Tungaloy inserts suit heavy turning

The TurnTen-Feed turning series of tool inserts from Tungaloy are designed to maximise machining performance and efficiency when undertaking medium to heavy turning operations.

Target components include those manufactured for the aerospace, power generation and heavy engineering sectors, where high material removal rates and extended machining hours are required.
Tungaloy’s TurnTen-Feed inserts feature 10 cutting edges in double-sided format. Each insert is mounted in a secure dovetail clamping tool-holder design that ensures high insert reliability and stability during demanding operations. The dedicated -MNW style chip breaker is designed to ensure smooth chip flow, while the wiper geometry built into the cutting edge allows high-feed machining at a rate of up to 2 mm/rev.
There are two inserts sizes available: the POMG110612 designation with a 15.875 mm IC (inscribed circle diameter); and the POMG130612 in 19.05 mm IC. In addition, the Tungaloy TurnTen-Feed turning series can be offered with insert grades that include the T9215, T9125 and T9225 from the company’s T9200 CVD series.
Two types of tool holder are available to extend the turning application range. The HD holder is suitable for depths-of-cut up to 7 mm, whereas the HF holder enables high-feed turning at speeds up to 2 mm/rev. Holders can accommodate either type of insert.
For further information www.tungaloy.com/uk

Tangential inserts for Walter boring tools

Cutting-tool specialist Walter GB has introduced a range of boring tools with tangentially-arranged indexable inserts to meet demands prevalent in the automotive sector.

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Specifically, Walter says that the tools will be used to rough and finish bores in multiple steps, at higher feed rates and generating better surface finishes than those produced by conventional tools, even in applications without good chip clearance.
An additional benefit is the reduction of chatter, which is achieved by combining an extremely stable tool body with separate indexable-insert geometries that feature a second clearance angle – thus reducing the effective clearance angle, which is usually high for tangential tools.
Applications for boring of 4xD can be achieved, while small diameters (from 24 mm) can be machined with three teeth. The square-shaped inserts can be installed at any approach angle; a face chamfer (wiper) also works at 72° and 90°, which guides the tool and helps to minimise noise. In addition, the inserts are cost-effective, with four plus four cutting edges.
The availability of numerous insert grades makes the tools particularly advantageous for users machining workpieces from cast iron, chrome nickels, steel or aluminium, such as turbine or gearbox housings, gears, cylinder bores, and steering knuckles.
For further information www.walter-tools.com

Half a century of Edwards

Edwards Engineering, a multi-disciplinary engineering firm based in Perth, is celebrating its first 50 years by setting out an ambitious growth strategy for its second half-century.

The 60-employee firm has expanded sales at an annualised 20% since being bought from its founding family in August 2016. Edwards Engineering expects to boost turnover from the current £7.5m, to £20m within the next three years, largely by focusing on its existing customers and expanding delivery capacity, while aggressively seeking new skills and capacity via strategic acquisitions.
For further information https://edwardsengineering.co.uk/

Sawing nickel alloys three times faster

A specialist stockholder serving the oil and gas industry, Howat Group, perhaps better known by its trading names AMS, ESS and Ancon, has installed a 14th Kasto bandsaw – a KASTOwin pro AC 5.6 – at its new centre in Barnsley, which opened at the end of 2018. The facility represents an investment of more than £2m by owner Malcolm Howat, and has been timed to coincide with the oil and gas sector’s nascent emergence from a downturn that started in 2014.

Half of the sum went on acquiring a freehold, 60,000 sq m property on Cortonwood Drive in the Dearne Valley area of Barnsley. The remainder was spent on infrastructure, materials handling equipment, two further Kasto bandsaws and refurbishment of all the older models, some of which have been in service since the 1990s and still cut accurately.
The German-built KASTOwin pro, supplied ex-stock from the manufacturer’s UK subsidiary in Milton Keynes, is a competitively priced machine designed for cutting tough nickel, titanium and stainless steel alloys up to 560 mm in diameter using a tungsten carbide-tipped (TCT) blade. However, the machine also allows economical cutting of low-alloy steels when the blade is swapped for a high speed steel (HSS) bi-metal type.
Howat’s operations director Emma Parkinson says: “We have four dedicated carbide cutting bandsaws on site which include KASTOtec AC5s and now the KASTOwin pro, which is even more capable. They are ideal for cutting our Inconel 625, 718, 725, 825, 925 and K500 stock. Our latest investment was to increase our overall cutting capacity but also to improve efficiencies around nickel alloy cutting specifically. The remainder of our sawing machines with capacities up to 800 mm diameter are intended for bi-metal cutting, but can also use TCT blades with offset teeth.”
She adds: “The advantage of the latest KASTOwin pro saw, apart from its ability to use either type of blade economically, is its high productivity, which is down to fast cutting speeds and quick set-up using the new touchscreen control.”

Programming is fast with the Kasto EasyControl, as cutting parameters for any given material, size and cross section are determined automatically by a built-in database, so all that is needed is to enter the cut length and number of pieces required, and press start.
The productivity benefit is most pronounced when cutting nickel alloys. Formerly, the company was sawing Inconel 718 with a TCT blade at 3 to 4 cm2 per minute, but on the KASTOwin pro that has risen to an average of 12 cm2 per minute. So, for example, a 200 mm diameter bar that would previously have taken up to 90 minutes to cut can now be processed in less than half an hour.
Parkinson explains that she was familiar with the benefits of the latest German-built bandsaws compared with the performance of the legacy machines, having worked with this make of saw when previously employed at another stockholding company.

So when Howat Group, one of the largest stockholders in the UK, needed more capacity to cope with an increasing number of high volume orders for nickel alloy billet and low-alloy steels, the KASTOwin pro was a logical choice. The large batch sizes frequently ordered make it economical to spend time changing from an expensive TCT blade to bi-metal, to extend the life of the TCT teeth.
A feature of the automatic KASTOwin pro is its electro-mechanical down-feed via two ballscrews, each with a servo drive for precise, infinitely variable control. The positive motion allows smaller tolerances to be set, typically -0 / +0.5 mm for most stock, minimising material wastage. There is a retraction unit for separating the blade from the material to protect the cut surface when the saw head moves back, which also helps to minimise tool wear.
The band is driven by an 11 kW motor, delivering infinitely adjustable cutting speeds from 12 to 150 m/min, and providing plenty of capacity for TCT sawing. Helping to dampen vibration and lower noise during operation are ‘Trum’ guides mounted at the return side of the blade, inside the top of the saw head guarding. These guides suppress vibration on the side opposite from the cutting action, prolonging blade life and promoting high squareness accuracy and good surface finish.
Partly due to larger orders being received, and because of the high value of nickel-based metals, Howat Group’s monthly turnover trebled within a few months of the stockholder opening its new facility. Key to maintaining growth is providing customers with a high quality service in terms of prompt delivery of material that is within tolerance.

Parkinson concludes: “It is for this reason that we have more or less standardised on Kasto sawing equipment and see the supplier as a partner to our business. We regard the manufacturer as a premium brand whose rigid and technologically advanced bandsaws maximise blade life and cut accurately for decades, despite heavy use.”
For further information www.kasto.com

AFRC takes part in £1.2m tool and die project

The Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, has joined forces with a consortium of six other companies to pave the way for low-cost remanufacture within the tool and die industry.

DigiTool, as the two-year project is known, is part-funded by Innovate UK and worth £1.2m – one of the biggest investments of its kind within the sector for over
40 years. The project partners aim to provide organisations of all sizes with the capability to remanufacture worn or damaged dies by helping
them embrace additive manufacturing, adaptive machining and industry 4.0.
For further information https://is.gd/ezuhan