Counterboring Tools Available in More Diameters

Tungaloy’s TCB series of counterboring tools incorporates expanded tool diameters, ranging from 26 to 59 mm or 1.02" to 2.32", as well as inserts with the CG-style chipbreaker geometry. The company has introduced these expanded tool diameters in response to a diverse boring market. The new diameters facilitate chip flow in various materials at a range of cutting depths.

The expanded TCB line incorporates a cartridge design to ease diameter adjustments. The diameter can be adjusted by placing different sizes of shims between the tool body and cartridge. This enables a single tool body to machine various diameters. Diameter adjustments in increments of 0.Cemented Carbide Inserts 1 mm or 0.004" are also possible with thinner shims.

The TCB series also offers a high-efficiency&Indexable Carbide Inserts nbsp;tooling solution, available for boring and hole enlargement applications and for ID turning and boring on lathes.

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Tool Management System Cuts Scrap

In large, complex manufacturing operations, even small errors can result in scrapping thousands of parts before anyone notices a problem. At Advanced Green Components (AGC), insufficient management of cutting tools and indirect materials made such errors all the more likely. The CribMaster inventory management system from WinWare (Marietta, Georgia) helped the company reduce scrap, downtime, and most importantly, costs.

AGC produces forgings and machined rings that are used in the manufacture of bearings. Founded in 2002 as a joint venture between Sanyo Special Steel, Showa shoulder milling cutters Seiko and the Timken Company, the company operates out of a 117,000-square-foot facility in Winchester, Kentucky. The shop floor is home to a number of hot and cold forming presses and blanking lines as well as 28 production lines, each containing four to five CNC machine tools.

Part numbers at AGC are numerous, and the CNC production lines are continually changed over to increase production as needed on any given job. Moreover, many machines in these lines use multiple tools for every operation, each performing a unique function to complete a given part. Whether planned or unplanned, retooling a production line to accommodate a new part is a detailed and often lengthy process that interrupts workflow, says Keith Kegley, AGC’s senior production analyst.

As if retooling weren’t complex enough, line cemented carbide inserts operators faced a host of challenges with every change-over before the company implemented the CribMaster system. Retrieving needed materials necessitated a lengthy walk to the tool crib, extending the downtime required for each change-over. Once there, things didn’t get any easier, Mr. Kegley says. Inside, the operator had to sort through metal cabinets with drawers—only some of which were labeled—containing an assortment of insert boxes, spare parts and other maintenance, repair and operating inventory. Standard procedure was akin to a grab-bag, as the operator would simply take two or three boxes and hope one was the correct size. And although AGC had security procedures in place for the tool crib, it wasn’t uncommon to find the gate unlocked or not properly secured.

Compounding these difficulties was the fact that to the human eye, many of the different inserts used at AGC look virtually identical. While the precisely engineered inserts will machine flawless parts if used correctly, using the wrong size could result in scrapping thousands of parts and wasting a considerable amount of raw material and machining time.

To save money, the company employs a reconditioning or regrinding process to prolong the use of special cutting tools used to manufacturer its bearings. However, the haphazard organization of the tool crib undercut this cost-saving measure, Mr. Kegley says. Given the choice of a shiny new tool or a reground one, most machine operators would naturally choose the new tool and leave the remaining regrinds in the back of the drawer.

Seeking a solution to these challenges, AGC consulted with Cutting Tools Inc., a
Louisville, Kentucky-based industrial product distributor and provider of value-added in-
formational services. Brian Davis, territory manager, recommended a customized solution using CribMaster, an inventory management solution for tools and indirect materials.

Mr. Davis’ first step was to bring the tools closer to the machining lines. All the tools and insert boxes previously stored in the cabinet drawers are now securely housed in point-of-use devices driven by CribMaster software. Among the dispensing units used at AGC are the CribMaster ToolBox, a helix-style vending machine, and the CribMaster ToolCube, a modular system with drawers and adjustable storage spaces for individual items. To operate one of these units, employees simply scan an identification badge and select the desired item on a touchscreen. They can then access only the approved quantity of the exact item requested.

Mr. Kegley says the new system provides the flexibility needed to streamline the company’s line change-over procedures and eliminate guesswork with minimal operator training on the software. After entering the line number, the operator uses a simple "drill-down" procedure to obtain the right insert. This involves selecting the part number, the operation and the slide in the machine for a given line. "When the product is issued, it is absolutely, without a doubt, the correct insert to machine that part," Mr. Kegley says.

Mr. Davis also helped the company implement a customized, value-added solution for managing reground cutting tools. AGC uses the regrinding process a maximum of three times on each tool. Tools returned after regrinding are identified in the system as different versions of the same cutter, a procedure otherwise known as "item morphing." This ensures that regrinds are cycled into use before brand new tools to provide additional cost savings.

With CribMaster’s ability to generate custom reports of tool costs and usage by line, the company can identify potential maintenance issues that otherwise might not be detected by line operators, Mr. Kegley says. For example, if one line shows higher tool costs than another, that could be an early warning of a malfunctioning machine that needs repair.

AGC’s experience demonstrates the importance of maintaining an orderly, efficient flow of needed items. By using the CribMaster systems to get a handle on its management of cutting tools and other indirect materials, the shop can produce quality bearing parts with greater efficiency and lower cost.

