Haimer recently announced that fellow Carbide Inserts cutting tool suppliers Duaphin Precision Tool and Berkshire Precision tool are now “Safe-Lock” licensees. This allows the companies to add Haimer’s Safe-Lock modification to the shanks of their Brubaker, Data Flute, Fastcut and Weldon cutting tools. Haimer is represented in the United States by Haimer USA in Villa Park, Illinois.

Safe-Lock combines a special holder from Haimer along with shank modifications that are said to enhance toolholding stability and security. Specifically, grooves added to the cutting tool shank work in opposition to the direction of the cutting forces, preventing the tool from twisting out of the holder during extreme machining conditions. In combination with the Safe Lock holder, this is said to allow the use of advanced shrink-fit systems with full confidence. According to the company, the system supports high CCMT Insert metal removal rates while reducing scrap and vibration.

The Carbide Inserts Website: https://www.estoolcarbide.com/lathe-inserts/

Effective as of June 1, 2022, Index Corporation established a service department dedicated to rebuilding tool holders at its North American headquarters in Noblesville, Indiana. Previously, the company processed all similar rebuilds at its parent company in Germany. By bringing this capability to the United States, Index expects to cut lead times for rebuilds by 50 percent to 70 percent.

When Index rebuilds one of its tool holders, engineers fully disassemble the unit and inspect the housing and shafts. Any internal mechanical Cemented Carbide Inserts component demonstrating signs of wear is replaced, promoting the tool holder’s restoration to its original operating condition. Index offers this service for toolholders sold with any of its machines, including its production turning centers, turn mills, CNC multi-spindles and the Traub line of sliding-headstock lathes. Each rebuilt toolholder is backed by a 6-month warranty, Index reports.

“We are constantly looking for ways to more comprehensively meet our customers’ needs,” says Matt Voyles, director of customer support and operations at Index. “We’ve had a lot of customers tell us that they want the level of quality we provide when rebuilding a tool holder, but that they can’t wait the amount of time it takes to send their unit to Germany. The investment tungsten carbide inserts we’ve made in creating a U.S.-based tool holder rebuild department provides an immediate and clear benefit to customers.”

The engineers performing toolholder rebuilds are factory trained at Index’s global headquarters in Germany, and the process in the U.S. mirrors Index’s longstanding procedures, according to the company. Manufacturers wishing to receive a quote for having a toolholder rebuilt can log into their iXshop account on Index’s website or submit a request via email.

The Carbide Inserts Website: https://www.estoolcarbide.com/indexable-inserts/

Team Penske is one of the country’s most successful professional automobile racing teams. Dating back to its first race in 1966’s 24 Hours of Daytona, cars owned and prepared by Team Penske have produced more than 420 major race wins, more than 480 pole positions and 28 national championships in open-wheel, stock-car and sports-car racing competition.

Its machining facility in Mooresville, North Carolina, is not a job shop. However, it functions similarly in that it doesn’t produce parts in high volumes, but instead machines small batches (even one-offs) of new race car components that the team’s engineering department has designed to improve performance, such as new suspension, chassis, and steering or brake system components. The shop also machines parts for fixtures and pit equipment, as well as wind-tunnel models, and molds and patterns for composites parts.

Component materials are wide-ranging, too, including aluminum alloys, low-carbon and alloy steels, stainless steels, titanium, epoxy tooling board, and plastics such as nylon and Delrin. The shop uses a range of Mazak equipment, including VMCs, five-axis machines, live-tooling lathes and multitasking Integrex turn-mills.

“Vehicle tungsten carbide inserts weight is critical,” says Matthew Gimbel, production manager for Team Penske. “Over the years, we’ve gone from simple, laser-cut parts to fully machined and pocketed components to minimize overall part weight. It’s also critical to position the weight as low as possible on a car to improve performance. So it’s beneficial whenever we’re able to remove weight from a component installed high on the car and add weight to the weight boxes low on the car.”

