The screw cutting lathe, originating around 1483, was one of the earliest manufacturing tools, used to control the path of the cutting tool via directed mechanical control. Did you know that after the rebound of the 2008 financial collapse, the US economic recovery has been led by manufacturing? Manufacturing plays an important role in every aspect of our lives. It controls the production of everything from baby food to cars.

Today, manufacturing is very guided and precise in order to ensure quality control. There are many tools that assist with this precise guiding. One example is the presetter. Tool setters help shops become more disciplined. Presetters assume nominal values, designation, and tolerances from tool management and then pass measured actual values to the control of the machine. They are useful in the tool management process.

Retention knobs, on the other hand, is a knob that locks the tool in place within the spindle, and is screwed onto the end of the tool holder. Without it there, the drawbar at the machining center does not have the right shape to grab. Retention knobs are an important and critical component of the manufacturing process. It is often under appreciated and sometimes, people do not realize how too tight retention knobs are contributing to a shortened life expectancy of other tools. Good references here: www.parlec.com