Tormach machinist, Jeff Hamre, provides a rundown of the maintenance and upkeep necessary to keep your 4th axis rotary table operating properly. He also goes into detail on the new backlash adjustment procedure introduced in 2015 and a few accessories available.

Tormach machinist, Jeff Hamre, walks through backlash adjustment on a 4th axis with a cut-away model. Backlash can be thrown off during shipment, so it can't be set at the factory, or through normal wear-and-tear, which makes adjustment necessary throughout the life of the machine. Learn more about Tormach's 4th Axis options here.

Don't forget about slitting saws when you have a part that calls for a deep slot. With a slitting saw, slots with a large depth-to-width ratio can be made both faster and straighter than with a long and skinny endmill. There are two slitting saw arbor sizes available in our TTS toolholder lineup: 1" and 1/2". These are keyless arbors, so they will work with both keyed and keyless slitting saws. We also have a selection of HSS slitting saws to fit these arbors.  

Ground V-Blocks are a handy tool for workholding, especially when paired with a machining vise. You can use them to hold round bar, square bar, and they are also great for supporting end work.  In our latest episode of Tormach Fab Lab, Mike C. points out some tips and tricks to keep in mind when using V-Blocks.  You can purchase the V-blocks used in this video here:  Buy V-Blocks for Tormach More Tormach Fab Lab Videos:

St. Paul, MN–based programmer Joe Hoover, came up with an innovative idea in custom pen manufacturing that lets anybody create a one-of-a-kind machined pen on his Web site, www.bellisi.me. "The Web site has a widget that works like a mini-CAD system. It lets users design a pen with easy-to-use parameters," he explains. To get the word out, Joe's launched a campaign on Kickstarter, the popular crowd-funding platform.

After a bit of time off, we're getting back into the swing of things on the blog.  Today's video topic is in response to several recent questions we've fielded recently about a very useful gauge: the Haimer 3D Sensor. For those unfamiliar, Haimer 3D sensors can be used to quickly and accurately find milling work offsets in X, Y and Z.   When properly setup, these will exceed the accuracy of most other edge finding techniques available to the small shop machinist. Here are two things to keep in mind: