FEATURE ON TOOLING

Floyd expands specialist turning tool lines

When it comes to specialist tools for small-part machining, Floyd Automatic Tooling says it is the outright expert for delivering solutions. Now, a raft of new product lines from Hommel+Keller is available in the UK via the company.

The production of high-quality durable products often requires customised tooling solutions and Hommel+Keller has a series of new knurling, diamond burnishing, marking, broaching and gear-cutting products. For surface finishes below Rz 1 μm, the latest diamond burnishing tools are applicable to virtually any turning centre without separate work steps or equipment. This capability improves precision, repeatability and surface finishes for manufacturers that demand high-quality components.

Known as an industry expert in part marking, Hommel+Keller is also expanding the scope of its marking portfolio. Like the burnishing range, the part marking tools are suitable for use on all types of turning centre to create customised part marking in seconds. This technology enables manufacturers to eliminate secondary operations and deliver consistent high-quality marking that is flexible to the needs of the end user.

As an industry specialist in solutions for sliding-head and small part turning, Hommel+Keller also has a new series of broaching and gear cutting solutions. These lines deliver efficient technologies for complex internal and external profiles, providing precise and economical production in a single operation, reports Floyd Automation. All new ranges are specific to the customer and application.

In other news, the the Hirt Line range of stainless steel hoses available from Floyd Automatic now comes in a welded version. This Hirt Line 2.0 enhancement is characterised by its thermal stability that can work up to temperatures of 400°C while offering higher mechanical load capacity.

For further information www.floydautomatic.co.uk

Guhring builds relationship based on results

LMS Precision Engineering has trusted its tooling supplier for over 35 years. Scott Street, a partner at Droitwich-based LMS, says: “We’re a family-run business with main sectors of interest that include aerospace and general subcontract machining. We’ve always had a great relationship with Guhring.”

Chris Bush from Guhring takes up the narrative: “LMS uses the whole spectrum of our cutting tools, whether that’s milling cutters, drills, taps or thread mills – in fact, everything through to the TM [Tool Management] vending machine. LMS was one of the first customers to see the advantages of a TM vending machine, which allows them to put their resources in providing components rather than manually ordering tools, looking for tools and managing tool stocks.”

Guhring can build TM vending solutions to a customer’s specific requirements. The system will control and monitor tool consumption and spending, with reporting for complete visibility. The main benefits of the Guhring TM vending solutions include 24/7 controlled tool availability and the prevention of production stoppages due to tool availability. It will also eliminate loss and theft, create employee awareness of tooling costs and the system can communicate with customer IT systems.

Recalling specific product lines, Street says: “We had a lot of joy with the Guhring VA series drill and now there’s the new InoxPro drill, which is bringing us faster run times than ever before. We use Guhring for everything, including end mills such as high-speed rippers, through-coolant drills, high-speed steel drills, stub drills – absolutely everything.”

Alluding to the application of the latest-generation tools, he adds: “The latest tools have given us the confidence to run lights-out, reducing the number of tools we need to stock and providing us with full visibility of all tool usage and tool performance.”

For further information www.guhring.co.uk

Extremely hard grade for brake disc machining

Cutting tool manufacturer Horn is launching a new product range for the economic machining of brake discs. The range includes solid CBN ISO inserts, mainly for cast iron machining, and CBN-tipped full-radius and shaped inserts. The grade has no metallic bonding phase and therefore offers the highest hot hardness of all cutting materials. Stable tool carriers also feature in the offering.

For machining applications on a brake disc, Horn provides a solid CBN ISO S insert with eight cutting edges. In conjunction with the tool holder, the system is suitable for roughing and finishing. The neutral design of the inserts fully utilises the number of cutting edges. It means that eight cutting edges per ISO insert are available for most turning operations.

Cutting speeds of well over 1000 m/min, depths of cut of several millimetres and feed rates up to 0.7 mm/rev are typical when machining cast iron brake discs using a solid CBN insert. The tool system must be able to maintain high cutting performance and, above all, exhibit long tool life due to the cost per cutting edge of CBN. Depending on the operation and metal removal rate, it is possible to machine well over 1000 cast iron brake discs per insert corner.

Horn offers two different tool solutions for machining the heat dissipation grooves in the disc. The CBN-tipped S117 profile grooving insert is suitable for large batch production in terms of speed and tool longevity. During the process, each groove is produced in just under two seconds in a single operation. For greater flexibility, Horn’s S229 tipped, full-radius inserts offer the option of copy turning the grooves in around four seconds. Regrinding and re-tipping are possible with both types.For further information www.horn-group.com/uk

New Seco tools help optimise part processing

To overcome various machining challenges and boost productivity, Seco has introduced new extra-long solid-carbide drills,PCBN inserts, round carbide inserts and tool holders. These products are aimed at applications ranging from general ISO turning to high-volume hard turning and deep-hole drilling.

Manufacturers that drill holes at depths from 40xD to 60xD want to lengthen tool life and reduce tooling costs. Here, Seco says that its new X-tra Long solid-carbide drills provide more than 15% more tool life than other available solutions. Innovative tool geometry and coating technology eliminate chipping and sudden breakage, while minimising flank and centre wear.

According to Seco, the company’s two new PCBN insert grades offer optimal performance in the high-volume production of automotive and other industry components. With a substrate grade and proprietary Seco nano-laminate PVD coating,CH1050meets high surface quality requirements, while CH2581 achieves greater process stability and reduced tool breakage with a versatile, forgiving grade for semi-interrupted cuts.

Many round turning inserts suffer from poor chip control, but Seco’s MF2 chipbreaker on RCGT/RCMT inserts maintains favourable chip control at higher speeds and feeds, especially with dynamic turning. One series of stable, durable carbide round insert grades handles a wide range of turning operations from roughing to finish turning.

Seco has also utilised its proprietary 3D-printed coolant clamp to deliver Jetstream Tooling high-pressure cutting fluid directly to the cutting edge. With a range of single-screw coolant clamp options for specific applications and depths of cut, Seco-Capto MTM JETI toolholders for general ISO turningprovide fast set-up and indexing, making chip control less of a challenge on 45° B-axis multi-tasking machines. 
For further information www.secotools.com



Toolmaker dives into cost savings with Guhring

As a family-run business, Canterbury Tools has been involved in the design and manufacture of press tools since it was established almost 50 years ago. To optimise the production of specialist press tools, the Walsall-based subcontract manufacturer utilises cutting tools supplied by Guhring. 

The company specialises in the production of single operation tools, progression tools, transfer tools, as well as components and assemblies for automated and robotic processes in sectors as diverse as agriculture and construction, through to medical, IT, aerospace and automotive.

Canterbury Tools is always looking for opportunities to accelerate performance and productivity. Josh Bennett, operations team leader, says: “When you are cutting materials like D2 tool steel and running intricate forms with a high material removal rate, you can burn through tools quite quickly.”

Based on an ethos of continuous improvement and progressive strategies, the company took notable steps forward after it was introduced to cutting tool manufacturerGuhring at the MACH 2022 exhibition.

“Our first Guhring tool was the Diver series of end mills,” says Bennett.“We trialled the tools and to our surprise they delivered three times the performance of the apparently high-end tooling we were using at the time. From this point onwards, we took Guhring seriously. We found we could increase our cutting depths and stepovers by 1 to 1.5 times and increase our speeds and feeds while achieving a much higher tool life.”

He adds: “With a much higher material removal rate, jobs are on machines for less time, which is massive in the world of CNC machining.Additionally,not having to change the cutters as often reduces the downtime incurred by tool changeovers.”

For further information www.guhring.co.uk