High precision "dual use" items such as milling machines, electron beam welders, and high strength aluminum all turned up missing.

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Studio Roc offers up its robots, computer controlled milling machines that can do the same amount of work in a matter of hours.

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Honda's engineers told Northwest how to reduce the downtime on its computerized milling machines and suggested a new floor plan for machinery that would boost work flow.

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Young James ran metal-milling machines throughout high school.

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If that sounds a bit arty, it is: Mr Schmitt is a former art student from Germany who used to cadge time on factory lathes and milling machines to make mechanised sculptures.

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Weinberg points out that even before consumer 3D-printing became fashionable, gun enthusiasts were already making their own metal firearm components with computer controlled milling machines and posting their designs to sites like CNCguns.com.

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Flavio Radice, the boss of Pietro Carnaghi, a tool maker in Busto Arsizio, north of Milan, says he and his designers regularly use their video-telephone link to pore over plans with customers for the huge vertical-milling machines his firm makes for turbine builders.

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