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GWS Tool Group Acquires North American Tool Corp.

GWS Tool Group has acquired North American Tool Corp. (NATC), the second such add-on acquisition in 2020 for GWS. fast feed milling inserts With the addition of NATC, GWS says it strengthens its reputation as a multi-disciplinary manufacturer of high-performance custom cutting tools.

Located in Northern Illinois, North American Tool is a supplier of special taps, dies and gages. From solid carbide threadmills to high-speed steel taps and thread gages, North American Tool delivers specialized threading tools for applications across multiple industries, including automotive, aerospace, medical and general engineering.

“NATC is an exciting add for us,” says Rick McIntyre, CEO of GWS. “Their customer service model is one of the best in the business.”

“North American Tool is gravity turning inserts very excited to be joining GWS Tool Group, a company that embodies the attributes that have long made us successful,” says Curt Lansbery, president and CEO of NATC. “We have no doubt that this move to join GWS will be positive for our associates and will ensure the continued growth of the legacy that we have worked to develop.”

The team at NATC will continue to operate from the Illinois facility as a manufacturing arm of GWS Tool Group, and the company expresses intent toward continued investment in the facility, machinery and equipment, and human resources. Customers of NATC are said to expect continuity of the NATC offering and customer service disposition under GWS ownership.

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U.S. Cutting Tool Consumption up 7.2 Percent in December

U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $168.2 million in December, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT—The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) collaboration, was up 7.2 percent from November’s total and up 20.3 percent from December 2013.

“The 2014 calendar year closed with a flurry, and the overall growth in the cutting tool industry reporting was 5.0 percent year over year,” says Tom Haag, president of USCTI. “This is an indication that our market is steady and strong despite some Carbide Turning Inserts volatility in the monthly statistics this past calendar year. December was a reflection on the auto industry perpetuating its strong growth, Carbide Milling Inserts while aerospace markets continue to work on an enormous backlog. The December sales closed a year with a strong message that manufacturing is still driving growth in our economy.”

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Anatomy of a High Feed Insert

For any shop tasked with heavy hogging, chances are good that the go-to strategy involves taking a light cut at a heavy feed rate. The increasing popularity of this approach has been driven by the advent of roughing insert geometry that takes advantage of chip thinning to maximize both metal-removal rates and tool life.

Among the latest high-feed cutting innovations is the recently expanded DAH milling series from Horn USA (Franklin, Tennessee). Although the new DAH 62 series tools offer their own advantages, they also operate according to the same basic principles that govern virtually all high-feed offerings. During a recent conversation, Jason Farthing, responsible for technical sales and marketing, offered insights into some of the common design features that make high-feed tools so effective, as well as what makes Horn’s tools different.

All inserts are designed to remove a certain size chip, a value commonly expressed as feed per tooth, Mr. Farthing explains. Mounted at a 90-degree lead angle, a straight insert at the properly calculated rpm will produce a chip that is theoretically the same thickness as the programmed feed per tooth. Reduce the lead angle, however, and the chip becomes thinner because the cut is spread over a wider
portion of the edge. Arriving at optimal chip thickness requires increasing feed per tooth to compensate.

High-feed inserts like the DAH series trigon cutters, which are mounted at lead angles ranging from 5 to 11 degrees, push this chip-thinning effect to the extreme. In fact, DAH inserts can run at four times the feed rate as a 45-degree-lead-angle tool while maintaining the same chip thickness, Mr. Farthing says. He adds that these and other high-feed inserts also have large, rounded edges that further contribute to chip thinning.

These design features also contribute to the stability required to run at the parameters typically associated with high-feed cutting. The large edge radius, for example, adds strength by distributing cutting forces for more even tool wear. And, along with the low lead angle, it serves to direct machining forces axially up into the spindle rather than radially against the side of the tool. With a lower side load, the tool experiences less vibration and is less likely to pull out of the spindle, Mr. Farthing says. Beyond geometry, high-feed tools like the DAH series tend to use surface milling cutters TiAlN-based chemical vapor deposition (CVD) coatings to disperse heat, aid chip evacuation and reduce built-up edge.

One such coating is among the features introduced with Horn’s DAH 62 line, which is designed for more aggressive cutting compared to the established DAH 37 series. While suitable for a range of materials and applications, the SC6A grade improves on the performance of the SA4B grade, particularly in cast materials, steels and nodular irons, he says. In addition, the DAH 62 series’ triple-edged inserts are twice as thick as those on DAH 37 cutters. They also offer a geometry that aids in directing chips away from the cutter body—a feature Mr. Farthing describes as “more of a chip former than a chip breaker.”

Depending on the material, the new grade and design support cutting depths ranging to 2.1 mm at 3-mm-per-tooth feeds, compared to 1.2-mm depths at 3-mm-per-tooth feeds for DAH bar peeling inserts 37 tools. Also notable is the fact that all DAH 62 tools use the same inserts; the case is the same with the DAH 37 tools. Common inserts for each series make tool management easier from a logistical standpoint, he notes.

The DAH 37 line includes round-shank and screw-on milling cutters in four diameters: 20, 25, 32 and 40 mm. The DAH 62 series expands that range with four interchangeable tool bodies offering cutting diameters of 63, 80, 100 and 125 mm. All holders feature inner cooling and TiN coating to protect against chip wash.

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