]

CNC Machining for Aerospace: An Overview The aerospace industry is different from others because the consequences of a given part’s failure are dire. No need to go into details, but in general, everything needs to work perfectly every time. This means every gear needs to turn, every bracket needs to stay in place, and it […]

CNC or Computer Numerical Control is, by itself, useless. Without hardware to execute the commands, CNC is nothing more than an array of vectors stored on a drive. Once CNC is married to a machine operation, however, the manufacturing possibilities are practically limitless! What is CNC? What exactly is Computer Numerical Control? Essentially, it’s when […]

Think back twelve months ago.  Most hardware companies were reeling from consecutive quarters of sub-par financial performance due to the significant — literally overnight — drop in demand caused by COVID.  Previously profitable, growing companies were slashing discretionary spending, completely restructuring, and implementing workforce furloughs and reductions.  Survival was paramount.  Those worst hit were often […]

Manufacturing and technology executives from Jabil, Stratasys, and Markforged join Fictiv as the digital manufacturer eclipses 100% year-over-year growth. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — October 4, 2021 — Fictiv today announced the addition of three senior manufacturing and technology leaders with decades of combined experience to its management team. Joanne Moretti has been named Chief Revenue […]

Want to learn more about machining challenges when working with aerospace components? Register for this live webinar. The world of aerospace involves a degree of perfectionism that is not inherent to most industries. Safety is a critical factor when it comes to aviation design, and components must be manufactured in accordance with the highest standards of […]

What do you do when you feel like you’re ready to move on from prototyping, but not quite ready to make production quantities of your parts? Sounds like you need a way to bridge the gap! Bridge production is your answer – using manufacturing processes that are suitable for low volumes but can give you […]

Humans do not like change. Believe it or not, after calculators were invented, some people refused to give up their slide rules. Similarly, CNC machining was invented decades ago, yet there are still those who prefer manual machining techniques. This preference persists despite CNC technology’s ability to manufacture and replicate precision parts that are fully […]

Is your injection molding project ready for success? Sure, you’ve thought about most of the injection molding manufacturing process. You’ve designed your mold with care, researched and selected the right material, and finished your CAD file or part drawing. But have you considered the type of injection molding gate to use? A gate might seem […]

This article is a companion to Getting Started with CNC, an introduction to the different types of CNC milling machines and the software used to design the parts they produce. Here, we’re going to discuss CNC milling terminology, toolpaths, and common operations. Chip Formation You may have seen images like Figure 1, which show how […]