Effective roughing operations are key to speed the machining of these parts, because in some cases as much as 95 percent of a billet of material is removed to complete the part. To that end, Team Penske has found that the Tungaloy DoFeed high-feed cutters and TungMeister end mills with exchangeable heads offer key design elements to TNMG Insert perform aggressive roughing operations, thereby speeding the production of new components. In fact, Tungaloy America is a preferred supplier as well as a technical partner for the team’s NASCAR and Indycar racing programs, providing tooling advice to enhance efficiency and accelerate machining for the team’s various manufacturing processes.

According to Tungaloy, the DoFeed’s effective roughing capability is due in part to its geometry that applies the chip-thinning concept. Chip thinning depends on the lead angle of a milling cutter, as is shown in the image in the slideshow at the top of this article. A cutter with a 90-degree lead angle has no benefit of chip thinning, because a feed per tooth of 0.0078 inch (0.2 mm) delivers the same 0.0078 inch (0.2 mm) of chip thickness. For a cutter with a 45-degree lead angle, a feed per tooth of 0.0098 inch (0.25 mm) creates a chip thickness of 0.007 inch (0.178 mm), which enables the feed rate to be increased to reduce cycle time. However, a DoFeed cutter running at a feed per tooth of 0.05 inch (1.27 mm) provides chip thickness of only 0.007 inch (0.178 mm), further reducing cycle time.

DoFeed cutters are also said to offer lower cutting forces. Because a cutter’s lead angle determines the direction of the cutting force, the direction of the cutting force for a 90-degree tool is perpendicular to the spindle, putting increased pressure on the tool. The cutting force for a 45-degree tool is directed toward the spindle, but at a 45-degree angle. DoFeed cutters direct the cutting force nearly parallel and back toward the spindle due to their acute lead angle, which means less pressure is exerted on the tool.

Mr. Gimbel points to a few examples of how the shop benefits from these particular Tungaloy tools. One is a rear suspension panhard bar slider, in which 95 percent of a steel billet is machined away. Roughing time for this component using a DoFeed 1-inch, five-flute tool with multi-purpose grade AH725 inserts, followed by a TungMeister 0.5-inch, two-flute with AH725 inserts, is 36 minutes. The DoFeed cutters produce 10 parts per insert edge and the TungMeister produces five parts per insert edge.

A second is a brake caliper mount machined from 17-4 stainless steel, in which 90 percent of material is machined away. After switching to the previously mentioned TungMeister tool, overall cycle time was reduced by 50 percent, because it saved 20 minutes of roughing time per part. In addition, the tool provided effective chip control when machining deep pockets to eliminate chip packing. “Even with deep pockets, we have the confidence to run these parts unattended, because we know that the tools will last,” Mr. Gimbel says. “These tools also enable faster cutting-tool changes, because only the cutting head is replaced, not the entire tool.”

Another unattended machining example is a steel engine mount in which 82 percent of a billet of material is removed. This part has a unique geometry in that no exterior surfaces are orthogonal or parallel to one another, and its five holes are kept within 0.003 inch of each other. Although five-axis machining is the most efficient way to maintain the hole-location tolerances and remove the majority of the material, cutting speeds were a concern because of long tool lengths needed. Fortunately, the low cutting forces generated by the DoFeed tools (2-inch, five-flute and 5/8-inch, two-flute DoFeeds with AH725 inserts) enabled the shop to maintain cutting speed during the roughing cycles, even with extended toolholders. “In addition, tool durability, and predictable and consistent tool wear again enables us to run our shop lights-out.” Mr. Gimbel says. “We’re confident that we can leave the machines running after hours.”

Team Penske benefits from other Tungaloy tools, too. “Tungaloy offers a better range of boring bar sizes in its Mini Force turning line, so we were able to expand our solid carbide coolant-through boring bar selection while reducing the number of inserts in inventory, since the boring bars used the same type,” Mr. Gimbel explains. “Plus, the cost per cutting edge is 7 percent less than the four-sided inserts that we were previously using.”

The Carbide Inserts Website: https://www.cuttinginsert.com/product/tngg-insert/

Landing new projects for a machine shop often calls for capabilities that sometimes it does not have. When this happens, shop management must decide between finding another shop that can do the work or purchasing new equipment to satisfy customer demands. Okay Industries in Alajuela, Costa Rica, won two jobs around the same time that required the shop to make that decision. Looking into the future, management chose to invest in a new Swiss-type lathe. Not only were management’s expectations exceeded by the machine’s performance and efficiency, but the lathe is now included in plans for future applications.

Okay Industries launched in 2012 as a medical precision components manufacturer that uses multi-axis CNC machine tools, Swiss-type turning, die-sinking, wire EDM and general machining. Materials used include stainless steels, implantable titanium and nitinol. The company, which employs 65 people, also specializes in automotive, defense/firearms and industrial applications. The company headquarters is in New Berlin, Connecticut. 

When the company won the job of producing a 1.5-by-1.5-mm medical device used in breast cancer surgery, General Manager Mario Chaves realized that he needed to take the shop’s Swiss-type capabilities to the next level. Already experienced and impressed with its Swiss GT 26 from Tornos Technologies, which had cut the shop’s cycle Cutting Tool Inserts times on specific parts by more than 50%, Mr. Chaves again turned to the manufacturer for this new acquisition.

He visited Tornos’ headquarters in Switzerland to commission a SwissNano Swiss-type and then worked with Mayprod, his local Tornos distributor in Central America, to implement the machine at Okay Industries. This investment made Okay the first manufacturer in Latin America to own a SwissNano, which machines parts 4 mm in diameter and smaller.

“The SwissNano has exceeded our expectations by demonstrating very good stability on the required part dimensions,” Mr. Chaves says. “In our first part runs on the lathe, the results were impressive, with virtually no variation between the first part and the 200th part.”

Tisis programming software, Tornos’ Industry RCGT Insert 4.0 portal, addresses and improves the human element of manufacturing, Mr. Chaves says, which is important to him. “One of the chief reasons I joined the Okay Industries family was company President Jason Howey’s focus on and interest in people,” he says. “We are keeping pace with the big trends influencing medical component manufacturing. Parts are becoming smaller and customers are requiring more solutions. We want to be the partner that can provide the best end results with the best price and technologies.”

With this goal in mind, Mr. Chaves is already imagining the machine’s potential for other applications. He also sees a bright future for Okay Industries by continuing to collaborate with Tornos. “There are a lot of opportunities for Tornos and our company. In fact, when we were at Tornos’ headquarters, I was very impressed with the MultiSwiss, a machine that combines the sliding headstock advantages of a Swiss with the production capabilities of a multi-spindle,” he says. He has been seeking a project that could justify the purchase. 

Meanwhile, its new Swiss-type lathe helps keep Okay Industries’ manufacturing on track to keep pace with the medical industry’s demands for smaller parts with higher precision while still being competitively priced in the market.

The Carbide Inserts Website: https://www.cuttinginsert.com/product/jdmt-insert/

In 2007, G&G Machine ran out of space in its 40-plus-employee shop in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. Turning to the Wisconsin Manufacturer’s Extension Partnership (WMEP) for consultation, the company learned that a new plant layout along with a lean manufacturing philosophy and 5S workplace organization would be key to making more space. The company also realized that it needed to take a critical look at its overall machining strategy, specifically its tooling, to enable continuous improvement in its production efforts.

“After all the analysis, we discovered 150 tons of material we didn’t need,” explains Mark Stumpf, president. “We also found room to add a weld shop and install larger, more efficient machines in space we didn’t know we had,” he says. Once G&G made it past the initial 5S push, the company implemented other lean tools, such as value stream maps, to reduce lead time and improve overall equipment effectiveness measures to keep spindles turning. “We wanted to see just how much we could wring out of our current shop before building a new one,” he says.

It took two years to implement the lean strategy, during which time the company was able to grow. This finally led to the construction of a new 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that houses three multi-axis lathes, five two-axis lathes, three HMCs, four VMCs, one Zeiss G2 CMM and a clean room. During the lean implementation, the company also adopted a new vendor-managed inventory auto crib system. The tooling dispenser unit eliminates the need for multiple people to manage tooling, explains John Fiers, tooling supervisor. It also saves time and money on stocking and restocking tools, he says.

