Difficult milling made easier

Dormer Pramet’s family of solid-carbide milling cutters for difficult to machine materials offers a variety of options from roughing through to finishing. The S2 assortment includes a range of neck options for deep milling and multi-flute designs to support numerous applications in tough steels, titanium and nickel.

Differential pitch cutters (S260, S262, S264), for example, reduce chatter and offer fewer tool offset adjustments, providing effective chip removal at high feed rates. The trio of cutters – available in diameters from 3 to 20 mm – feature an optimised cutting edge to reduce chipping and prolong tool life. All have an AlCrN coating for improved wear and oxidation resistance.
In addition, the S264 milling cutter has a robust corner chamfer on the end teeth to further reduce chipping, and a roughing profile for greater removal rates, says Dormer Pramet. The S262’s corner radius provides a more precise finish and optimises performance, especially in ramping operations.
Meanwhile, Dormer Pramet’s six to eight-flute cutters (S225, S226, S227) feature a high helix angle to keep the cutting edges constantly engaged with the workpiece and deliver a high-quality surface finish.
Several neck options are available to support pocket milling, up to 8.8xD, by preventing contact between the shank and workpiece, and eliminating the risk of vibration and scouring. To support general milling applications, the company’s range of four-flute cutters (S216, S217, S218, S219) offer a reach up to 9xD. This series also features an optimised cutting-edge design and an AlTiN coating for high hot hardness and oxidation resistance.
For further information www.dormerpramet.com

Kyocera premieres products at AMB

Japanese ceramics specialist Kyocera presented a number of new products at the AMB trade fair in Stuttgart last month.

The debutants included the MEAS series for high-speed and high-performance aluminium machining, and the JCT (Jet Coolant Through) series of tool holders with a high-pressure coolant supply.
Milling cutters in the Kyocera MEAS series impress thanks to their long service lives and low cutting forces, says the company. The stable clamping system ensures the form-locking fit of the cutting plate in the plate seat. What’s more, a stable tool-holder design guarantees the durability and reliability of the cutter.
The JCT series of tool holders are optimised for a high-pressure coolant supply. For turning, there is the double clamp JCT variant, which allows a coolant supply from three directions, while for parting-off and external grooving, Kyocera has designed the KGD-JCT variation, which directs the coolant on to the rake and frank surfaces of the indexable insert. The KTN-JCT variation was developed for threading. In this variation, two cooling holes reduce the tendency for plate breakages and therefore facilitate an extension of service life.
In addition, the JCT series includes smaller tools with internal coolant supplies that can operate at a pressure of up to 200 bar. And again there are variations for turning, with screw clamping; these variations have two cooling holes that deliver coolant supply to the cutting edge surfaces of the indexable insert. For external grooving, there is the KGBF-JCT design, which directs the coolant towards the cutting edge of the insert. And for parting-off operations there is the KTKF-JCT variation, which directs the coolant towards the cutting surface from three directions.
For further information www.kyocera.com

Zenith closes loop on boring adjustments

The development of Zenith by Rigibore has eliminated any manual intervention or machine downtime to achieve micron-level automatic adjustments on fine boring tools.

Industry 4.0 compliant Zenith is a closed-loop system providing a practical solution that works with in-process gauging and the machine tool’s control system.
Making minute adjustments to fine boring tools has, in the past, required the tool to be removed from the machine and adjusted manually in a pre-setter, a process which interrupts production, is time consuming and demands a skilled person to be involved. Having developed its ActiveEdge wirelessly adjustable boring bars, the next step for Rigibore was to “close the loop” on this semi-automatic system, and make it fully autonomous. The result is Zenith, which can automatically compensate for insert wear, temperature drift and material inconsistency without the necessity of removing the tool to a presetting station.
Zenith makes use of Rigibore’s ActiveEdge boring tools, which feature boring cartridges that can be wirelessly adjusted. This wireless capability is powered by batteries in the tool’s ‘yoke’, which means that the system can make adjustments to the boring tools wherever they are in the machine, either in the spindle or the tool carousel.
So confident is Rigibore that Zenith will deliver on its promises that, subject to carrying out a survey and analysis of current manufacturing requirements, Rigibore will install and make all necessary changes to the machine’s control free of charge. Customers can then take one of two options to pay for the system, either in full after one-month’s trial period or, over six-monthly instalments.
For further information www.rigibore.com

Parting tools for small lathes

Horn has introduced a grooving and parting-off system, 32T, for Swiss-type lathes and smaller fixed-head lathes. With a precision-sintered grooving insert and central clamping screw, the system offers easy insert indexing and direct entry into the seat of the tool carrier.

Importantly, there is no need for clamping elements, which may have a detrimental effect on chip flow. The screw head of the clamping bolt does not introduce interference and therefore permits grooving and parting-off directly at the spindle. Inserts can be used in a neutral position or as left-hand or right-hand configurations.
By adding the new system to complete its triple-edge insert range, Horn is responding to customer solution requests for Swiss-type lathes and other smaller turning machines, in particular for applications where space is at a premium.
The maximum groove depth using 32T is 4 mm with a width of 2 or 2.5 mm. For grooving, the inserts are available with both straight and full radius cutting edges. Horn offers the insert
with a 15° chamfer for parting-off. A cylindrically ground chip-breaker geometry makes for reliable chip removal. The tool carrier is designed as a square shank of 10 x 10 mm or 12 x 12 mm cross section. Each version features internal coolant supply.
For further information www.phorn.co.uk

Top grades for hard-part turning

Sandvik Coromant is releasing two grades for interrupted hard-turning operations: CB7125 and CB7135. Available immediately, the grades complete the company’s offer for hard turning, complementing the existing CB7105 and CB7115 grades.

The latest Sandvik Coromant grades provide the ability to perform medium-to-heavy interrupted cuts and remove the hardened layer (depth of cut up to 2 mm) in case- and induction-hardened steel components, typically for the automotive industry. Here, CB7125 and CB7135 offer longer and more consistent tool life, good levels of surface finish and consistent dimensional tolerances, says the company.
CB7125 and CB7135 are optimised for turning steel materials with a hardness of 58-62 HRc. Designed for medium intermittent cutting, CB7125 features a newly developed PVD coating that provides improved wear and fracture resistance for extended tool life. This grade, which contains medium CBN content, is suitable for the turning of shaft splines and shafts with chamfered oil holes or pockets. Further applications include the facing of gears, the hard-to-soft turning of crown wheels, and the removal of hardened layers.
The CB7135 grade is pitched at the longitudinal turning of gears and shafts with un-chamfered keyways or pockets, as well as CV joint components such as the inner/outer race and cage. Featuring a high CBN content, the grade is said to offer high fracture resistance and predictable machining results.
Available for T-Max P, CoroTurn 107 and CoroTurn TR tooling systems, the grades come in both positive and negative basic shapes, with various edge preparations.
For further information www.sandvik.coromant.com