Drill Press

If you think you already have everything in your toolbox, think again. Have you checked your toolbox yet? Do you still have your drill press around?

Have you checked your toolbox lately? Do you have a drill press in it? A drill press is a permanent style of drill that may be mounted on a stand or bolted to the floor or workbench. Drill presses let you drill holes in metal, wood and a variety of other materials. There are several important pointers to be considered before buying drill presses.

There are two types available in the market of drill presses. The floor-standing drill press models that tender more power and can typically handle a wider range of materials and the bench-top drill press models that are a lot more compact and they tend to be a little less expensive. They are best apposite for smaller work pieces and less demanding jobs.

Did you know that in terms of swing the size of a drill press is typically measure? Like the bench-top model that typically has a swing of 10" to 12" and it has a capacity that is larger that needs more powerful motor while a floor-standing model has a swing between 15" and 17" that can have one half to three fourth horsepower. Another capacity that you might consider is the quill stroke because it determines how deep you can drill.

You may like to consider a radial press or magnetic press depending on your drilling needs. A radial press is best if you do a lot of angled drilling or you do work with very large items. A magnetic drill press gives enormously powerful operation along with easy portability.

If you cannot afford to buy brand new hand drill press, you can always buy second hand drill presses. You just need to be a little careful about the product and the accessories that come along with it. Please take note that drill presses are available with variable power, attachments and sizes. This will provide certain handy tips and will direct you to the right path in choosing the best-used drill press. First, you make sure that drill press works effortlessly without any hiccups, makes sure that it makes precision holes and look out for the maximum power that is made by the motor. Secondly if you are going to drill through tougher material you have to get a drill press with higher horsepower. Drill presses have horsepower from ¼ to 1 horsepower. Thirdly, try drilling holes before making up your mind, also take care that the drill press does not unreasonably heat up or stops rapidly while working.

Then, glimpse if any warranty is still left on the drill press, the more the better and the less the more you should bargain. There are also factory reconditioned drill presses available from different brands; this could also be an exciting basis of getting used drill press and if you don't have any ideas or clues and you are in dire need of a used drill bit always ask someone that is an expert or professional in selling with such tools to make up your final choice. These drilling machines also known as the drill presses are used to make holes in metal with a twist drill. To perform the following basic hole machining operations like tapping internal threads with a utilizing tapping attachment, countersinking, reaming, boring and counter boring, a diversity of other cutting tools are also used. Reamer is a modular design with replaceable cutting head, and easy to change while still in the machine tool spindle.

Types Of Drill Bits

Drill bits are tools used in making cylindrical holes. Various types of drill bits are designed for different uses.

Drill bits are equipments or tools that are used in making cylindrical holes. Drill bits can also be referred to as a drilling machine. Drill bits are available in various drill types such as metal drills, gun drills, screw machine drills, core drills, step drills, spade drills, forstner drills, masonry drills, dental or surgical drills, wood bits, twist drills, drill blank taper drills and much more.

They are designed to cut while doing a clockwise rotating motion. Several drill bits are coolant fed. They contain a channel or hole for directing the coolant fed near to the cutting edges. The split point drill heads of drill bits are used for chip clearance and for excellent centering. Drill bits can also be used in cutting aluminum, general-purpose metals, brass, copper, bronze, ceramic, and plastic, stainless steel, steel, wood, titanium and hardened materials. Various types of drill bits are designed for different uses.

Listed below are some types of Drill Bits.

Twist Drill: It drills holes in plastic, metal and wood. This drill is currently produced with a width covering a range from 0.05 millimeters to 100 millimeters while its length is around 1000 millimeters. The most usual twist drill has a tip angle of 118 degrees. This is a proper angle for an extensive array of job. It also has a long series drill for extended length twist drills. It is not advisable to drill deep holes using this twist drill.

Diamond Drill Bit: This particular drill is used in the bathroom for updating or remodeling. It is also used in redesigning your kitchen decoration. Furthermore, it is used on ceramic, glass, tile, limestone, stained glass, marble, fiberglass, porcelain, stone, slate and porcelain tile. When using this drill, the main concern is to obtain water at the edge of the drill bit. Drilling fiberglass may be done with or without water but make sure that the fiberglass has ample amount of water just to get the drill wet.

Indexable Drill Bit: This provides an excellent performance in making short-hole drillings. Stainless steel is drilled 3x in diameter and only a short-hole must be done.

Listed below are some other types of drill bits

• Adjustable Bit: This is built with a changeable cutter blade to bore holes of various sizes. It is also used for drilling gaps for wiring or piping.

• Around-the-corner bit: It is used to cut arched holes that are stretched in corners with a diagonal cutting surface.

• Auger Bits: This drill creates drill holes in wooden materials. The drill ends have a screw head so that the bits may be self fed.

• Brad-point drill: This drill looks almost the same as the usual bits but it has sharpened point to make wood drilling a lot easier. This drill has cleaner holes other than spade bits.

• Counterbore: The drill allows a screw to be driven under the wood outside. The holes that are drilled may be filled with a plug or wire.

• Drill Saw Bit: It is used to cut holes such as wood and metal and can enlarge current holes.

• Countersink: A drill that has an angled tip design that forms a "slump" in the screw head.

• Fly cutter: This one is often used to cut circles in wood and other soft metals. The diameter of circles may be adjusted by changing the cutter blade setting.

• Hole saw: It cut holes from one to six centimeters in diameter and has a center bit for directing the cutting blade edge of the saw.

• Reamer bit: The tapered bit of reamer may be used on existing holes rather than to enlarge holes.

• Screw pilot bit: This beautiful bit is used for drilling body holes. A pilot hole is used along with the countersink.

• Wire Brushes: It use to remove rust and to clean up metal and is available either as a wheel or a cup with wire brush.

• Plastic bit: This is designed with a tip so as to prevent splintering when drilling plastic. It is important to reduce the speed and slowly drill the other side of the plastic.

• Plug cutter: Use this to remove cylindrical shapes from the wood. It covers the screw using a small cylindrical plug.

Total Drilling Machinery Like Pillar Drill & Radial Drill & Universal Drill Machine

Today PARMAR group of companies enjoys very good reputation for performance of their drilling machines, its competitive price, timely delivery.

PARMAR group of industries offers varieties of model in Radial Drill Machines & Pillar Drill Machines, Auto Feed Drill Machines & Tapping Machines. Customers have further choice for light or heavy duty in Pillar Drilling Machines.

The Company have excellent infrastructure equipped with well maintained mother machineries and calibrated measuring instruments to meet product requirements. Besides it, both the units have well trained qualified staff & highly skilled work force for better result. Proper working environment is ensured for them. Due care has been taken for consistence in quality, interchangeability of parts and also selection of appropriate material while designing the machines. PARMAR machines are famous for retention of its accuracy for quite a long period due to stringent quality control at all stages right from raw material to assembly. In short, top priority is given to Understanding the customers need & satisfy their requirements.

PARMAR group takes interest in progress of their employees. Necessary technical and

general awareness training is being provided to improve their confidence level, technical skill and competence. Also employees are made aware of organization's policy and objectives.

PARMAR GROUP IS COMMITTED FOR CONTINUES IMPROVEMENT AT ALL LEVELS.

At P.Parmar Machine Tools we are committed to deliver the superior quality of machines and because of our continues standard performance today we are known as "The Drill Master" .

Ensuring quality of our Drills and Your Products :

Over the period, 'P.Parmar' has achieved unbeatable standards in designing the engineering parts, sure-n-smooth working of drilling processes and the finished results on your end-products. We never cut corners in raw material procurement or in achieving the utmost perfection. That shows on our products and finally in your products. too !

Fully Equipped with Precision Machinery :

The company, established before three decades, believes in to being self reliant in all aspects of production. Today it is one of the well equipped set-up to bring out the best Drill Machines, INDIA can offer. The company has a strategic location in Bhavnagar (INDIA) with a large manufacturing floor, R&D and marketing departments. All our machineries and precision instruments are of high standards of manufacturing.

Expertise that Never Let you Down :

Managed by highly experienced technocrat, the company has a team of trained engineers assuring the quality at various stages of manufacturing. The technology and techniques are upgraded every now and then with ongoing research and developmental activities. Your 'P.Parmar' drill will always keep working with minimal maintenance. That's a promise.

Tips For Tennis Shoes Maintenance

Tennis shoes are now used extensively in other sports such as basketball, jumping and running even though it was originally designed for Tennis. A bit more expensive than normal shoes, tennis shoes require extensive care to last for longer. Here are a few handy tips on how to take care of your tennis shoes.

Clean is keen:

When it comes to tennis shoes, clean is keen-should be the motto. Try your best to keep your tennis shoes from getting dirty. Regular cleaning is a must, weekly washing and thorough drying will help to keep your tennis shoes clean.