G&G serves many different market segments with various material requests. Typical applications for metals range from common carbon steel, aluminum, brass and bronze, to such exotics as titanium, Hastelloy, Waspaloy, Zeron 100, Monel and super alloys. When machining expensive materials such as these, breaking a tap, or any tool for that matter, is not an option. The company routinely manufactures high-accuracy parts—to tenths and below. It also manufactures pumps, valves and rotating parts for the oil and gas industry and impellers for the energy industry. Other markets served include food processing, power transmission, petrochemical and railroad.

Tapping into Lean Production
To reduce waste and work smarter, the company began evaluating its tooling. During this process, G&G determined that it needed to find a tap or thread mill that would not break in a variety of applications—from the basics to exotic alloys. The company also sought to decrease its tooling inventory and suppliers, Carbide Inserts as well as change-over time.

G&G had been using a variety of different taps for a wide range of applications. Machinists found it difficult to know which tap was best for a given application. Because of these issues, taps failed often, leading to machine downtime, scrapped parts, rework and considerable amounts of frustration—all of which cost time and money. By incorporating the MultiTap from Emuge (West Boylston, Massachusetts) into its manufacturing process, the company was able to reduce machine downtime and rework.

New Taps Save Time and Money
In search of a way to improve the tapping process, Chris Weaver, value stream manager, says the shop tried using Emuge tools. “We were impressed by the feeds and speeds recommended. However, we wanted to be sure there were no issues with CCGT Insert tap breakage, which we had experienced on other tap brands,” he explains. The company tested different Emuge taps, including the MultiTap, over a couple of months with great results, he says. There was less downtime, no rework and no broken taps. “Being able to run the taps faster with less replacement has provided a significant savings,” he says. Mr. Weaver cites an example in which the company drilled a hole 1/16-inch undersize and threaded it with the MultiTap. “Much to our amazement, the tap held up fine without breakage,” he says.

The MultiTap is constructed of a proprietary grade of high speed steel (HHS-E) that is nitrided with an Ne2 surface treatment. Emuge’s taps are made with long shanks—specifically, DIN length for extra reach. UNC and UNF taps are DIN length with ANSI shanks, while metric taps are DIN length with DIN shanks. A full range of tap sizes for UNC and UNF threads is available with inch sizes ranging from 4-40 to ¾-16 and metric sizes ranging from M 4×0.7 to M 16×2.0. The high-performance, general-purpose taps are designed to produce threads within both 2B and 3B classes of fit. According to Emuge, the MultiTap is well-suited for short- and medium-run threading applications in a wide variety of materials, including carbon steel, steel alloys, stainless steel, aluminum, cast iron, copper, brass and bronze.

The tap’s ability to handle most common materials and applications with increased thread quality helps lower production costs, Emuge says. For instance, when G&G required certain taps for specific applications, it spent a lot of time and money managing tool inventory. Once it began using the MultiTap, it was able to reduce the number of taps stocked in the tool crib because each MultiTap does the work of several other taps. According to Mr. Stumpf, the company has seen a 20-percent cost reduction in taps due to the MultiTap’s versatility.

While G&G Machine uses Emuge tools mainly for tapping, the company also uses the supplier’s thread mills for blind holes so it does not have to go back and hand tap the hole to depth, Mr. Fiers says. “We selected Emuge taps for their performance, quality, cost savings and support,” he says. Emuge also trained G&G employees on product use. Today, 95 percent of the company’s taps and thread mills are from Emuge, ranging in size from 4-40 to 1.5 inch.

As G&G strives to perpetuate its core ideology and lean practices using Emuge tooling, the company is able to more efficiently produce high-quality products. “When employees produce high-quality work, pride, satisfaction and profitability surely follow,” Mr. Stumpf says.

The Carbide Inserts Website: https://www.cuttinginsert.com/product/bdmt-insert/