CoroTurn XS tooling for internal turning, grooving and threading brings CoroTurn down to smaller bores in a design conceived with small part machining in mind.

This line features four sizes–CXS-04, -05, -06 and -07–each including inserts for a range of hole diameters, available in different lengths to suit different applications.

These inserts fit into boring bars designed with internal cutting fluid supply, directed at the cutting edge via two nozzles to ensure chip evacuation and sufficient cooling. Boring bars range from 10 to 25.4 mm in diameter.

The inserts locate into the boring bars thanks to a locating pin, which guarantees correct cutting edge positioning, according to the company.

The tooling line is designed for high-precision, small part machining in sliding head stock CNC machines and is useful for automotive, watch, connector and medical applications.

Proflex, the company’s newest machine for volume part production, is said to combine a universally flexible machine structure with high production output. It produces parts from bar or coil stock, as well as castings, forgings and other blanked parts.

This machine has five stations. Four are used for machining, and the fifth is for automatic (robotic) load and unloading of blanks. Station 1 can be equipped with full bar turning features (lathe operations), including a sliding head-stock, secondary (opposed) spindle to break up the turning cycle and live spindles. Stations 2, 3 and 4 (and also station 1 for blank machining applications) each have two opposed three-axis CNC modules with up to four high speed spindles each for live spindle (machining center) operations.

Adding extra capacity to a magazine has somehow become a guilty pleasure, like ladling fresh whipped cream onto chocolate pie. The Crime Law says that we can only have so many calories in our diet– 10 is quite sufficient– and so we feel like we’re getting away with something if we cheat and add a few more.

The government has no more business telling me how many calories to eat as it does how many rounds to put in my magazine.

Pistolsmith Dave Dawson of Dawson Precision agrees that increasing the capacity of a magazine– a Glock magazine in this case– is not only permissible, but also desirable. For several reasons– competition shooting, tactical applications and just plain “more is better”– Dawson has invented an add-on Base Pad for Glock magazines that increases the payload by five (.40 S&W) or six (9mm) cartridges.

The Dawson Base Pad is intended for use with “pre-ban” magazines, those for which the government has not imposed a diet restriction.

Available in black, blue, purple, red and silver, the Dawson Base Pad is CNC machined out of T6 aluminum. The pad attaches to the Glock magazine with a sliding gate that opens to fit over the magazine’s base lip. The fit of the sliding gate is zero-tolerance– a perfect fit.

One word of warning in the installation of the Dawson Base Pad: It requires the use of the D-word. I only use the D-word when absolutely necessary, but this is one of those times when a Dremel tool must be used. Carefully. Very carefully. A nubbin on the left side of the Glock magazine lip needs to be ground off for the sliding gate to fit over the lip. Grind like you were stroking a newly born baby’s head– gently.

Dawson is renowned for building some of the most sophisticated IPSC competition pistols on the planet. His Base Pad is a clever way to bulk up the diet of your Glock magazines. The part retails for $39.95 each and includes a new magazine spring.

In the world of machining very small parts, what you get isn’t necessarily what you can see. Many of the parts being manufactured for medical, electronics and aerospace are too small to be accurately discerned by the human eye.

That lack of visual reference hasn’t stopped the development of a machining niche for prototype and production grinding workpieces from wire stock. It’s a growing segment of the precision machining market.

For many years, Swiss-type lathes have been successfully used to turn very small parts for the watch industry. By using a sliding headstock for longitudinal movement, with a guide bushing for support, parts with high length to diameter ratios can be machined.

Key to this technology is the position of the cutting tool relative to the face of the headstock, which contains the guide bushing. The cutters move perpendicular to the workpiece and engage it as it emerges from the guide bushing.

Cutting forces are therefore focused on the most supported point of the workpiece. Traversing the work across the cutters, using the moving headstock, allows long thin shafts to be machined without deflection.

This same concept of the moving headstock has been applied to a new grinding machine developed by Glebar, Inc. (Franklin Lakes, New Jersey). Called the model CAM SXE-B, it is designed to produce custom parts from wire stock with projecting features, flats and other geometric forms that were traditionally created using multiple machining steps across several machine tools. The working range for this machine is 0.125 to 0.002 inch diameter wire stock. Unlike conventional centerless grinding processes, which can impart profiles only within the width of the grinding wheel, this new design is able to machine unrestricted profile lengths.

Targeted initially at the medical industry, the new machine is designed to increase the precision and flexibility of producing standard and custom guidewires used for a variety of minimally invasive surgical procedures. The use of CNC on all machine axes makes setup of production volumes of higher precision standard guidewires and prototypes significantly faster than other processes.

For short run and prototype work, the designer simply draws the wire profile at a CAD station then downloads it to the machine. Any necessary edits can be performed at the machine. According to the company, a part can be running in minutes.

Glebar’s machine is a full CNC six-axis grinder. The wheel head carries a 12-inch diameter grinding wheel with superabrasive capability, if dictated by the workpiece material. Wheel widths from 0.010 inch to 1 inch can be accommodated. A machine mounted, two-axis CNC dresser can profile the grinding wheel in process for plunge grinding or dress the wheel straight for traversing.

The headstock holds the workpiece in a collet system and has linear in-feed (toward the grinding wheel) and C-axis rotary axes capabilities. Its speed range is 0-5,000 rpm. The work can be rotated against the grinding wheel or held stationary for OD work.

In the centerless operating mode, a regulating wheel is located across from the grinding wheel and acts as a steady rest to provide additional support for the workpiece. This setup helps the machine achieve its accuracies and productivity on very thin wire. Length accuracy, in the centerless mode, is 0.001 inch with diameter accuracy of 0.0001 inch.

As applications within the medical, aerospace, electronic and other industries demand higher production, lower costs and tighter tolerances, a look at this new grinding machine and process should be considered.

Ring Profile Grinder, Model GS:RP grinds external profile of up to 10 piston rings at a time. Compound hydrostatic work head maintains ring compression while grinding, eliminating effects of base deflection. Linear scales and serial pulse encoder feedback provide resolution of .000004 in. Machine includes CNC controls and PartSmart(TM) operator interface. Dressing forms, grind paths, and process parameters are pre-calculated and stored in memory.

WARREN, OHIO-Drake Manufacturing’s latest Model GS:RP Ring Profile Grinder grinds the external profile of up to 10 piston rings at a time. High production with high accuracy results from a Drake-engineered compound hydrostatic work head, which maintains ring compression while grinding - eliminating the effects of base deflection.

The GS:RP work head performs three functions - clamping the rings, rotating them, and sliding them in and out. The hydrostatic work spindle dramatically improves grinding quality and provides high accuracy and consistency on the ring crown, profile and chamfer. Linear scales and high-count serial pulse encoder feedback provide a resolution of .000,004″.

Drake ships the GS:RP with the latest CNC controls and its own PartSmart(TM) operator interface. Program screens are designed exclusively for customer parts. Dressing forms, grind paths, and process parameters are all pre-calculated and stored in memory. Setup time and operator error are reduced while machine utilization is increased. The GS:RP is also fitted with auto loading and unloading to ensure high production and consistent part handling.

Drake Manufacturing designs, builds and services state-of-the-art precision CNC grinding and gear hobbing machines that help maximize productivity, improve quality and reduce production costs for a wide variety of demanding applications.