Brent Donaldson

Grant funding for workforce training or the purchase of new equipment is an undervalued and complex resource for machine shops. Here's how to navigate it.

Learn how a custom ERP system and automation transformed large-format machining, achieving 98% on-time delivery and unparalleled precision and efficiency.

HAIMER’s newly updated system streamlines tool presetting and balancing for high-volume, lights-out machining.

<p>The “business of machining” includes a broad set of topics that, in an industry facing tectonic generational and economic shifts, will demand more attention in the coming years. Succession planning, HR, marketing, mergers and acquisitions, investment strategies — as production automation helps to level the playing field and shop leadership transitions from Baby Boomers and Gen X to Millennials and Gen Z, strong business acumen in these fields will provide a greater and greater competitive adv…

<p><strong>Since I was a child</strong>, I was always into science and technology. So, after I finished my army service, I went to study mechanical engineering. After that, I started looking for a job and one of the places where I was interviewed was Iscar.</p><p><strong>My big hobby outside of working in the industry</strong> is the outdoors — I do a lot of hiking. So in 2018 I had this crazy idea: I decided that I would build a website about hiking in Israel for tourists. I had a lot of knowle…

<p><strong>My dad was a machinist for a few years</strong> and then he ended up becoming a mechanic. He taught me a lot and wanted me to be able to fix whatever around the house myself. Anytime something broke around the house, he would pull me over and be like, “Alright, I’m going to show you how this works and how we’re going to fix it.”</p><p><strong>I went to technical high school to study electrical.</strong> The high school I went to has changed in recent years, but it was mostly males. It…

<p>With a surge in spending driven largely by the war in Ukraine and production obligations for the F-35, the Department of Defense (DoD) awarded $470 billion in defense contracts last year, according to a published report by the government market intelligence platform HigherGov. Not only did this figure represent the largest-ever year-over-year dollar increase in spending (eclipsing the 2022 figure of $422 billion), but the number of companies receiving defense-related contracts also increased…

<p>Technology serves us well, perhaps best, when it facilitates creativity and invention. In the world of metalworking and CNC machining, we see this kind of facilitation made possible through digital tools such as CAD and CAM software that enable ideas to manifest into real-world solutions. When we are successful, we celebrate the solutions and innovations that inspire us, assist us, teach us, entertain us, or allow us to push the boundaries of human creativity.</p><p>We sometimes couch our pur…

<p>Buckle up.</p><p>When I think about 2024, that thought comes to mind. There are simply too many events of global significance taking place this year to make 2024 a forgettable ride. To wit: It is estimated that 76 countries plan to hold elections this year, possibly making 2024 “the biggest election year in history.” In addition to elections taking place across the planet, NASA’s Artemis II is scheduled to take humans on a flyby of the moon. A total eclipse of the sun will be visible across m…

<p>If you had to choose just one accessory to bring on long flights, there is a strong argument to be made for noise-canceling headphones. It is still a common misperception that the technology behind these devices is closer to “white noise” than the actual cancelation of sound, but that is not exactly true. Active noise cancelation in modern headphones works by using a small microphone located near the ear to measure the frequency and amplitude of incoming sound waves, then emitting opposing so…

The L.S. Starrett Co. has been manufacturing precision measurement tools in Athol, Massachusetts, since 1880. Attention to U.S. manufacturing often focuses on reshoring manufacturing from other countries, but Starrett never left.

The 2022 Japan International Machine Tool Fair (JIMTOF) lived up to the show’s reputation as a machining technology showcase rather than a sales event.

<p>Shear screws and shear pins are machined parts engineered with a weak point that snaps, or shears, when met with a predetermined force or pressure. In one function, they are the mechanical equivalent of an electric fuse — sacrificial parts that safeguard other parts or systems in a machine. But shear screws can also serve as conditional safeguards that prevent the operation of a mechanism until a pressure threshold is achieved. In the oilfield services industry, when a hydraulic pump reaches…

Brent Donaldson, executive editor of Modern Machine Shop, sits down with Paul Carlsen of Kurt Manufacturing.

Mazak, one of the most recognized names in the design and manufacture of machine tools, has officially entered the Swiss-style market with its new line of Syncrex machines. Here’s what two of the company’s leaders had to say about the decision.

<p>When it comes to the dimensional and weight limitations of the parts it produces, Major Tool & Machine is constrained only by the size of its bay doors. That, and the legal weight limits for travel across America’s highways.</p><p>The company, founded in 1946 to support the commercialization of the jet engine following World War II, is staffed with 415 employees working across a 620,000 square foot campus near downtown Indianapolis. CEO Steve Weyreter previously led the company, which operate…

Introducing Swiss-type machining to this machine shop brought it a new and highly efficient production method. But it also required learning its nuances.

Addressing the conflicts that exist between the majority of Americans who want to “bring manufacturing back” but do not want their children to work in manufacturing because of outdated beliefs about what a job shop looks like.

Knust Godwin introduced metal 3D printing into their precision-machining environment nearly eight years ago. Now it is breaking through into new applications and giving 3D-printed mission-critical parts a renewed business case.

Successful sinker EDM operations rely on understanding the relationship between each individual spark, the electrode and the workpiece.