Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 4

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 5

Part 1 Fabricating Truths 7

Chapter 1 Manipulating Metal 9

Defining the Processes 10

Cuttingup 10

Shearing specifics 11

Slitting success 12

Punching out 13

Boarding the Bending Express 15

Putting on the brakes 15

Forming opinions 16

Thinking progressively 17

Spinning in circles 17

Peeking at the Neighbors 18

Touring the machine shop 18

Wake up, it's time to get vertical 19

Reviewing the Rest 20

Thinking additively 20

Casting away 21

Forging partnerships 22

Honorable mentions 23

Embracing Mechanics 23

Bearing witness 23

Motoring about 24

Controlling motion 24

Mulling over the miscellany 25

Chapter 2 Looking Back at Fabricating History 27

Digging for Gold 28

Pounding progress 28

Hello, Bronze Age 29

Pumping Iron 30

Smelting success 30

Steeling for progress 31

Caring About Fabricating 34

Admiring appliances 34

Building tall buildings 35

Cruising about with cars 36

Heading out to sea 36

Lifting off with aircraft 36

Chapter 3 Getting to know Materials 37

Pondering the Properties 38

Touching on the Elements 40

Reconnoitering the Metals Landscape 43

Steeling history 43

Carbon copying 44

Alluding to Alloys 46

Shining up with stainless steel 47

Supersize me 48

Tooling around 49

Riding the Gravy Train 50

Seeing red 51

Playing with polymers 52

Peeking Under the Sheets 53

Part 2 Making Metal Fabulous: The Process 57

Chapter 4 Cutting Up 59

Eating Cake: Power Shears 60

Lasing About 62

Looking for problems 63

Beaming up 64

Do me a solid 64

Peeking over the edge 67

Firing Up 68

Beholding the Gantry 70

Watering Down 71

"We want to pump … you up!" 72

Dirtying the water 73

Nozzles, schnozzles 74

Chapter 5 Bending Down 77

Bending History 78

Furiously folding 78

Wiping around 79

"Braking" Up Is Hard to Do 80

Coming to terms with press-brake terminology 81

Learning about the force 83

Diving Into Dies 85

Don't be pushy 86

Diversity in dies (and punches) 88

Backgauging the Bends 89

Crowning Is King 90

Calculating Conundrums 93

Accommodating Potter 93

Laying it all out 94

Chapter 6 Stamping About 97

Striking Gold 98

Don't be sore 98

Coffins to clutches 98

Decompressing Presses 99

Closing the gap 100

Laid back 100

Straight talking 101

Picking Up the Lingo 102

Taking Off the Covers 103

On the fly 103

Achieving happiness with hydraulics 105

Along came the servo 106

Feeding the Machine 107

Being Progressive 108

Let's pretend 109

Done in one 109

Chapter 7 Punching Out 113

Punching Madness 114

It's all about control 114

A matter of form 115

Exploring Operations 116

Picking Your Station 118

It's automatic 118

More tools, please 119

Getting a Grip 121

Deciphering Dies 122

Taking the Combo 123

Chapters 8 Fabricating Odds and Ends 127

Working Iron 128

Coping isn't hard 130

Drilling and more 131

Rolling'Round 131

A Booming Success 132

Piping Up 133

Keeping a schedule 134

Let's go tubing! 135

Buckle up 136

Of saddles and fish mouths 137

Squeezing in the Rest 138

Fantastic forging 138

Rolling your own 140

One ring to rule them all 141

Part 3 More Than Machinery: Digging in the Toolbox 143

Chapter 9 Tooling Up 145

Digging Metals 146

Carbide; The tooling superhero 146

Tool steel: Second best, not second rate 147

Setting Standards 149

Punching Through 152

Aquick peek inside 153

Keep it clear 155

Keep it sharp 155

Keep an eye on things 156

Stamping and Stuff 156

Donning a Smooth, Slippery Coat 157

Wrapping Up 158

Chapter 10 Welding: Putting It All Together 161

Wondering About Welding 162

Doing Me a Solid (State) 164

Firing Up 165

Arcing Across 167

Marking the Spot 169

Getting Gassed Up 169

Shields up, Captain! 169

A smarter of spatter 171

In flux over flux 172

Choosing a Good Joint 173

Learning Safety with Jimmy 174

Chapter 11 Automating with Robots 177

Taking Robbie Apart 178

Effecting change 179

Teaching them a lesson 179

Leaning on the Tin Man 180

Pushing the limits with press brakes 181

Feeding the factory 181

Laying Down the Law 183

Gaining Flexibility with an FMS 185

Watching from Home 187

Avoiding Bad Actors 188

Chapter 12 Making Tools and Machining Parts 191

Touring the Tool and Die Department 192

The usual suspects 192

I'll take the combo 193

Facing the hard facts 194

Justifying their existence 194

Meeting a Few Machine Tools 194

Turning terrifically 195

Milling majestically t 197

Staying Sharp with Cutting Tools 201

Spinning'round: Rotary tools 201

Hold still: Stationary tools 202

Increasing Your Carbon Footprint with EDM 204

Sink or swim 205

Wired up 205

Grinding Is Groovy 207

Chapter 13 Going Soft(ware) 209

Unraveling Difficult Acronyms 210

Figuring Out File Formats 212

Coloring in the Lines 213

Abra-CAD-abra 213

Rhymes with ham 215

Going flat 216

Why nests aren't for birds 217

Modeling Reality 219

Your high school industrial arts project 219

The importance of a solid footing 219

Staring at Clouds 220

Eliminating Toolroom Chaos 221

Designing with an Eye to Production 223

Designing for manufacturability 223

It's elemental, Dear Watson 223

Herding the Shop Floor Cats with MES 224

Chapter 14 Embracing QUALITY 227

Giving a Rip About Quality 228

Showing tolerance 228

Dimensioning geometrically 230

Confusing characteristics 230

Internationalizing Your Standards 232

Shopping for Tape Measures 234

Touring the Inspection Room 237

Gaging success 238

Hello, Mr. Mic(rometer) 240

Filling up the metrology lab shopping cart 241

Letting Machines Do the Measuring 243

Decisions, decisions 244

Jumping at shadows 245

That's a Wrap 246

Chapter 15 Making Metal Farts Pretty 247

Assessing Abrasives 248

Wheeling About 251

I'm Bond … abrasive bond 252

Let's get small 254

Talking about Tools 256

More power! 256

Tools for the toolroom 258

Working 'em Like Dogs 260

Blasting Away 261

Of glass, shells, and stones 262

Getting all stressed out 263

Finishing Up 264

Part 4 The part of tens 267

Chapter 16 Ten Techie Things to Know About Fabricating 269

Joining the Revolution 270

Cruising the Clouds 271

Going Green 271

Getting Lighter 272

Getting Lost on the Paper Trail 273

Cutting the Wires 274

Viewing Machines Virtually 275

Manufacturing Additively 275

Embracing Automation 278

Leaning Out Your Shop 279

Chapter 17 (Almost) Ten Ways to Be a Better Fabricator 281

Changing Things Up 282

Adopting New Technology 283

Marketing Your Business Vertically 284

Shortening Setups, Increasing Uptime 285

Maintaining the Machine (and Tools) 287

Learning That Manufacturing Is Not a Dirty Word 288

Becoming Certifiable 289

Donning Some Cool Safety Shades 291

Keeping Your House in Order 293

Index 295