Product Feature: CAD/CAM Software • Transatlantic Trade Show Today’s Machining World Economist 2007 Best Gary Shilling Gift Guide Chili Recipes The magazine for the precision parts industry december 2007 volume 3 issue 12 volume 1 number 1 January 2006 volume 3 issue 11 Today’s Machining World Magazine PRST STD P.O. Box 847 U.S. Postage Lowell, MA 01853 PAID Annual Permit # 649 www.todaysmachiningworld.com CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED Liberty, MO Report & december 2007 Forecast Today’sU.S. Bicycle Machining Manufacturing On World’s the Rise yearly survey Hiring: Best Practice Your Customers Demand the Highest Quality at The Lowest Cost. NexTurn CNC Swiss turning centers deliver Turn D series machines come equipped with world-class machining performance and high standard features such as 20 tools (8 live with precision capabilities found only on the best rigid tapping on all spindles), oil cooled direct CNC Swiss Turning brands. 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Plant and Warehouse-- Green Bay, Wisconsin Warehouse--Youngstown, Ohio 920-347-4730 Email: [email protected] in this issue December 2007 volume 3 issue 12 Departments 7 Editor’s Note 11 Forum 13 Swarf 20 Book Review It’s Not About the Truth by Robert Strauss 22 Fresh Stuff 42 Shop Doc 44 Next 46 One on One 54 Product Focus Annual Gift Guide 62 Think Tank 63 Postings 70 Afterthought Features Losing my Bearings An Interview with Gary Shilling 65 Ad Index 30 in this issue The contrarian economist offers his predictions for the industry with Lloyd Graff 36 The 2007 Annual Forecast and Report 66 Classifieds TMW’s survey results on the state of U.S. manufacturing by Lloyd Graff 48 How it Works TMW’s First Ever Best Chili Recipes by Jill Sevelow December 2007 5 PM TMW.qxd 6/14/07 12:58 PM Page 1 TheThe PeakPeak ProductivityProductivity CAMCAM SolutionSolution ✓ Automates CNC programming ✓ Reduces Machine Set-Up Time CAM Software That KnowsTM ● V I S U A L ● INTUITIVE ● MORE PRODUCTIVE ● Mill ● Turn ● Turn-Mill ● SwissCAM ● Wire EDM ■ Toll free: 1-888-270-6878 ■ www.PartMaker.com ■ email: [email protected] 540 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, SUITE 315, FORT WASHINGTON, PA 19034 • 215-643-5077 editor’s note www.todaysmachiningworld.com A Screw Machine World Inc. Publication 4235 W. 166th Street Oak Forest, IL 60452 (708) 535-2200 Grinch Lloyd Graff (708) 535-2200 The Gift of Joy Managing Editor et me start by saying I completely understand and respect Christmas’ Jill Sevelow [email protected] L and Chanukah’s religious significance. I spent one Christmas at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and found it quite moving. I Features Editor visited the spot where the Maccabees restored the damaged Temple, find- Noah Graff [email protected] ing enough oil to burn for eight days. I see the need for a winter break for families at the end of the year. Web Manager But I don’t get the almost universal fixation on gift giving, abetted by Noah Graff [email protected] the retailing community. Why do so many people buy into the need to give presents? I am certainly not opposed to the idea of gifts or sending Creative Director cards, but I reject the notion that I need to do it on cue, as part of a Terry Ntovas [email protected] competition to give the best trinkets in a prescribed time frame. I receive at least 100 catalogs at my home hawking overpriced Circulation Director merchandise. I open maybe one a week because I’m interested in the Sue Ravenscraft - RS Media Services [email protected] sales approach, not the goods. Ok, so I’m a grinch, a Dickensian curmudgeon devoid of the holiday National Sales Manager spirit. But give me some credit. I’ve watched It’s a Wonderful Life 80 Bill Papp - 845-613-7329 [email protected] times and I cry more each time. To me Christmas and Chanukah, like every day, is about family, Sales Manager serving IL, IN, MN, MO & WI connection, giving, gratitude and rebirth. The grotesque Dianne Lach - 708-460-6383 [email protected] materialism the holidays have morphed into reflects the dark side of modern American life. Sales Manager serving KY, MI, OH, W. PA & WV My gift to you is this magazine, which we at TMW do with love Charlie Payne - 717-666-3200 and commitment each month. My intellect, my curiosity and my [email protected] heart are wrapped in these covers. It is the most valuable gift I could give you – and I present it ©2007 Today’s Machining World, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission with genuine joy. of Today’s Machining World™ is prohibited. Today’s Machining World is published monthly by Today’s Machining World, Inc., 4235 W. 166th St., Oak Forest, IL 60452. SUBSCRIPTION/CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Basic subscription rate: US$40 for domestic/US$55 for international. Lloyd Graff Send address changes and/or subscription inquiries to: Today’s Machining World, Editor/Owner P.O. Box 847, Lowell, MA 01853 or email [email protected] editor’s note CPC Publication Agreement Number 40048288 Canadian Return Address: World Distribution Services Station A, P.O. Box 54 Windsor, ON N9A 6J5 email: [email protected] December 2007 7 contributors December’s talent pool. Lloyd Graff has an M.A. in journalism from the University of Michigan. Lloyd splits his time between buying and selling machinery, writing Swarf and swarfblog and playing Fantasy Base- ball on Yahoo. He is married to Risa, a world champion in Tae Kwan Doe. He has three children and a granddaughter who are all above average. One of his life goals is to make 65 consecutive free throws on his 65th birthday. Noah Graff has been working at Today’s Machining World since 2005. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison, majoring in film and history. He is the features editor for Today’s Machining World, as well as the videographer for TMW and Graff-Pinkert & Co., producing training videos on screw machine maintenance and video stories for the TMW website. Noah enjoys investing, filmmaking and improvisational comedy. He is also a master of the sacred art of live band karaoke. Robert Strauss was formerly a reporter for Sports Illustrated and the Philadelphia Daily News, and a news producer at KYW-TV in Philadel- contributors phia. Now a freelance writer based in Haddonfield, N.J., where he rev- els in his two daughters’ basketball prowess and their eye-rolling at his bad puns, his work appears most often in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times Today’s Machining World. JIll Sevelow has incorporated a few of her passions into her last three professions; teacher, department store buyer and managing edi- tor of Today’s Machining World, a role she’s relishing. Jill is an avid gar- dener and dedicated mah jong player, volunteers her time & creative energy for exceptional organizations, and adores her friends and fam- ily. Her greatest source of pride has been raising daughters Jade and Tess, her two most favorite people on the planet,. 8 Today’s Machining World Size is important. If you’re under the impression that Hurco only standard—not add-ons that nickel and dime makes small machines, give us another look. you to death. We’ve been busy designing the right machines Additionally, they all come with WinMax to fi t nearly every application. Our current Control Software that takes machining to the VMCs range from 26 inches to 84 inches and next level. lathes from 6 to 10 inches. And they all come Contact Hurco or your local distributor to fi nd with lots of Best In Class features that are the size that fi ts you. INCONTROL www.hurco.com 800.634.2416 VM Series VMX Series VTX Series HTX Series TM Series General Purpose High Performance 5-Axis Horizontal Lathes Machines shown with options. Today's Machining World_Nov07.indd 1 10/2/2007 3:37:46 PM forum Say it Loud Mail Box Woes While I certainly respect Haas and what his company I have been a subscriber for many, many years.