Be careful with the fabric:

Watch out for the material of your tennis shoes while cleaning. Tennis shoes made of synthetics are all right for washing. It`s important clean your tennis shoes immediately after getting them dirty, because the strain might be difficult to let go if they stay for longer period and get dried. Tennis shoes of canvas material are easier to clean, just rinse them well with warm water and let them dry properly.

Deodorize your tennis shoes:

Keeping your tennis shoes from smelling bad can be an arduous task. However, there are tips which help your tennis shoes from smelling bad. It`s a good and inexpensive way to dry the smelly tennis shoes in the sun as that will reduce the stink smell to a large extent. You can sprinkle baking soda into the tennis shoes as that will absorb the moisture and helps preventing the smell. Rubbing alcohol spray onto the tennis shoes is a very effective way to prevent the bad smell. However, as they say prevention is better than cure; similarly regular spraying of anti-fungal foot spray into your tennis shoes prevents them becoming smelly.

Tips to wash in washing machine:

Washing your tennis shoes in washing machine helps in letting go of the horrible smell. However, some points ought to be considered while washing your favourite shoes in washing machine. Always opt for warm water for washing.

Tennis shoes of quality brands won`t suffer any damage from this washing, but it`s a good idea wash mid standard shoes along with regular white load as the soft material of towels etc. will provide a sort of cushion to the shoes as they tumble. Before washing, make sure to remove the laces and insoles out of your tennis shoes to prevent them from tangling up in the agitator. After washing, put them out in the sun to dry. This is an inexpensive method to get all new looking tennis shoes.

Benefits of using shoe cleaner:

For the longevity of your tennis shoes, it`s a good idea to use shoe cleaner such as Sport Shoe Stuff Scrub-Off Heavy Duty Cleaner. Some washing liquid and liquid bleach can also be used for giving your tennis shoes a shiny look.

Drying plays an important role:

After washing your tennis shoes, it`s good to dry it in the sun. However, I recommend drying them in a well-ventilated area at room temperature. Dry your wet tennis shoes with a white towel. For next phase of drying, stuff the tennis shoes with white porous paper (don`t go for newspaper as it can bleed ink) or a quick dry towel, but before that make sure to remove the shoe pad, sock-liner or orthotics from your tennis shoes. Replacing the paper towels in regular interval will help letting go of the extra water if any.

Storage of tennis shoes:

Storage of your tennis shoe is also very important as cleaning them. Always keep your tennis shoes in a dry, cool place. Wooden or plastic shoe shapers are ideal to keep tennis shoes.

Follow the above mentioned tips to preserve your expensive tennis shoes for a longer period.

Six Tips for Binding Documents With Spiral Coil

Spiral coil binding is one of the most popular binding styles used today. It offers a contemporary look and feel with some great features such as full three hundred and sixty degree rotation. However, binding documents with spiral coil can be a little bit tricky, especially if you have never done it before. This article will provide you with six simple tips for binding your documents with spiral coil. Here they are.

1. There are several different hole patterns used for spiral coil binding. The most common hole pattern is 4:1 pitch (four holes per inch). However, spiral coil spines are also available in 5:1 pitch (five holes per inch) and in 3:1 pitch (three holes per inch). More than 90% of users choose a 4:1 pitch machine since the supplies are easier to find and less expensive. However, it is also important to note that some 4:1 pitch punches use a 43 hole pattern while others use a 44 hole pattern. If you decide to order pre punched covers or need to match a hole pattern from an existing document you will need to count the holes to make sure that you end up with the appropriate number of holes.

2. Using oversized covers with your coil binding machine is not recommended. In fact, many coil binding machines are not capable of handling oversized covers. When you try to punch an oversized cover with a coil binding machine the holes may not line up with the paper that you have punched or you may end up with extra holes.

3. Most coil binding machines do not have fully disengageable dies. This means that you can not choose to stop a single pin from punching. This makes it difficult to bind odd sized books and documents with your machine. Most coil binding machines are capable of binding letter and half letter sized documents. If you are going to need to bind smaller or larger documents, it is recommended that you choose a machine with fully or partially disengageable dies.

4. Once you have the holes punched in your document you will need to spin the coil onto the spine of your book. Start by taking the spiral coil and spinning through the first few holes of the document by hand. If you have a machine with a spiral coil inserter on it, you can use the roller from your inserter to spin the element the rest of the way onto the document. However, be careful that you don’t spin the book right off the other side. If you don’t have an electric inserter, you will need to simply spin the coil onto the book by hand.

5. The final step in finishing a book bound with spiral coil is to crimp the ends of the coil so that the spiral doesn’t spin back off the book. Special coil crimping pliers are used to cut off the excess coil and bend over the end in a single step. It is possible to achieve the same results using a pair of needle nosed pliers but it is much more difficult and will require multiple steps. If you do have a pair of crimping pliers it is important to remember two things. The red dot should always face the ceiling and the spine of the book should always face towards you.

6. Binding documents that are less than one inch thick is fairly simple with colorcoil. However, binding documents that are larger than an inch can be somewhat difficult. In order to bind larger documents you will need to form the spine of the document so that it matches the curved shape of the coils that you are planning to insert. Most coil binding machines have a spine shaper built into them. However, if you are planning on binding lots of thick documents using coil you might want to consider buying a stand alone spine forming device. You should also note that you most likely will not be able to use your coil inserter for thicker documents. You will need to spin the coils on by hand.

These are five simple things to remember when binding documents with spiral coil binding. Good luck and happy coilbinding.

Machine Quilting Designs

Quilting , like painting is a wonderful art. It is similar to painting in the sense that paints and brushes are replaced by threads and needles. Paper is replaced by fabrics. Quilts were traditionally made by hand, but not with the advent of sewing Quilting machines, many prefer to use machines. This is because, machines make Quilting work easier, faster and not to mention a lot neater. You have the option of using an ordinary sewing machine which has Quilting capabilities or you can use a machine that is specifically designed for Quilting .

Small patches of different fabrics are used to make quilts, though you can use the same fabric as well. It's really interesting and can be likened to working on a jig saw puzzle. Only difference is, in a quilt you need to stitch up the entire thing. Quilting as a craft has been around since many years. Some quilts are passed down to generations, and there are many happy memories associated with these quilts.

If you're a beginner and your interested in Quilting , you can start off by using two or more different fabrics. Basically, you should start collecting left over fabrics or materials that has remained from previous stitching. Once you've collected these, you can then start by sewing all of these together. You should be able to use the sewing machine quite adeptly. It's advisable that you practice using the sewing machine, as much as you can, as handling the machine while Quilting is no easy task. You could also create designs of the quilt. Start with simple, basic designs, and then once you have enough experience, you can move to more complex designs. The Internet has a number of sites where you'll be able to get some free Quilting designs. If these seem too complicated, you can just get some ideas and create your own unique designs.



Quilt designs
need creativity , so make sure you gear up all your creativity while your Quilting . You can create various designs on a quilt, it could be floral designs, geometrical patterns, landscapes, plaids etc. Basically, the choice is so much, you can choose whatever design you think you could work with. If you're new to Quilting or Quilting designs, you can try out mini or miniature quilts with easy designs. There's no hard and fast rule that it has to be a large quilt. Once you gain experience, you can move to larger quilts. It's basically up to you, and what your comfortable with.

Once you decide on a design, the next step is to draw it on a fabric and cut it out. Place these cut out designs on the quilt in the way that you want it to. Mark these designs using pins on the quilt, or you could also run a needle (without a thread) around the designs. This creates an impression of dotted marks, which will then make the Quilting process much easier.

You can choose from an extensive range of colors to make your quilt. Generally a single color is not used for a quilt. Multiple colors are used, which make the quilt attractive and unique. Choosing colors may seem simple, but its important that you choose the color after giving it some consideration. Think of the colors of your bedroom and what would blend in. You can also think of cool and soothing color tones. For a guest room, a brighter color will work great, as they can enjoy your handiwork.

People generally design a quilt on a certain theme. Quilting the theme is the toughest part though. The designs have to fit into the main theme that you have chosen. For example, if your making a quilt for a baby, you can use common things that are attractive to babies such as toys, animals, alphabets etc. Also since it's a baby, choose the color wisely. Don't choose dark colors, but go for soft baby colors such as light pink, light blue, light yellow etc.
Karen Lincoln
For more tips and techniques on Quilting then why not visit our craft information site or for craft supplies then please visit our UK crafts shop - Criss Cross Crafts.

Multidimensional Aspects of Laser Cutting

The multi dimensional aspects of Laser cutting services account for diverse usage of the technique to accomplish the tasks of cutting and related avenues in various areas of mechanical and industrial applications.
The technique and application of Laser cutting enjoys its full fledged application amongst the common variants of metals such as Bisalloy, Checkerplate, Galvanised Steel, Zincaneal and plastic coated Stainless Steel etc. Hence the metal and other related industry equally find the complete solution of Laser cutting very helpful in fulfilling the divergent mechanical tasks and many other industrial processes that become extremely convenient through the feasibility of Laser cutting .
Laser cutting services today stand of great importance owing to the development and speedy progress that is happening at the industrial front. The mechanical aspects are being employed in every existing field and therefore the use of Laser cutting technique and related avenues such as laser marking systems and laser machines is being put to extensive, comprehensive and most detailed use to furnish many heavy mechanical cutting tasks with complete feasibility of ease and convenience.
Laser cutting systems owe their immense popularity due to the "convenience" factor. In fact just like pulleys that had completely transformed the picture of mechanical application to accomplish great convenience in association with the force concept similarly Laser cutting is a again a milestone in association with technical and mechanical amalgamation to help in the hassles of heavy cutting oriented mechanical tasks of the industry.
The multidimensional aspects of Laser cutting account for all those varied application in the various fields; both industry and non industry related where comfort factor with respect to cutting servicesis being sought after. Today when the globe is witnessing a rapid pace of progress and development the significance and contribution of the industrial sector cannot be discarded. Hence it is also absolutely crystal clear that any technology which eases the functional attributes and the burden of heavy mechanical tasks will be definitely of unmatched relevance and importance.
Therefore in industry right from the simplest task to the most difficult of cutting activities, Laser cutting is finding great magnitude on the grounds of the wide range of areas where it is proving out to be of significant help in easing the manual labour and associated difficulties.
With the help of Laser marking systems, Laser cutting tools and various types of Laser machines specifically designed for specific mechanical functions industrial advancements pertaining to the cutting and related mechanical functions are picking up an advanced stride that incorporate freedom from the boundations of manual labour and much more advanced and skillful precision in terms of cutting activities.
This has significantly established a hall mark in terms of mechanical convenience and also set the furnished floor for a feasible industrial platform that can fulfill the difficult tasks of cutting with complete ease through the efficient functional productivity and high end results of Laser cutting .
Jessica Thomson

For more insights and further information about Molnar Laser visit our site http://molnarlaser.com.au/

Technology Gives A Cutting Edge in Cutting Sheet and Plate Metals

Technological advances in the field of manufacturing are what companies use to gain and maintain a Cutting Edge over their competition. Thirty years ago no one would believe the technologies of James Bond and Star Wars would find their way to the metal fabricator's shop floor; but they have. Two innovative alternatives to burning or oxidizing sheet and plate steel are:

* Laser Cutting of steel
* Plasma Cutting of steel

Laser Technology gained much ground in the 1980's through Defense Department research. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) paved the way for today's advanced commercial applications of laser use.

Laser is a word derived from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. It involves the use of an electronic optical device. In the case of steel, output from the device, the laser beam, targets an area of the sheet or plate. This laser stream receives its direction from a computer, which pinpoints the area requiring the cut.

Cutting steel with a laser-cutting machine offers an accurate clean cut. Many other materials benefit from this process, such as wood, copper and exotic alloys. Sheet and plate steel receive cuts of close tolerance, much faster than traditional cutting methods. Laser cutting machines are capable of cutting steel up to one inch thick. These machines can perform these accurate cuts repeatedly and with high consistency.

With laser cutting, the cut edges of the steel are clean. This leaves a cut edge with a nice surface finish. This type of cutting allows for less warping of steel; as the zone affected by the heat is small. Laser applications mean less physical contact with the sheet or plate steel. This means less wear on the steel being cut and less chance of a poor quality cut.

Another great advantage of laser cutting of steel is that there is no wear on the laser. This is an advantage over mechanical cutting tools, which undergo stress and wear in the cutting process. If proper maintenance is performed on the optical mirrors used to reflect the laser beam to its target, many months of use are possible before they must be replaced; unlike standard tooling.

Plasma cutting machines utilize a different process. A plasma cutter or torch uses inert gas or compressed air. It uses pressurized nitrogen, argon, or oxygen. Today the use of compressed air is more common.

This air propels at high speed from the cutter nozzle. As air rushes through this specially designed nozzle, an electrical arc develops. This air hits the surface of the steel sheet or plate. Some of this air (or gas) turns to plasma: plasma that is very hot and able to melt the steel receiving the cut. Because it moves at high speed, the plasma blows away the molten metal. This blowing away of molten metal is the cutting process in action.

Plasma cutting machines can cut steel of one inch or less. The plasma cutting process can make non-linear or curved and angled cuts. It works faster on thinner steel than the burning or oxy-fuel process. Any conductive material (ability to transmit electricity) can have the plasma cutting method applied.

The introduction of smaller nozzles and thinner plasma electrical arcs are the result of advances in plasma Technology . These produce cut edges close to the quality of those produced by laser methods.

The use of laser and plasma cutting machines give manufacturers the ability to make cuts that are more precise. It also gives them the capability of making different types of cuts, all with greater speed. This helps the efficiency of their operations in the competitive business climate of today.

The steel industry continues to be on the Cutting Edge of steel Technology " title="cutting Technology ">cutting Technology. And lasers and plasma cutters are one of the methods they employ to stay there.
Billy Kite

Billy Kite is a researcher writing on behalf of premium steel sales. A company that sells more than just hrpo - hot rolled pickled and oiled steel products.

Components Cutting Tools Machines

In 21st century’s industrialized world, the machines like CNC Machines, Water-jet Cutting Tools . The quality and the performance of Cutting Tools machines and Granite Bridge Saw are getting very trendy. These are some of the rapid emergent methods to cut materials having benefits like most effectual, cost effective and easy to operate.


One of the new emerging technologies in metal industry is CNC Machines. The prologue of CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines has made an immense impact on the manufacturing mechanized industry. CNC machines can assist individuals to cut curves as a straight line; Complex 3-D structure can be created and thus abridged the human actions. Thus these machines are giving credit to CNC Shop for getting so trendy and helpful to mankind. It provides the manufacture to produce more flexibility in holding the parts while manufacturing and to alter the machine to produce different modules. CNC machine consists of milling, grinding, polishing and sculpting functions. It is particularly suitable for creating high grade basin plank and other abnormal products. Normally made from stone, ceramic, glass and micro-crystal stone. The machine will automatically terminate the processing of any requisite profile by effortless setting. The products are of elevated accuracy and good glossiness rate.


Water jet Cutting Tools . The quality and the performance of Cutting Tools is the other pattern of same type of tool, which is proficient of slicing into metal or substances with high velocity and pressure. Mostly used for the fabrication and manufacture of components for machinery and some other devices. Water jets are used to cut materials as assorted as fish-sticks, 'gas-station' sandwiches, and titanium. Tranquilly there are few components which cannot be efficiently cut with a water jet cutter such as, tempered-glass, which smashes when cut, despite of the Cutting Tools . The quality and the performance of Cutting Tools technologies which are used. Water jet Cutting Tools . The quality and the performance of Cutting Tools technology is the most proficient, cost effectual and fastest mounting method to cut components. Due to its flexibility and ease to operate, fabricators rapidly comprehend the enormous potential of these machines. Water jets (or abrasive jets) can cut virtually any component having any shape with no heat deformation or mechanical pressure usually caused by other methods.


Another tool which is getting very valuable position in manufacturing industrial use is Granite Bridge Saw. Bridge Saws also comprise different assortment for the diverse principles in Small laboratories or manufacturing industries such as Marble and granite bridge cutter, diamond saw machine into rails, electronic bridge shape sawing machine, Compactness and sturdiness etc.


These tools help businesses and populace to execute hundreds of reinstatement and refinishing projects, both large and small. Companies can reinstate many damaged marble statues and stonework, in numerous cases masking any evidence of damage.
marbleservices

http://www.MarbleServices.com California specializes in water jet metal, Granite bridge saw, marble medallions, stone gazebo, abrasive water jet Cutting Tools . The quality and the performance of Cutting Tools , bridge saw, bridge saws, CNC granite, CNC Machine, CNC shop, CNC stone, Stone Mantel, water jet. For more information visit http://www.marbleservices.com

Laser Cutting Machines and Their Attributes

Laser Cutting Machines and Their Attributes

Laser cutting machines allow metal fabricators to create high-quality parts that require very little, if any, finishing work. As the high-powered laser is cutting, excess material is either melts, burns or vaporizes away. A high pressure jet of gas also blows away any debris, resulting in a highly finished surface cut.

Two types of laser cutting machines in use today are CO2 and Nd:YAG. CO2 laser cutting machines were one of the first gas lasers and are the most common variety of laser cutting machine. They offer an excellent power input output ratio, as efficient as 20 percent. Nd:YAG lasers are solid state and use a crystal as a lasing medium. They cut steel and other alloys in the metal working industry.

