FEATURE ON TOOLING

Mapal gains foothold at Kramer+Grebe

To stay competitive in mould and die making for the automotive industry, efficient production with a high degree of process reliability is vital for Krämer+Grebe of Biedenkopf-Wallau. Manufacturers such as Krämer+Grebe also judge cutting tool suppliers by their applications engineering. Mapal is earning trust in this respect with its reamers and high-feed milling cutters.

Machinery at Krämer+Grebe is all state of the art. The 16 machining centres are predominantly from DMG and Hermle. There is also a deep-hole drilling machine, two turning centre, three EDM machines and 3D printers. The company has 11,000 m²

of production space at its disposal, where the transition to electric mobility is well underway. Powertrain parts here include stator housings for the electric motor.

Co-operation between Mapal and Krämer+Grebe is reaching its five-year anniversary, a partnership which began with multi-bladed reamers. Mapal was the only manufacturer Krämer+Grebe could find that was able to produce these tools with the necessary quality and short lead times. Bores with H7 quality are needed to insert heating cartridges in low-pressure moulds.

Mapal’s application engineers left a lasting impression. They provided user training on site and helped commission the process on the machine. As part of process optimisation, Krämer+Grebe parted company with some of its former tool suppliers, of which there were many.

After such a good experience with the reamers, Krämer+Grebe began adopting Mapal’s high-feed milling cutters. The tools demonstrate long tool life and generate large chip volumes during roughing, thus reducing production times. The milling cutters are also extremely reliable to allow for multi-machine operation.

More information www.mapal.com

Raft of innovations on show from Horn

Paul Horn, the solid-carbide tooling, carbide insert and tool-holder manufacturer has supplied more than 200,000 special tooling solutions over the years and currently offers 25,000 standard products, including five that were introduced to the UK market at the recent MACH 2024 exhibition in Birmingham, UK.

For instance, an addition to the Horn Supermini boring, grooving and chamfering system was announced, namely a variant with a precision-ground rake face for producing ultra-fine bores. The ground cutting edge is free from notches at a magnification of x200 and the tool is suitable for machining components with an inside diameter from just 0.3 mm. Sharp insert geometry ensures process reliability, even with very small infeed and cutting feed rates. The special coating is suitable for stainless steels, non-ferrous metals and other metals.

Notably, the Supermini Type 105 system insert requires only one tool holder for well over 1000 insert variants, which applies equally to left-hand and right-hand versions. Carbide inserts are available coated or uncoated in various grades for a variety of applications, including hard machining up to 66 HRc. The patented, droplet-shape cross section has a vibration-damping effect and delivers high repeatability during insert exchange. Internal coolant supply to the insert increases tool life, enhances cutting performance and improves chip removal. Horn offers the tools with face clamping elements that allow easy changing of the insert without removing the holder from the machine.

Horn has also developed a new solid-carbide milling cutter range for machining stainless steels used widely in the watchmaking and other precision engineering industries. Due to their geometry and efficient chip breaking, the mills are also suitable for machining numerous other materials.

More information www.phorn.co.uk

Get smart with large-diameter boring

Precision hole-making system manufacturer Big Kaiser is launching its new bridge tool that comes complete with a smart damper holder. Available in the UK from cutting tool manufacturer Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC), the product marks the advent of a new family of bridge tools.

The Big Kaiser bridge tool with smart damper features the CK connection for both rough and fine-boring operations. Notably, the new bridge tools incorporate the company’s patented smart damper that reduces vibration when machining large-diameter bores up to 320 mm.

Giampaolo Roccatello, chief sales and marketing officer for Europe at Big Kaiser, says: “Now, we can seamlessly merge multiple cutting-edge technologies. This system brings together the exceptional modularity of the CK connection, with the anti-chatter capabilities of our smart damper and our bridge tools. With the introduction of this new product family, we’re continuing to push the boundaries of innovation in solutions for large-diameter deep boring.”

The integrated smart damper enhances connection stability, leading to improved precision during boring operations. It creates a stiff system in comparison with using separate or modular components. Additionally, the tools offer the convenience of supporting coolant supply through a central hole. This design delivers cutting fluid directly to the cutting edge to prolong tool life and improve performance whilst simplifying the installation process.

Expected to serve a broad spectrum of industry sectors, the Big Kaiser bridge tools will prove valuable assets in applications within the energy, defence, aerospace and large-part manufacturing sectors.

More information www.itc-ltd.co.uk

Floyd shows new innovations at MACH

The recent MACH 2024 exhibition in Birmingham once again provided an opportunity for Floyd Automatic Tooling to demonstrate cutting tools and machining solutions for the sliding-head turning and small-part machining industry, many of which received their MACH exhibition premieres.

As always, the long-standing partnerships that Floyd has with machine tool manufacturers enabled engineers to witness the latest cutting tools in live demonstrations on the stands of sliding-head lathe brands and many other machine tool partners. The partnerships that Floyd Automatic has with cutting tool brands for this niche segment include MASA Microconics, Mikron Tool, Madaula, Schaublin, Ifanger, Schwanog, Applitec, Alesa and many others.

Some of the new products on show from Mikron Tool included the CrazyMill Cool Micro series of micro end mills for micro-machining applications in the electronics, medical, optics, automotive, aerospace and defence sectors. Suitable for operations as diverse as side milling, helical interpolation, slot milling and drilling, the CrazyMill Cool Micro is available in three or four-flute options with diameters from 0.2 to 1 mm and effective cutting lengths of 3xD and 5xD. According to Floyd Automatic, the combination of innovative geometries, high-quality carbide grade and a patented new cooling concept deliver double the tool life and three times the productivity of rival product lines.

Continuing the theme of micro-machining, Floyd introduced Madaula driven tools for sliding-head machines. Part of the extensive range of Madaula products at MACH was the mechanical spindle speeder that works on a 1:4 ratio to provide machines with higher torque and spindle speeds up to 24,000 rpm. Suitable for improving surface finishes and increasing productivity rates, the new system is compatible with all leading turning centre brands.

More information www.floydautomatic.co.uk

Fast three-in-one threading solution

Walter is launching a new range of thread milling tools called Thrill·tec that combines the machining steps of core-hole drilling and threading in a single tool and operation. This is also true of the TC645 Supreme circular drill/thread mill, which additionally produces a chamfer at the thread entry.

Combining work steps improves productivity and makes this three-in-one thread milling cutter ideal for mass and small series production alike. High-volume producers can benefit from longer tool life and shorter machining times. Furthermore, the ability to multi-task results in significantly less machine downtime for tool changeovers. The TC645 Supreme pays dividends for small-scale manufacturers because they only have to use one tool, reducing changeovers and tool positions in the machine.

The left-hand cutting thread milling tool is suitable for multi-tasking operations, credit largely to the milling geometry on its face and the internal coolant supply. According to Walter, the tool optimises chip removal, even at high cutting speeds, and demonstrates high feed per tooth. As a result, the tool is suitable for blind-hole and through-hole threads in dimensions of 2 or 2.5xD. The universal thread milling cutter is for use on all ISO materials from P, M, K, N and S up to 48 HRc, due in large part to Walter’s WB10TJ grade coating.

In addition to high process reliability and universal operation, the main advantage of the TC645 Supreme is its cost efficiency. Faster machining and reduced indexing times keep the cost per thread relatively low. Walter is offering the TC645 Supreme in dimensions of M4 to M12, UNC8 to UNC½ and G1/16 to G¼. Additional variants will become available as the line expands.

More information www.walter-tools.com