Wouldn’t it be great to reinvigorate our national economy by returning more manufacturing work to U.S. soil? Luckily, even after years of companies cutting costs by moving their manufacturing operations out of country, there are still numerous American manufacturers who are doing amazing, high quality work. And none of this building would be possible without great machining tools!

Among the component that constitute a major evolution in manufacturing are the tool presetter and tool holder, parts whose function is to hold and guide tools that are part of an automated assembly process. Tool holders are any devices, for instance an Er collet, that grip and safely hold important parts such as boring tools (used to precisely enlarge holes, usually in metal).

Even more modern, and equally important, are tool presetters that allow for the exact calibration and measurement of where a tool is going to drill, cut or weld. Modern tool presetters can be uncannily accurate in measuring out the exact task that a shop or assembly line tool will need to perform again and again. And now many such tool presetters are computer operated for even greater control and accuracy. Cnc tool holders (“computer numerical control”) allow a tool’s path and movements to be digitally programmed, decreasing the chance of mechanical errors or dangerous “crash” situations where the machines may damage themselves.

Tool presetters, if they’re of high quality, are more reliable than direct mechanical control, and remove much of the guesswork from the most delicate tasks involved in building industrial components.