Laser Cutting vs. Mechanical Cutting

Laser cutting machines are distinct from traditional mechanical cutters. Since the laser never makes physical contact with the metal, there is little to no wear on the equipment, and there is less opportunity for the material to become contaminated. Laser cutting machines also cut metal with higher precision than that of mechanical means.

In mechanical cutting, there is usually a wide heat affected zone that can cause material warping from time to time. Thanks to laser cutting machines, the heat affected zone is kept small, thus reducing the possibility of warped material. Although laser cutting offers numerous advantages, it also consumes a very high level of energy, making it more difficult for a conventional machine shop to incorporate into its metal fabrication system.

Benefits of Laser Cutting Machines

Laser cutting machines offer a substantial number of benefits for consideration when selecting a cutting device. Besides its advantages over conventional mechanical cutting, laser cutting is a quiet process. Safety is also important and, as a result, most laser machines are fully enclosed to prevent accidents.

Lasers are equipped with computer touch screens, so workers can plot out design alterations for prototypes and large part runs. The lasers progress quickly because of high feed rates and equipment speed. Workers can also cut multiple jobs in one run by storing inventory on site.

Laser Cutting Machine Considerations

While exceptional for cutting steel and other hard metals, laser cutting machines typically do not function well on highly reflective metals, like copper and aluminum. Since these metals easily reflect the laser's light and also absorb its heat, highly-powered beams are required to cut them.

When piercing, laser cutting machines create slightly tapered holes. due to the hole entry being slightly larger in diameter than the exit.

Since laser cutting melts the material in the beam’s path, metal can harden in the puncture, especially in heat treated material. While this may be beneficial for some applications, this issue can be detrimental to those requiring further work, like threading.




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more cutting machine information


In every machining system, one simply can't ignore the important role that Cutting Tools play. Oftentimes, the quality of a finished product would rely on the quality of the Cutting Tools . The quality and the performance of Cutting Tools would also directly affect a machining system's overall productivity. It is because of their importance that manufacturers would take into consideration several criteria before eventually buying a piece of cutting tool for their machining system. Included in these criteria are the tools ability to last long under rigorous operating conditions and their capability to perform at very high speeds. Also important is the tool's resistance to wear and tear, including resistance to breakage, edge and flank wear, cratering or top wear, chipping, built-up edge (BUE), deformation, and thermal cracking.

1. Kinds Of Tools

As the demand for better Cutting Tools increase, cutting tool suppliers also continuously develop products that can pass manufacturers' demands. Through the years, a lot of materials for the manufacture of Cutting Tools have been experimented upon; some have passed the standards while others were simply dropped. Today, there are only two types of Cutting Tools heavily favored in the machining industry: high speed steel (HSS) Cutting Tools and carbide Cutting Tools ; and it seems that carbide Cutting Tools have slightly overtaken the other in popularity. So, what advantages do carbide Cutting Tools have over their HSS counterparts? Considering their lead in popularity, it is clear that the benefits of carbide Cutting Tools outnumber that of HSS Cutting Tools . And we'll understand these benefits better if we know what carbide really is.

2. What is Carbide?

In chemistry, carbides refer to any group of compounds made up of carbon and one other element that can be a metal, boron, or silicon. There are actually many compounds belonging to this group, among the more popular of which includes:

- Calcium Carbide - Aluminum Carbide - Silicon Carbide - Tungsten Carbide - Iron Carbide

3. Industrial Uses of Carbide

In the 20th century, carbides have been used for a lot of industrial applications. Carbides used in industrial applications are often called cemented carbide products and are classified in three major grades:

- Wear grades Used primarily in dies, machine and tool guides

- Impact grades Higher shock resistance carbide products used for dies, particularly for stamping and forming

- Cutting tool grades Carbide tools used for cutting

4. Carbide Cutting Tools

Cutting tool grades of carbides are further subdivided into two groups: cast-iron carbides and steel-grade carbides. As their name implies, cast-iron carbides are specifically made for cutting cast-iron materials. These carbides are more resistant to abrasive wear, protecting the carbide cutting tool from edge wear due to the high abrasiveness of cast-iron. Steel-grade carbides, on the other hand, are specially made to resist cratering and heat deformation that may be caused by the long chips of steel on higher cutting speeds. Whichever grade of carbide is used in a carbide cutting tool, the main carbide material used in its manufacture is tungsten carbide (WC) with a cobalt binder. Tungsten carbide is well known for its hardness and resistance to abrasive wear. Cobalt, on the other hand, is used to further toughen the tool's surface.

5. Other Variants

Aside from tungsten carbide and cobalt, other alloying materials are added in the manufacture of carbide Cutting Tools . Among them is titanium carbide and tantalum carbide. Titanium carbide helps the carbide cutting tool to resist cratering while tantalum carbide can reduce heat deformations in the tool. Also commonly used in the cutting industry today are coated carbide Cutting Tools . Aside from the basic carbide materials, titanium carbide, titanium nitride, ceramic coating, diamond coating or titanium carbonitride are used as coating materials. The different coating materials aid the carbide cutting tool differently, although they are generally used to further toughen the cutting tool.

6. Benefits of Carbide Cutting Tools

- Toughness - Exceptional resistance to abrasion - Superior wear resistance - Resistance to cratering - Resistance to thermal deformations

- High modulus of elasticity - Chemical inertness - Torsional strength twice that of HSS - Compressive strength
sam cook

courtesy of these die cutting and CNC resources

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education

The way in which education (in our case "higher education") ought to be, is a diverse and complicated subject, for inquiry or claim. It is a multifaceted and super-conceived edification of transcendence. Being as such, there is no possible way for me to convey a fully developed concept within this cage of the Globe's pages, without undermining my attempts, and I would no doubt neglect something significant, although it probably is so regardless. But, nevertheless, in this poeticized piece, I will be critiquing current educational practices as they far too often appear to hold in the co-defining conceptions erected of the student-teacher-administrative creative projections, from a very narrow standpoint. Moreover, although I will be making a proposition in the face of academic addictions, not all is of my own original convictions, though I may subscribe, in these cases, I am just a messenger of wisdoms. It is not so much important, nor quite my intention, that I change people's impressions on what ought to be expected of quality education, or what is wrong with our current model, as much as it is that people, at least to start off with, truly feel and earnestly think critically about what education means and what it ought to proliferate in one's life on a micro, macro, and meta scaling.

The issue I will cover is whether many of the American values, narratives, norms, and collective identities' influences are subliminally, if not forthrightly, self-refuting and ultimately degrading to the experience and growth of students, not only in the context of institutional educational practices but also in erudition in-itself. The main areas of concern that this essay will be covering are: first, most schools are run for profit at the expense of education; second, intellectual laziness is disseminated in education through a teachers-students disparity; third, there is a false dualism between the discrimination of importance of career oriented schooling and humanities education; and finally, the ideal of education.

Education is marketed as a product, imbuing commoditized values of success and independence, as a package deal to buy into a job, one with benefits and a blindfold. Net profit and distributed royalties rise with sweatshop pedagogy. While the bottom line is considered the beginning of decision-making in a school of learning, edification will always be replaced with indoctrination. Surrogate teachers and shadow supplies at the bargain price of a stagnant development. People are obscured as resources or faceless consumers, to be tended to to the extent that they can consume or reinvest. The domination of the administration, as a figurehead to the self-consuming social value, and the entitlement they arbitrarily demand, is coercively corrosive in the way of governance toward teacher's practices. Lessons are now administered through an I.V and the instructor is just a panoptic enforcer of approved budget curriculum. Subsequently, through the noise of everything unsaid but expected and the ruse of a business as a school, students are molded into submissive soldiers that guard the ideology that spawned them, perpetuating their own oppression and striving to be promoted to oppressor.

The propaganda that is created in this ideology embodied within the teacher-student relation is the value of indifference to the essence of enlightenment, promoting intellectual laziness as a prerequisite to a misguided meaning of our endeavors. Do we not desire meaning and liveliness expressed, discourse without domination, instead of estranged relationships in our heads? Alas, meaningfulness is a luxury we pay for on our deathbeds, and immediate gratification is best spoon fed on a full belly of lethargy. Our apathy is exaggerated by the powerlessness to engage the absurd and is mirrored by the functional application of our educationalist's desire to escape from the same absurdity of life that enslaves us. We are a teacher-student relationship interdependently co-narrating each other's search for meaning, not independent objects on a hierarchical scale of entitlement. As long as a disparity of the teacher-student false dichotomy exists, creative understanding will be dismissed. Teachers are seen to transfer their pretentious information onto the tabula rasa of the student's docile receptacles, banking dead dogmas, while mechanically validating both of their existences with movement, as if it was creative intelligence. What is transferred is a stagnant evanescence of information without any substance or significance associated with it, and even if it is given definition, the associations are still alien to one another. Performance is based not on the creativity or analysis but on how well one is able to fill the machine, and on the machines part, how submissively it lets itself be filled. The teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher. The teacher is the subject of the learning process while the pupils are mere objects. Students conform to this method and simultaneously reinforcing the teacher's repression. We are not in school for learning but for proper etiquette within a disciplines culture's mores. Intellectual laziness could ask for no better passengers than docile bodies. Moreover, we as students do nothing to renounce hegemony but more so encourage it for the easy attainment of a passing grade and its implications, and not that of edification for-itself.

