Tennessee Machine Tool

Tennessee Machine Tool Tennessee Machine Tool is a full line industrial distributor serving the automotive, aerospace, and defense industies.

Our motto is "providing tomorrow's solutions today!"

08/25/2026

Tool Tip Tuesday: Your chips are giving you feedback.

Long stringy chips mean the chip is not breaking. They wrap the tool, trap heat on the edge, and ruin your finish. Bird nesting is the same problem but one step worse.

What you want are tight 6s and 9s. Short chips that clear on their own, silver to light straw. Blue means you are cooking the edge.

Usually the fix is more feed, not less. Or a chipbreaker matched to your actual depth of cut.

Send us a photo of your chips and the part you are running. We will tell you what to change.

08/11/2026

Tool Tip Tuesday: Why causes taps to break

Most of the time, broken taps come down to four things.

1. Wrong drill size - Undersized hole means the tap cuts more thread than it was built for.

2. Chips packing up - Spiral point pushes chips down in a blind hole. Use spiral flute to pull them out.

3. Not square to the part - A crooked start fights the thread the whole way down. Misalignment is one of the most common reasons taps break.

4. Bottoming out - Tap hits the bottom while the spindle is still turning.

Need some taps?
865-724-2516 | www.tnmachinetool.com

08/05/2026

The cheapest tool in the building can be the one that stops your floor.

Nobody budgets for running out. It just shows up.

A spindle goes quiet. Somebody makes the emergency buy at rush prices with overnight freight, on a tool you already owned somewhere in the building. Then you pay overtime and air freight to protect the ship date, and the customer remembers anyway.

Add up one of those:

4 idle hours at $250 an hour
A rush buy and the freight to go with it
Overtime and air freight to save the date

Call it $3,500. Once a month is normal for a lot of operations, and that adds up to $42,000 a year.

The Integration Program keeps your tooling stocked, so an empty bin is never the reason a machine is down.

Those numbers are illustrative, not a quote. Bring us your spindle rate and we will run yours.

865-724-2516
www.tnmachinetool.com

07/31/2026

Thomas Spratt with Riten Industries walks us through their Repair and Trade In program.

A worn center doesn’t have to be scrap (or a door stop). Riten rebuilds them to like new for about 40 percent of the cost of a new one, and that’s a full teardown, not a quick fix. New spindle, new front and rear bearings, new grease seal and lubricant, accuracy restored, and the same factory warranty that ships on a new center. Average turnaround is two weeks.

They repair any brand, not just their own, and 97 percent of what comes in gets repaired. If yours is too far gone, it still earns a 35 percent trade in allowance toward a new one.

Riten also runs a free 30 day face driver trial, tailstock renovation, and full custom center. More info about those programs will be attached in the comments below.

Reach out to TMT to get started with any of these Riten programs!

📞 865-724-2516 | www.tnmachinetool.com | [email protected]

07/29/2026

Happy

Steve Swindell has spent 20+ years at Astec and runs their machine shop. Here’s what he had to say about working with his TMT rep, Ethan:

“Anything we’ve had questions with, a guy named Ethan, he’s always been there to help us out”

That’s what our reps are known for.

• Technical expertise first. Our reps know feeds, speeds, and applications because they spend their days on shop floors, not behind a desk.

• Problem solving beyond the vending machine. If it affects your uptime, it matters to us, even when it falls outside our product line.

• Boots on the ground. Regular site visits, real relationships, and answers when you need them.

Our Integration Program puts a technical partner inside your operation. Tooling, inventory, and process support handled so your team can stay focused on their projects.

Reach out to get started with our integration program!

865-724-2516 | [email protected]

07/28/2026

Tool Tip Tuesday

If your mic is off by half a thou, every part you check today is off by half a thou.

Tim Cucchi from Starrett walked us through zeroing one out.

Ten seconds. Saves you a scrapped run.

We stock Starrett. Mics, indicators, calipers, gage blocks, band saw blades. Message us what you need, and we will get you a price.

07/22/2026

It's Vendsday with best-in-biz Integration manager Zack Durham!

TMT Integration solves 4 big problems you may be facing.

1. Stop Running Out of Tooling - Inventory replenishes automatically based on min/max levels.

2. Reduce Tool Spend - Controlled dispensing typically cuts tool spend by 20%-30% and sometimes even more.

3. See Where Your Tooling Is Going - Every item is logged automatically by job, operator, and time so you know where your tooling went.

4. Improve Inventory and Save Time - We restock, watch the levels, and partner with you to manage your inventory so your team can focus on the job.

If you are curious what integrating with TMT could do for you, reach out for a free consultation.

865-724-2516 | www.tnmachinetool.com | [email protected]

Address

3019 Regal Drive
Alcoa, TN
37701

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+18657242516

Website

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