Guhring is releasing a range of tools especially for companies working in the mould and die industry. Among the stand-out performers is the G-Mold milling line, which allows manufacturers to benefit from longtool life and optimal component surfaces.

According to Guhring, the G-Mold milling series maximises tool life when machining materials up to 65HRc. With the new Guhring Signum and Perrox coating technologies, alongside an ultra-hard carbide substrate, G-Mold demonstrates extended tool life and high levels of machining performance. Indeed,further gains are available thanks to the Guhrojet peripheral cooling system that delivers through-tool coolant or compressed air to remove swarf.

G-Mold milling cutters are available in ball-nose, torus, finishing, radius finishing, universal and high-feed variants, all of which incorporate micron-precision radius accuracy. Three prominent arrivals among the range include the new 55 and 65 G-Mold Series ball-nose tools, and the high-feed range.

The new G-Mold 65B series of high-precision two- and four-flute ball-nose cutters for machining materials up to 65HRc incorporate a radius contour tolerance of ±0.005mm to ensure component contour accuracy and repeatability. The cuttersfeature centre-cutting geometry, and 25° flute and neck clearance for extended reach applications.

Alongside the G-Mold 65B, is the new G-Mold 55B series. More of an all-rounder, the G-Mold 55B is suitable for machining steel, stainless steel, cast iron, super alloys and hard materials up to 55HRc.

For mould tool companies that demand the epitome of high-performance cutting, the G-Mold 65 HF series is for high-feed roughing with low depths of cut and maximum feed rates to optimise metal removal rate. The G-Mold 65 HF high-feed series incorporates Guhring’s Guhrojet peripheral cooling from 1 to 3mm diameter with central through-coolant for 4mm diameter and above.
For further information www.guhring.co.uk

A challenging project with Swedish truck manufacturer Scania brought out the best in Seco’s R&D team, which found a way to extend the life of one tool by a factor of 20 when using it to cut a new type of cast iron for engines.

“The background was this new form of cast iron, which offers many advantages: it’s more environmentally friendly and stronger, which means Scania can make the engine walls thinner and lighter,” explains Stefan Frejd, R&D specialist – drilling at Seco says. “The problem that Scania wanted to explore was the fact that this material increased wear on the production tools, shortening their life.”

A project group took shape, the work of which paid off almost immediately.

“We got together with Scania’s engineers and discussed some of the problems and applications, and came back with new tools ready for testing,” saysFrejd. “The first drilling tool we tested turned out to have a tool life of more than 20 times the existing one, so that was a huge improvement.”

Other test tools managed to outlast their predecessors by a factor of seven, which represented a huge breakthrough.

For Frejdand his team, the learnings and discoveries came about due to the close working relationship with the customer and a strong desire to understand and find a solution to issues.

“The most important thing for us in R&D is the ability to co-operate with production engineers in different companies.As with Scania there are always problems that require solving, but when we come together, we often find we can do so quite quickly.”
For further information www.secotools.com

Machine tool manufacturer Bavius Technologie GmbH was able to achieve impressive material removal rates of over 20 l/min on its new high-end HBZ AeroCell 160 model with a new generation of high-volume milling cutters from Mapal. The result of this successful collaboration comes at the right time for the aerospace industry, which is taking off again following the downturn caused by Covid-19.

In order to test new machines and at the same time provide customers with references, Bavius carries out milling tests that push them to their limits and beyond. Here, the OptiMill-Alu-Wave, new and improved version of the solid-carbide roughing cutter from Mapal, was selected to showcase the HBZ AeroCell 160. For the tests on aluminium workpiece, the milling cutter with the largest available diameter of 25 mm ran with a spindle power of up to 175 kW, a torque of 66 Nm and a material removal rate of 30 mm.

At a spindle speed of 25,465 rpm and a cutting speed of 2000 m/min, the spindle power was gradually increased. Slot number 6 delivered the best material removal rate with a record-breaking 20 l/min.

“With the 25 mm OptiMill-Alu-Wave, we have achieved a new dimension in aluminium machining,” states Stefan Diem, application engineer at Bavius. “The milling cutter is definitely better than anything we have used previously.”

Bavius used the Safe-Lock system as pull-out protection.

“In this speed range, symmetrical pull-out protection is very important in order not to create imbalance,” explains Tim Rohmer, product manager – solid-carbide milling tools at Mapal. “A Weldon flat, which is often attached to such tools as pull-out protection, is the wrong solution here. To guarantee the smooth running of the machine, there’s no way around careful balancing, even with symmetrical tools.”
For further information www.mapal.com

Allied Machine and Engineering, a manufacturer of hole-making and finishing cutting tools for the metal-cutting industry, is celebrating 50 years of Wohlhaupter’s MultiBore, the world’s first modular boring system. Making headlines in 1973, Allied Machine says that Wohlhaupter’s MultiBore was the first of its kind that allowed users to change boring tools directly at the spindle. While still a best-seller 50 years later, MultiBore now has applications in a much wider range of machining operations.

Until the early 1970s, machine shops used universal facing and boring heads for rough and fine boring. These boring heads had an integrated shank designed specifically for the machine spindle of the corresponding machine manufacturer. However, every machine manufacturer had its own facing and boring heads, even if some of these came from the same manufacturer, in many cases Wohlhaupter. There were no standardised spindle connection points, so users required their own tools for each machine type.

This situation ultimately created demand for universally applicable modular tools. Instead of a one-piece boring head, it made sense to design tools modularly to fit on all machine tools (with different basic holders), while also offering the capability for individual assembly into complete tools adapted to the workpiece. Wohlhaupter implemented this idea with MultiBore and presented the new product for the first time at the Hannover Trade Fair in 1973. Renowned machine manufacturers quickly decided to supply their machining centres with these new tools, marking the beginning of Wohlhaupter’s success story.

Today, MultiBore comes in a complete diameter range of 0.4 to 3255 mm. MultiBore boring tools fit directly into the master shanks, or users can take advantage of intermediate modules to create full assemblies adaptable to the workpiece and fixtures.
For further information www.alliedmachine.com