Most students only see school as training for a job, but teachers seldom discourage this thought. If asked what you're going to school for, would you not posit a response in the shadow of a career to be bought into indentured-slavery? Too often, becoming a contributing member of the economy is the beginning point of a student's educational decisions. Moreover, the humanities education is written off as a pass time to masturbate to on your days off. Consciousness is the curse of condemned freedom, and endowed are we with the responsibility to the absolute or the absurd, demanding of the gods, dignity be preserved. We need to act as active agents engaged within our realities, and not just passive observers washing over the scenery. The ideal goals of both disciplines are not entirely estranged, but another false dichotomy supporting cultural values misplaced. We're all talk and no action or all action and no talk. To neglect one is to accept none.

We mechanically hum along to the noise of formalities in bad faith, while we long for escape from a self-fulfilling prophecy of oppression veiled in crass success and allusions of marginalized kindness, nevertheless measured by the degradation of others' regrets of self-respect and how green the grass is on the graves we step. This is coercive self-expression of a monotonous split personality's obsessions. Our false double consciousness, through the cross eyes of a dimly enlightened desire for meaningfulness we bought for half price, is the catalyst of our lazy economic domination of fear and our political nausea. Like the snake eating its own tail, we are the mundane product of a perpetuated estrangement of ourselves, as a means to a misguided end, compartmentalizing our exuberance while drilling a void in our heads. The oppressors of the world throughout history have never willingly given up control it has to be demanded. What makes you think that this is any different? What ought to be the point of education behind the veil of ignorance?

The Avant-Garde Philosophers' Society is an SLCC student club whose mission is to promote a genuinely examined life while applying an evolving understanding of the Philosophical Good as active agents engaged with the community.

Schock pushes for Republican revival

EAST PEORIA —

Recognizing their party is beaten, but not broken or out of the match, area Republicans are looking to change their formula in the wake of difficult economic times to boost GOP support and end one-party rule.

U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock said Republicans must rally behind primary candidates and work to capture the African-American and Hispanic vote to get a one-up on Democrats who are annihilating them with voter mobilization drives and blows in recent election cycles.

"We need to communicate our message in superior ways to everyone in the state," Schock said Saturday. "It is no secret that most statewide Republican campaigns in Illinois have written off vast segments of the population and therefore not campaigned in those areas. As Republicans in Illinois in 2009, we cannot write off the black vote, we cannot write off the Hispanic vote, and we cannot write off Cook County.

"There is a way forward and a way to win."

Schock was the keynote speaker at the 42nd annual Tazewell County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner at the Embassy Suites Conference Center. The event drew nearly 600 people.

In his transition from an Illinois state representative to a congressman, Schock said he continues "to see the Illinois way infect Washington with the most irresponsible overspending, overborrowing and overtaxing in our nation's history."

If the party reaches back to its core principles at a grass-roots level, Schock said it will see comeback triumphs similar to what happened in 1980 and 1994, when the Republican Party gained a majority in the U.S. House for the first time in decades.

Illinois' Republican national committeewoman, Demetra DeMonte, said the GOP is on the road to recovery and has a unique opportunity to take back the gubernatorial seat as well as the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. It's currently held by Roland Burris, a Democrat who is embroiled in his own controversy.

The key is getting out the message using current technologies, including texting and e-mail, DeMonte said Saturday.

"Great political transformations begin in times of adversity," she said. "The Democrats may have the machine and the unions, but they can't match us in passion, ideas and principles."

Schock criticized Obama's "far-left" agenda he said includes reinstatement of the death tax, raising the capital gains tax, gun control measures, instituting measures that will increase the possibility of voter fraud, closing off domestic supplies of energy such as coal, oil and gas drilling and scheming redistricting to make permanent legislative majorities.

He said he plans to introduce legislation that currently is in draft form calling for a zero percent federal income tax and zero federal capital gains tax to incentivize new, renewable energy development and production.

"I say to liberals and conservatives alike, if you want our energy produced here in America, if you want the economic benefits to stay here, if you want to wean us off oil, then place the maximum incentive to produce the next generation of energy," Schock said.

He also is co-sponsoring a bill with a Missouri Democrat that would give federal research dollars to companies researching the use of manure as a petroleum substitute for asphalt, among other legislation.

Wimberley’s Mitchell notches top-10 finish in late-model debut at Rattler 250

Charlotte, NC — It wasn't pretty but being pretty doesn't get you a better finishing position, and that was the exact philosophy Wimberley’s Trey Mitchell and his entire Trey Mitchell Racing team had after 250 laps of racing at the South Alabama Speedway. Mitchell who qualified fifteenth tussled his way to a seventh place finish in his first ever Rattler 250 start.

The Trey Mitchell Racing team, led by veteran short track crew chief Freddie Query, began the racing weekend early opting for an extra day of practice on Thursday. Trey, along with other super late model teams, tested the 4/10th mile oval throughout the day picking up as much knowledge as possible as well as getting accustomed to the backstretch wall added over the winter.

It was Saturday when the action really heated up for the Rattler 250 weekend when 31 of the best super late models qualified for this year's event. In his first super late model qualifying effort, Mitchell wheeled his Magnum's Oilfield Services/Rathole Drilling Ford Fusion to a solid 15th place position to take the green flag.

After a brief on-track autograph session, Trey climbed into his No. 47 super late model for the moment he had been waiting for. It took just seventy-five laps for Mitchell to wheel the car into the top 10 when the competition caution came out, allowing teams to change tires and add fuel on pit road under yellow.

Throughout the next 100 laps, Mitchell made his way through the field, racing against many names such as Augie Grill, Eddie Mercer, and Scott Hantz; many names he had only heard or read about until now.

The last 50 laps may have been the hardest of the young racer's career. After hard racing throughout the field that included many caution flags, the No. 47 machine got caught up in the middle, resulting in a beaten and battered race car.

While most, if not all was cosmetic damage, it still resulted in Trey being sent to the rear of the field and having to race his way to the front time after time before finally taking the checkered flag in the seventh position.

“It was certainly a wild weekend for me. Between competing in my first-ever Rattler to it being my first race behind the wheel of a super late model it was a total learning experience and that's what I really need right now.,” Mitchell said. “Even though we didn't really have the best handling car, my guys worked all weekend to make it the best they could and that's all any driver could really ask for. I want to just say thank you to John Dykes for a great weekend of racing and really let him know what he does for short track racing is really appreciated.”

from: sanmarcosrecord

Gazpromneft Cuttings Injected Into Reservoir for the First Time in Russia

Gazpromneft’s specialists were reminded of this while carrying out operations in the Priobskoye field in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District (KMAD). The bottomland section of the field is a floodplain and often under 8-meters of water. It is impossible to construct wells using the cuttings pit technology under such conditions. Toxic drilling cuttings would be swept away by the floodwaters into the Ob River. After long discussions, the company’s specialists made a decision to inject cuttings into the reservoir. This technology had not been yet applied in mainland Russia, or under severe climatic conditions when temperatures drop below minus 50 degrees Celsius in the winter and rise to plus 40 degrees Celsius in the summer. To accomplish this task, it was required to drill wells and break those in receiving reservoirs and to install equipment for cuttings treatment and injection. The treatment includes the reduction of cuttings into fine condition by milling tools. Schlumberger was the only contractor who succeeded in accomplishing this task. They fabricated and installed the equipment to inject cuttings into the reservoirs. The company has been working at Priobskoye Field since October 2008 and provides services to six drilling crews. No cutting pits are used – all drilling waste and cuttings, as well as fluids for well drilling or repair and waste water, are treated and injected into the reservoir.

Approved by the state environmental expertise committee, the company was issued the state license. The site, where cuttings are injected into reservoirs, is elevated above the ground surface so that floodwater does not cover it.
The inspiration and implementation of this idea came from Roman Fetsenets, Head of Well Building Management, Gazpromneft-Khantos.

Another "outside the box" approach to drilling challenges was demonstrated by Gazpromneft’s specialists at Urmanskoye field, in the Tomsk region. A complicated subsoil geological structure provided an additional challenge to oil specialists. High reservoir permeability and fracturing held out a hope of high yields in this section. However, highly permeable reservoirs are not good for drilling purposes. The pay zone is comprised of unstable cobblestones; but this layer is well saturated with oil and highly permeable. Such layers are prone to cave-ins, thus complicating the drilling process and reducing oil flow. This problem had to be eliminated.

