Air Turbine Tools offers its Tool Breakage Alarm System to protect work in process and cutting tools, which helps prevent scrapped parts, lost hours and machine damage.

As cutting tools follows the programed tool path, Air Turbine Tools’ tool breakage detector system monitors air flow for deviation from a sensitive baseline record of compressed air consumption.

If the cutting tool breaks, Carbide Inserts the Tool Breakage Alarm System activates to alert the operator with a light and/or a klaxon. Operators can also program the system to stop the CNC machine automatically if the CNC or robot control Tungsten Steel Inserts is connected to the Tool Breakage Alarm System’s external port — permitting unattended operation 24/7.

Compressor malfunctions are also detected by the system. If a compressor malfunctions, or if air flow is diverted to other machines, Air Turbine Tools’ Tool Breakage Alarm detects airflow cavitation and alerts the operator or stops the program, protecting work in process, tools and machines from drops in air pressure.

Posted by: leanderfit at 09:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 181 words, total size 2 kb.

The photo shows two combinations of tool and toolholder that are used in the same machine. Which of these tool sets will permit heavier cutting? The shorter, more rigid one? Maybe not!

The actual answer depends on the Cutting Tool Carbide Inserts machine. At higher spindle speeds, the heaviest depths of cut are possible near the natural frequencies of the machining system—and that system includes the machine, toolholder and tool. Sometimes, less rigid tools contribute to a dynamic system capable of a higher metal removal rate.

Warner Robins Air Force Base discovered this very thing. The base’s machine shop is "tap testing” all of its high speed machining centers to find their optimal machining parameters for every standard tool set. On one of the shop’s machines, more aggressive milling is possible with the longer of the two tools seen here. This article explains.

The phenomenon has an interesting application. It is actually possible to "tune” your productivity by adjusting the tool overhang length.

Question: DNMG Insert Has your shop had experience with finding and applying harmonic frequencies in high speed machining? What kind of results have you seen? E-mail your reply.

Posted by: leanderfit at 07:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 205 words, total size 2 kb.

Coolant Ring Technology (CRT) holders from Scientific Cutting Tools are made from high quality heat treated steel and come with a black oxide coating. They are engineered to allow for better coolant penetration deep into the bore, reducing temperature at the cutting edge, the company says. The overhang of the tools used with the holders is infinitely adjustable CNMG Insert rather than fixed, allowing for maximum performance without chatter or other performance-related issues.

The CRT holders can be used in conjunction with the company’s qualified boring bars and/or qualified threading tools for quick change machining at optimal performance Carbide Milling inserts levels, according to the company. Qualified boring bars have an overall length that is qualified to ± 0.001” and a minimum bore diameter that is qualified to ± 0.0005”. They can be used in conjunction with the CRT holders for quick-change setups or with our QHC holders when a backstop is used (sold separately). The CRT holders used in conjunction with the qualified boring bars have the advantage of more effectively delivering coolant to the cutting edge.

Posted by: leanderfit at 06:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 192 words, total size 2 kb.

Personnel from Boeing's Research & Technology group recently answered readers' questions. Carbide Inserts One reader asked the following. 

Question

I am roughing Al 7000-series material at around 30,000 rpm using a 1-inch solid carbide uncoated end mill with 2 flutes at an axial DOC of 0.200 inch and a radial DOC of 50%. I am using an HSK80 toolholder, coolant through, with a good machine and stable setup.

At this speed, there is no surface finish difference if I climb or conventional mill. But is there a difference between the two methods in terms of tool life?

Response from Boeing’s Research & Technology group

With 7000-series aluminum on our own 24,000-rpm Indexable Carbide Inserts spindle, we achieve 200+ hours of tool life using carbide cutters. We do both climb and conventional milling and we do not see tool life being affected. For us, the key to long tool life and good part finishes is dynamically testing all of our cutting tools first before high speed machining aluminum. By doing so, we find what is called the "sweet spot," which is the optimal rpm and depth of cut the cutting tool will run with no chatter regardless of step-over, full slot cutting or corners. Once we have these parameters, we program to them—confident that we will not have any cutting tool chatter issues. The system we use for this dynamic testing is called "Metal Max” from Manufacturing Laboratories, Inc.

Posted by: leanderfit at 09:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 254 words, total size 2 kb.

I was perusing Twitter the other day when this Coated Inserts YouTube video caught my eye. Although I have often appreciated the fascinating Discovery Channel show "How it’s Made” for bringing metalcutting into the living rooms of the general public every once in a while, I wasn’t aware that an episode had been dedicated to the manufacture of industrial cutting tools. I Carbide Milling Insert think it’s well worth a look. For one, it’s pretty neat. Beyond that, it serves as a reminder of how many layers there are to manufacturing. That is, tools are made by tools, and the time and effort involved in using any variety of production equipment effectively may well be equivalent to what was required to manufacture it in the first place.

Although the video focuses on solid tools, I find the various processes employed to manufacture carbide inserts just as interesting. In fact, watching this reminded me of a visit to Germany three years ago, where I got a first-hand look at P.H. Horn’s insert manufacturing process. Here’s a virtual tour of that operation as it looked then.

Finally, feel free to connect with me on Twitter, where I discovered this video in the first place: @MMS_MattDanford. 

?

Posted by: leanderfit at 06:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 218 words, total size 2 kb.

Shops requiring the cutting capabilities of a 50-taper machine in a small footprint can consider Haas Automation’s VF-3YT/50 VMC with extended Y-axis travel. The VMC features a work envelope with dimensions of 40" × 26" × 25" and a 54" × 25" table. Cast-iron construction provides the rigidity and stability necessary for heavy cutting, the company says, and the wide T-slot table accommodates fixturing and large parts.

?

The VMC is equipped with a 30-pocket side-mount tool changer and a 30-hp, 7,500-rpm, geared-head spindle system that delivers as much as 450 foot-pounds of torque. Standard features also include an automatic chip auger, a programmable coolant ECMN Grooving nozzle, a 15" color LCD monitor with a USB port, a remote jog handle and the company’s Visual Quick Code programming system.

?

Optional features include a 10,000-rpm spindle, 1,000-psi through-spindle coolant and high speed machining software with full look-ahead. Other options include RPMT Insert an automatic air gun, automatic doors, a hard disk with Ethernet interface and more. The VMC can cut stainless steel, cast iron and hard alloys.

Posted by: leanderfit at 03:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 192 words, total size 2 kb.