PLASTOOLS, LLC
MISSION STATEMENT
We are sad to announce the recent passing of our founder and father
Dr. Clyde Hackler
Who we are, what we do and how we do it.
Plastools is a small rather diversified home based privately owned business in rural Whatcom County, Washington, USA.
The current business was chartered in Whatcom County in January, 1999 as a Home Occupation with use classification authority to conduct DESIGN, CONSULTING, AND RESEARCH SERVICES RELATED TO THE METAL MACHINING INDUSTRY. THE PRIMARY FOCUS IS IN THE AREA OF METAL CUTTING TOOL TECHNOLOGY.
Currently, the primary thrust of the business is the design, development and distribution of well crafted, proven and economical products for the metal machining industry which would include indexable carbide lathe tools and indexable carbide milling cutters. Product development, both in terms of style and quality, is a day to day ongoing effort to respond the the needs of three different yet similar target markets, i.e., 1) the home shop machinist which we have found to be an extremely receptive group but also a group that does so many different things with an incredible range of equipment, sizes and styles. 2) vocational/technical school programs that offer coursework in machining technology. These programs are vital to our national manufacturing industries growth and development yet they are being phased out in many school programs for one reason or another. The studies referred to later in this statement concluded that many of the programs in machining technology, at all educational levels in the USA are using cutting tools and procedures that were appropriate to the 1930's, i.e., high speed steel in both milling and lathe applications. They are not using, except in very limited ways, the current and emerging indexable hard metal cutting tool materials that are the accepted industry standard around the world. These indexable hard metal cutting tool materials can machine many times faster, last longer, produce vastly superior results, and at the end of the day COST LESS. 3) the remaining target market is identified as light industry that would include research and development organizations and maintenance departments.
The original business was started by a university professor in 1985 as a part-time consulting company specializing in the design and development of plastics processing tools such as injection molds. Thus the name PLASTOOLS. The business grew to include the design and development of automated and/or semi-automated production/tooling equipment for the local manufacturing community. During this period the owner was an avid hobby beekeeper and became exceedingly frustrated with ALL of the common techniques used to open the sealed honeycomb in order for the honey to be extracted with centrifugal force. Thus, the development of the HONEYPUNCH in 1991 that is included on this web site.
The last 15 years of the owner's professional career as a university professor was in the area of machining technology. During that period of time he conducted an extensive series of experiments that involved designing, developing and testing of various indexable carbide tool designs for use in both lathe and milling situations. Some of those studies were sponsored by the International Society of Manufacturing Engineering Education Foundation. Two of these studies were published in order to encourage machining instructors around the country to use the findings and the recommended laboratory exercises to accomplish two major goals: 1) give their machining students a structured, appropriate, sophisticated laboratory experience in precision machining, while at the same time 2) producing, in their own teaching environment, the appropriate tools that are the world wide standard in emerging indexable hard metal cutting tool technology.
Sincerely,
Dr. Clyde M. Hackler, Ed.D, FSME
Fellow, Society of Manufacturing Engineers
Contact Information:
PLASTOOLS
3856 Magrath rd.
Bellingham, WA 98226
(360) 739-8748
jeff@plastools.com
American Express
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