The company’s specialists, under the leadership of the head of Gazpromneft's Drilling Department, Vladimir Tataurov, reviewed two options. The first option was to apply underbalanced drilling. However, the method was not selected, because it would require significant spending and an additional feasibility study. The second, approved option, suggested a casing drilling method. A conventional casing pipe is applied instead of drill pipes and is left in the well after drilling is completed. The technology and equipment was provided by Weatherford and is suitable for structures comprising fractured reservoir that are prone to cave-ins and collapsing.

Department Chief of Gazpromneft RDC, Alexander Ukhov, shared his opinions with OGE regarding modern drilling technologies, problems and approaches to their solution.

Oil&Gas Eurasia: Can the domestic scientific and engineering capabilities of drilling companies be compared with that of foreign companies?
Alexander Ukhov: Before the 1990s, engineering policies in the industry was defined by the Ministry and by the industry scientific research and design institutes. There were both strengths and weaknesses in that system. Its advantages included stability and clear plans for developing the engineering potential of the industry.

These advantages gradually turned into disadvantages such as seclusion of the industry and zero contacts with the world's leading scientific and production centers. One more deficiency is absenting real price formation in the industry, which made it impossible to evaluate efficiency of a technology or production and complicated selling domestic technologies and equipment abroad. Technologies were “boiling inside” with no opportunity for “escape”.
When the “Curtain” was up, there was no demand for domestic developments. Major companies such as Rosneft, Lukoil, or Surgutneftegaz selected advanced western technologies despite the added expensive. Domestic well drilling and completion equipment/technologies were too far behind despite achievements in drilling, such as construction of Kola SG-3 superdeep borehole and other technologies. Currently major companies such as Lukoil Overseas, Rosneft and Gazprom integrate western and Russian technologies and drilling equipment and successfully operate both in Russia and abroad.

OGE: What engineering policy does your company pursue with regard to drilling?
Ukhov: We work as follows; we have both drilling contractors and we have service contractors that support drilling operations. There are five drilling contractors at the moment: Service Drilling Company (SBK), Eurasia Drilling Company, SSK, Pioner, and Integra; and over 10 service companies including the largest international ones such as Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Smith, and Weatherford. In addition there are local service companies that at the moment gradually forcing out foreign contractors from the local market. This is of benefit for our company as well: if our national contractors provide high quality services at a lower rate, then why not to use these?
OGE: Are there any competitive manufacturers of rig top drives and other drilling equipment in Russia?
Ukhov: Today, about 99.9 percent of power heavy duty top drives used in our country are manufactured in the USA, Canada or Germany. This equipment is quite complicated. Therefore there are no manufacturers of this equipment in our country that could compete with leading western companies in this market segment. But, some other home-produced equipment successfully forces out western competitors from the Russian market in the recent few years; these are downhole hydraulic motors by Perm Branch of VNIIBT, Kungur machine building plant, or Radius Service (Perm company). There is another example. Over 60 percent of drilling bits applied in our company are made in Russia. Our suppliers, namely Volga-Burmash (Samara Plant) and Burintekh (Ufa Scientific and Production Association), offer a complete range of different bit types. Our domestic companies such as Vyksunsky Metallurgical Plant mastered production of high quality drill pipes that are reliable and withstand various loads. Our company widely applies aluminum drill pipes that are a 100 percent domestic development.
OGE: What can you say about the drilling rig market in Russia?
Ukhov: A drilling rig is a core setting the pace of the well construction process. Today, about 90-95 percent of drilling rigs used in our company are made in Russia. These are Uralmash drilling rigs BU3000EUK and BU4000EUK, which are basic and equipped with modern production equipment (pumps and hoists).
OGE: What is the decision-making process for selecting service contractors?
Ukhov: This is a significant process and decisions are made based on open and transparent tenders. We have established the Tender Committee and Tender Commissions in our company; so it is a multi-stage procedure taking into account all aspects of contractors’ activities.
OGE: Where does well construction begin?
Ukhov: A selected contractor is provided with an approved well construction program. The work is superintended by our supervisor who monitors efficient implementation of the project. The contractor also provides their supervisor to control quality of work. Strict control is exercised at each well construction stage.
OGE: What is the purpose of constructing horizontal and horizontally branched wells?
Ukhov: I believe that horizontal wells or wells with increased deviation from the axis ensure much higher oil withdrawal rates than vertical ones, because they ensure a larger area of the pay contact with the well bore. However, drilling and completion of such wells require more spending and that is why their application was restricted. The situation changed after significant progress was made in drilling technologies and in particular in technologies of downhole measurement while drilling. A new type of oil wells has been developed – horizontally branched wells. It is a revolutionary stage in the oil and gas industry development. Horizontally branched wells are placed on production with actual flow rates that at least by 20 times exceed flow rates of adjacent conventional wells. But what is more important, the ultimate oil recovery of reservoirs also doubles. For example, in the aging field with an average daily flow rate of conventional wells of 5 tons, the daily flow rate of a horizontally branched well will be at least 100 tons. A higher drilling costs of a horizontally branched well (by 2-2.5 times higher than that of a conventional one) pays already in the first months of its operation. The cost of oil production using horizontally branched wells is by 3 to 5 times lower compared to conventional wells.
OGE: What tendencies are observed in selecting drill bits and diamond tools?
Ukhov: Low drilling rate and short drilling life of cone rock bits in geological sections of oil and gas fields required to revise approaches to selecting these tools. Diamond drill bits or polycrystalline diamond (PCD) bits enable significant reduction in well drilling costs due to reduction of round-trip operations that take a significant time of the well construction process. Cutting is the most efficient technique of destructing shale and sulfated carbonate rocks, since their tensile strength is usually less than compression strength. Besides, rock destruction by cutting requires less energy input than rock destruction by compression; and zero run-up of rock-bit teeth on downhole mud pad allows avoiding mud balls formation on the bit working surface. The service life of bits with PCD plates is by 3 to 5 times longer than that of cone bits.

from: oilandgaseurasia

Grading Between the Stakes

Many years ago, I heard it said that all the good (experienced) finish grade operators were retiring. Of course, this can’t be correct as the younger guys can certainly be very good as well. It was really a comment that fine and finish grading skills take many years of experience to fine-hone.

One reason for this is that, using conventional methods, one has to do a lot of the work eyeballing grade. Relying on blue tops set every twenty five feet means a lot of unaided interpolation between the hubs. This makes finish grading almost an art form. It is possible that operators can be dead-on at each stake and low or high in between, resulting in the infamous washboard effect.

Machine control solutions create virtual stakes every inch between the hubs so the surface ends up consistent (without the peaks and valleys). This creates a better finished product and saves on machine passes and materials. It also turns a younger, less experienced, operator into an old pro.

I would like to hear from you on this subject. Have you seen the old guys retiring in your area and felt a gap in the skills and experience of those taking their place? Have you seen the implementation of machine control help the younger guys produce the same results?

Please share your views and experiences so it can be added to our collective knowledge base.

from: http://blog.machinecontrolonline.com/?p=72

First Husqvarna DXR Sold in USA

Husqvarna Construction Products

The introduction of the Husqvarna DXR 310 demolition robot at the World of Concrete in Las Vegas was a huge success. The remote-controlled robot's new technology and features impressed contractors and others in the industry.

The DXR 310 is currently available in Europe and will be available in the United States during the third quarter of 2009. However, one company in particular could not wait until third quarter. Cougar Cutting, Inc. based in Ft. Myers, FL, purchased the first robot in the United States. Cougar Cutting specializes in providing quality concrete cutting, breaking, drilling, demolition and installation services. They have been in business for over 40 years, starting operations in Florida over 25 years ago. "We have several Husqvarna products and the reliability and service is tremendous. The technicians are second to none in the industry and are always available to resolve any issues we've had!" said Ron Schmitt, Owner.

Husqvarna's commitment to quality products and service was one of the main reasons Cougar Cutting choose the DXR 310. In addition to the great service, the robot offered numerous benefits that solidified Cougar Cutting's decision. "There are several features this machine has that others in its class don't offer, such as the telescopic boom that has a range of 18' (including the breaker) as a standard feature. This machine is extremely compact and has a very low profile, giving it tremendous sight lines (and) making it very easy on the operator to see what he's doing.", said Al Miller, Director of Demolition Operations. Cougar Cutting continues to be thoroughly impressed with the machine, as well as the company behind it. They feel it will be a great asset to their company and allow them to complete more in less time.

"In today's economy, the name of the game is production and this tool has production - Husqvarna' written all over it." summed up Mr. Miller. In addition, Mr. Schmitt said, "I've never seen a company in our industry invest in products as much as Husqvarna has over the last several years, they are committed for the long term." Husqvarna Construction Products is a market leader in equipment and diamond tools for the construction and stone industries. The product range includes power cutters, floor saws, early entry saws, tile and masonry saws, wall and wire saws, core drilling machines, surface preparation equipment and diamond tools for these and other applications.
from: www.forconstructionpros.com

First Husqvarna DXR Sold in USA

Husqvarna Construction Products

The introduction of the Husqvarna DXR 310 demolition robot at the World of Concrete in Las Vegas was a huge success. The remote-controlled robot's new technology and features impressed contractors and others in the industry.

The DXR 310 is currently available in Europe and will be available in the United States during the third quarter of 2009. However, one company in particular could not wait until third quarter. Cougar Cutting, Inc. based in Ft. Myers, FL, purchased the first robot in the United States. Cougar Cutting specializes in providing quality concrete cutting, breaking, drilling, demolition and installation services. They have been in business for over 40 years, starting operations in Florida over 25 years ago. "We have several Husqvarna products and the reliability and service is tremendous. The technicians are second to none in the industry and are always available to resolve any issues we've had!" said Ron Schmitt, Owner.

Husqvarna's commitment to quality products and service was one of the main reasons Cougar Cutting choose the DXR 310. In addition to the great service, the robot offered numerous benefits that solidified Cougar Cutting's decision. "There are several features this machine has that others in its class don't offer, such as the telescopic boom that has a range of 18' (including the breaker) as a standard feature. This machine is extremely compact and has a very low profile, giving it tremendous sight lines (and) making it very easy on the operator to see what he's doing.", said Al Miller, Director of Demolition Operations. Cougar Cutting continues to be thoroughly impressed with the machine, as well as the company behind it. They feel it will be a great asset to their company and allow them to complete more in less time.

"In today's economy, the name of the game is production and this tool has production - Husqvarna' written all over it." summed up Mr. Miller. In addition, Mr. Schmitt said, "I've never seen a company in our industry invest in products as much as Husqvarna has over the last several years, they are committed for the long term." Husqvarna Construction Products is a market leader in equipment and diamond tools for the construction and stone industries. The product range includes power cutters, floor saws, early entry saws, tile and masonry saws, wall and wire saws, core drilling machines, surface preparation equipment and diamond tools for these and other applications.
from: www.forconstructionpros.com

Playboy dips a toe into investigative journalism

This morning, my twitter feed was all abuzz with this piece from Playboy purporting to prove that the Tea Party phenomenon was all a Koch-funded astroturf operation, with the implication that the initial Santelli rant that touched it off was some sort of a plant.

What's that you say? The link is dead? Indeed it is. Fortunately, as it happens, I happened to have a second browser open with the article; text below the fold.

Backstabber: Is Rick Santelli High On Koch?

By Mark Ames and Yasha Levine

Last week, CNBC correspondent Rick Santelli rocketed from being a little-known second-string correspondent to a populist hero of the disenfranchised, a 21st-century Samuel Adams, the leader and symbol of the downtrodden American masses suffering under the onslaught of 21st century socialism and big government. Santelli's "rant" last-week calling for a "Chicago Tea Party" to protest President Obama's plans to help distressed American homeowners rapidly spread across the blogosphere and shot right up into White House spokesman Robert Gibbs' craw, whose smackdown during a press conference was later characterized by Santelli as "a threat" from the White House. A nationwide "tea party" grassroots Internet protest movement has sprung up seemingly spontaneously, all inspired by Santelli, with rallies planned today in cities from coast to coast to protest against Obama's economic policies.

But was Santelli's rant really so spontaneous? How did a minor-league TV figure, whose contract with CNBC is due this summer, get so quickly launched into a nationwide rightwing blog sensation? Why were there so many sites and organizations online and live within minutes or hours after his rant, leading to a nationwide protest just a week after his rant?

What hasn't been reported until now is evidence linking Santelli's "tea party" rant with some very familiar names in the Republican rightwing machine, from PR operatives who specialize in imitation-grassroots PR campaigns (called "astroturfing") to bigwig politicians and notorious billionaire funders. As veteran Russia reporters, both of us spent years watching the Kremlin use fake grassroots movements to influence and control the political landscape. To us, the uncanny speed and direction the movement took and the players involved in promoting it had a strangely forced quality to it. If it seemed scripted, that's because it was.

What we discovered is that Santelli's "rant" was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a "Chicago Tea Party" was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced. Namely, the Koch family, the multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America, and funders of scores of rightwing thinktanks and advocacy groups, from the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine to FreedomWorks. The scion of the Koch family, Fred Koch, was a co-founder of the notorious extremist-rightwing John Birch Society.

As you read this, Big Business is pouring tens of millions of dollars into their media machines in order to destroy just about every economic campaign promise Obama has made, as reported recently in the Wall Street Journal. At stake isn't the little guy's fight against big government, as Santelli and his bot-supporters claim, but rather the "upper 2 percent"'s war to protect their wealth from the Obama Adminstration's economic plans. When this Santelli "grassroots" campaign is peeled open, what's revealed is a glimpse of what is ahead and what is bound to be a hallmark of his presidency.

Let's go back to February 19th: Rick Santelli, live on CNBC, standing in the middle of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, launches into an attack on the just-announced $300 billion slated to stem rate of home foreclosures: "The government is promoting bad behavior! Do we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages?! This is America! We're thinking of having a Chicago tea party in July, all you capitalists who want to come down to Lake Michigan, I'm gonna start organizing."

Almost immediately, the clip and the unlikely "Chicago tea party" quote buried in the middle of the segment, zoomed across a well-worn path to headline fame in the Republican echo chamber, including red-alert headlines on Drudge.

Within hours of Santelli's rant, a website called ChicagoTeaParty.com sprang to life. Essentially inactive until that day, it now featured a YouTube video of Santelli's "tea party" rant and billed itself as the official home of the Chicago Tea Party. The domain was registered in August, 2008 by Zack Christenson, a dweeby Twitter Republican and producer for a popular Chicago rightwing radio host Milt Rosenberg--a familiar name to Obama campaign people. Last August, Rosenberg, who looks like Martin Short's Irving Cohen character, caused an outcry when he interviewed Stanley Kurtz, the conservative writer who first "exposed" a personal link between Obama and former Weather Undergound leader Bill Ayers. As a result of Rosenberg's radio interview, the Ayers story was given a major push through the Republican media echo chamber, culminating in Sarah Palin's accusation that Obama was "palling around with terrorists." That Rosenberg's producer owns the "chicagoteaparty.com" site is already weird--but what's even stranger is that he first bought the domain last August, right around the time of Rosenburg's launch of the "Obama is a terrorist" campaign. It's as if they held this "Chicago tea party" campaign in reserve, like a sleeper-site. Which is exactly what it was.

ChicagoTeaParty.com was just one part of a larger network of Republican sleeper-cell-blogs set up over the course of the past few months, all of them tied to a shady rightwing advocacy group coincidentally named the "Sam Adams Alliance," whose backers have until now been kept hidden from public. Cached google records that we discovered show that the Sam Adams Alliance took pains to scrub its deep links to the Koch family money as well as the fake-grassroots "tea party" protests going on today. All of these roads ultimately lead back to a more notorious rightwing advocacy group, FreedomWorks, a powerful PR organization headed by former Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey and funded by Koch money.

On the same day as Santelli's rant, February 19, another site called Officialchicagoteaparty.com went live. This site was registered to Eric Odom, who turned out to be a veteran Republican new media operative specializing in imitation-grassroots PR campaigns. Last summer, Odom organized a twitter-led campaign centered around DontGo.com to pressure Congress and Nancy Pelosi to pass the offshore oil drilling bill, something that would greatly benefit Koch Industries, a major player in oil and gas. Now, six months later, Odom's DontGo movement was resurrected to play a central role in promoting the "tea party" movement.

Up until last month, Odom was officially listed as the "new media coordinator" for the Sam Adams Alliance, a well-funded libertarian activist organization based in Chicago that was set up only recently. Samuel Adams the historical figure was famous for inspiring and leading the Boston Tea Party--so when the PR people from the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance abruptly leave in order to run Santelli's "Chicago Tea Party," you know it wasn't spontaneous. Odom certainly doesn't want people to know about the link: his name was scrubbed from the Sam Adams Alliance website recently, strongly suggesting that they wanted to cover their tracks. Thanks to google caching, you can see the SAA's before-after scrubbing.

Even the Sam Adams' January 31 announcement that Odom's fake-grassroots group was "no longer sponsored by the Alliance" was shortly afterwards scrubbed.

But it's the Alliance's scrubbing of their link to Koch that is most telling. A cached page, erased on February 16, just three days before Santelli's rant, shows that the Alliance also wanted to cover up its ties to the Koch family. The missing link was an announcement that students interested in applying for internships to the Sam Adams Alliance could also apply through the "Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program" through the Institute for Humane Studies, a Koch-funded rightwing institute designed to scout and nurture future leaders of corporate libertarian ideology. The top two board directors at the Sam Adams Alliance include two figures with deep ties to Koch-funded programs: Eric O'Keefe, who previously served in Koch's Institute for Humane Studies and the Club For Growth; and Joseph Lehman, a former communications VP at Koch's Cato Institute.

All of these are ultimately linked up to Koch's Freedom Works mega-beast. Freedomworks.org has drawn fire in the past for using fake grassroots internet campaigns, called "astroturfing," to push for pet Koch projects such as privatizing social security. A New York Times investigation in 2005 revealed that a "regular single mom" paraded by Bush's White House to advocate for privatizing social security was in fact FreedomWorks' Iowa state director. The woman, Sandra Jacques, also fronted another Iowa fake-grassroots group called "For Our Grandchildren," even though privatizing social security was really "For Koch And Wall Street Fat Cats."

If you log into FreedomWorks.org today, its home page features a large photo of Rick Santelli pointing at the viewer like Uncle Sam, with the words: "Are you with Rick? We Are. Click here to learn more."

FreedomWorks, along with scores of shady front organizations which don't have to disclose their sponsors thanks to their 501 (c)(3) status, has been at the heart of today's supposed grassroots, nonpartisan "tea party" protests across the country, supposedly fueled by scores of websites which masquerade as amateur/spontaneous projects, but are suspiciously well-crafted and surprisingly well-written. One slick site pushing the tea parties, Right.org claims, "Right.org is a grassroots online community created by a few friends who were outraged by the bailouts. So we gathered some talent and money and built this site. Please tell your friends, and if you have suggestions for improving it, please let us know. Respectfully, Evan and Duncan." But funny enough, these regular guys are offering a $27,000 prize for an "anti-bailout video competition." Who are Evan and Duncan? Do they even really exist?

Even Facebook pages dedicated to a specific city "tea party" events, supposedly written by people connected only by a common emotion, obviously conformed to the same style. It was as if they were part of a multi-pronged advertising campaign planned out by a professional PR company. Yet, on the surface, they pretended to have no connection. The various sites set up their own Twitter feeds and Facebook pages dedicated to the Chicago Tea Party movement. And all of them linked to one another, using it as evidence that a decentralized, viral movement was already afoot. It wasn't about partisanship; it was about real emotions coming straight from real people.

While it's clear what is at stake for the Koch oligarch clan and their corporate and political allies--fighting to keep the hundreds of billions in surplus profits they've earned thanks to pro-rich economic policies over the past 30 years--what's a little less obvious is Santelli's link to all this. Why would he (and CNBC) risk their credibility, such as it is, as journalists dispensing financial information in order to act as PR fronts for a partisan campaign?

As noted above, Santelli's contract with CNBC runs out in a few months. His 10 years with the network haven't been remarkable, and he'll enter a brutal downsizing media job market. Thanks to the "tea party" campaign, as the article notes, Santelli's value has suddenly soared. If you look at the scores of blogs and fake-commenters on blogs (for example, Daily Blog, a slick new blog launched in January which is also based in Chicago) all puff up Santelli like he's the greatest journalist in America, and the greatest hero known to mankind. Daily Bail, like so much of this "tea party" machine, is "headquartered nearby" to Santelli, that is, in Chicago. With Odom, the Sam Adams Alliance, and the whole "tea party" nexus: "Rick, this message is to you. You are a true American hero and there are no words to describe what you did today except your own. Headquartered nearby, we will be helping the organization in whatever way possible."

It's not difficult to imagine how Santelli hooked up with this crowd. A self-described "Ayn Rand-er," one of Santelli's colleagues at CNBC, Lawrence Kudlow, played a major role in both FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth.

So today's protests show that the corporate war is on, and this is how they'll fight it: hiding behind "objective" journalists and "grassroots" new media movements. Because in these times, if you want to push for policies that help the super-wealthy, you better do everything you can to make it seem like it's "the people" who are "spontaneously" fighting your fight. As a 19th century slave management manual wrote, "The master should make it his business to show his slaves, that the advancement of his individual interest, is at the same time an advancement of theirs. Once they feel this, it will require little compulsion to make them act as becomes them." (Southern Agriculturalist IX, 1836.) The question now is, will they get away with it, and will the rest of America advance the interests of Koch, Santelli, and the rest of the masters?

My thoughts:

1) The smoking gun, to the extent that there is one, is the "chicagoteaparty" domain. But the timing doesn't work. No one in August knew that there were going to be massive bailouts and stimulus packages against which they could protest. On the other hand, if you think that taxes are going to go up, it's not crazy for founding-fathers-obsessed conservatives to start registering any domain that involves tea parties. That doesn't mean that they then orchestrated an elaborate ruse in order to give them an excuse to deploy the domain; it's just as likely that they simply leaped in when opportunity arose. Domain squatting is ubiquitous these days, particularly among political groups, and there are probably dozens out there now just waiting for the right catchphrase to make them relevant.

2) I don't see any evidence offered that Koch money funds FreedomWorks, or any astroturfing organization. They may--a lot of groups do it, including groups on the left--but there's precious little evidence of it in this article. Koch is pretty open about their connection with institutions like IHS, but from what I know of them, astroturfing doesn't really seem like their style. I've seen Koch in action at private events, and though I'll respect the privacy, I'll say that even in the company of other like-minded rich people, he displayed rather a mania for honest dealing. That's not to say that it's impossible that they do fund FreedomWorks--I'm not particularly conversant with the world of 501(c)(3) funders. But Freedomworks doesn't publish its donor list, and there's no source offered for the claim.

3) The accusation against Santelli is potentially libelous, which is, I assume, why the article disappeared this morning. If I were Santelli, I'd sue. Aside from the fact that I have absolutely no reason to question Santelli's sincerity, I find it pretty hard to believe that any private group would be willing to front enough money to make it worth a television correspondent's while to risk all his future salary payments.

4) I have no doubt that there has been involvement of various right-wing groups with the tea parties. So what? Groups--often funded by God knows who--coordinate protests. The article implies that the people who participated were therefore insincere. I know some of the people who went to these things, and trust me, they hate taxes and government every bit as much as they claimed.

5) The claim that Odom's name was "scrubbed" from the Alliance seems weak. Usually, when people leave an organization, the organization takes their name off the website. My name has been "scrubbed" from multiple sites by employers because, erm, I'm no longer associated with them. The implication of that paragraph is that Odom hasn't really quit, but is being paid to run a front group. But that's a big claim, and there's no sourcing offered.

6) Likewise, the Koch fellows program is not some dark secret. Koch funds interns to work at various market-friendly groups. The fellows application process may have been closed, or Koch may have chosen to stop funding interns at the Sam Adams alliance. But I doubt that they took the name down because it provided a shadowy link to someone who no longer works there.

I presume that the people who put this blogpost up thought they had a big muckracking scoop. But take out the innuendo, and nothing's sourced, not even to the level of "people close to the organization tell us" or "it is rumored"; they just assert major factst hat are not, so far as I know, in evidence. You can get away with that on a personal blog, because, really, is Santelli going to bother to sue you? But for a major media organization, things like this require a little more care. Investigative journalism is quite hard, and involves more than printing things you think are probably true, which is why people who are good at it, like Spencer Ackerman, are so valuable--and why organizations that do a lot of it have big legal staffs and experienced editors to make sure they can back up what they say.

This is the sort of thing that has always haunted media organizations that start blogs. It's bad enough if an employee says something that you, as an organization, regret. But paid staffers can also say things that put you on the hook for big payouts.

Of course, it will be very exciting for Playboy if it turns out their employees hit the jackpot. But given how thinly sourced it is--the entire thing mostly seems to rest on the ownership of two domain names--I wouldn't bet on it. And given that the article has been taken down, apparently, neither would they.

I think it's too late for that now, however; Playboy either needs to stand by the article and put it back up, or explain why they took it down--and why they put it up in the first place.

Full disclosure: It's pretty much an open secret in DC, but given the content of the article I'm discussing, I think I ought to mention that I live with Peter Suderman, who once worked for Freedomworks. Other than giving me the name of the right employee to email to make inquiries (no word back yet), I haven't asked him about his former employer, and he hasn't told me anything. I debated whether to write about this, but since I'm not actually defending Freedomworks, I think it's kosher.

Update: Apparently Koch used to fund Freedomworks' predecessor group, Citizens for a Sound Economy. That's still a long way from a Koch-directed plot to inundate our nation's metros with tea.

Update II: . . . but apparently there was some rift between Koch and CSE, and according to my sources, Koch may have stopped funding them long ago.