“The Mazak is a big ticket item with a high hourly burden, so it’s vital to get the most out of it,” said Chandler Commerford, manufacturing engineer.  But, the Minnesota shop had no experience with the live turning process.

However, many auxiliary spindles are designed for light duty, unable to deploy the full capabilities of the high-performance face mills available today.  “The trick in live turning is to find a cutter able to take deep cuts, yet hold down cutting forces,” said Ingersoll field engineer Brian Winterlin, who worked on the DeZurik live turning project.

In drilling, especially in drilling deep holes, efficient chip evacuation is extremely important. It is not enough to optimise chip control by an advanced design of the head geometry. The flute shape should ensure seamless chip flow. Undoubtedly, the need to organise three grooves weakens the body when comparing a two-helical-flute drill of the same diameter, the three-flute body is less rigid. When the depth grows, longitudinal vibrations may occur, and this reduces tool life and adversely affects the accuracy and roughness of a machined hole. It was the decrease in stiffness that determined the barrier for the drilling depth and limiting it by five diameters maximum.

In a live-turning setup like this, the cutting forces are lighter than you might think, Winterlin explained. “As the tool rotates, its eleven inserts engage sequentially, dividing the cutting forces uniformly over them all. The stock comes off as a lot of small chips rather than the fewer thumb-size chips they were getting by turning with a stick tool.”

Competent parting Iscar began its leadership with just parting tools. That is why every company’s innovation in parting gains special interest. Adapters and holders occupy a prominent place among Iscar’s NeologIQ parting products. The concept of the LogIQFgrip family is based on a 4-pocket adapter that is clamped in a reinforced tool block. High rigidity of such an assembly in combination with an inner high-pressure coolant supply (HPC) option facilitates productive cutting with extremely high feed rates.

The progress in 5-axis machining and CAD/CAM systems opens new horizons for machining 3D surfaces using barrel-shaped endmills. Although such endmills are still not common in the metalworking industry, advanced accurate metal shaping methods will dramatically increase the demand for these barrel-shaped endmills. Therefore, the development of effective “cutting barrels” is one of Iscar’s highest priorities. In the NeologIQ product range, the barrel-shaped endmills are represented by two configurations: A solid carbide design and a Multi-Master head. Combining Multi-Master advantages with the precise barrel profile of a cutting-edge will result in a cost-effective and sustainable solution for finishing complex-shape surfaces by milling with minimum machining stock. The Multi-Master family has expanded the boundaries of its product range by introducing a new threaded connection size, T21, which enables increasing the nominal diameter of an exchangeable endmill head to 32mm.

Helical flutes with variable helix angle in a LogIQCam drill body improve the dynamic behaviour of the drill and increase the drilling depth to eight drill diameters

The Gold-Duty tool easily handled the 33% higher machining rates with no pounding or scraping, the usual forerunners of an insert about to rupture.  “We slowed the surface speed but fed faster and cut deeper,” explained Micor programmer Joey King.

Switching to Ingersoll TCMT boring inserts with higher rakes, more aggressive chipbreakers and the proprietary TT8125 coating led directly to 30% higher machining rates.  It also completely eliminated any ‘bird nests’ of chips and the labor involved to clear them.  Chips flow out as uniform C’s, easily cleared with a shot of compressed air.

It should come as no surprise that live turning speeds up a roughing operation on any machine with a C axis.  The process gets two spindles working simultaneously, with tools having multiple cutting edges rather than just one.

Ingersoll’s Brian Winterlin made a counterintuitive recommendation: a Hi-QuadF high-feed style cutter and taking off the stock in a single pass.  That’s definitely beyond the ‘comfort zone’ for conventional high-feed cutters, which are known for fast feeds and shallow cuts.  But the tool — though primarily a high-feed insert — had worked in similar high-depth applications “This is really an all-purpose cutter,” Winterlin added.

The metalworking community faces new challenges and must find the shortest way to get out of the maze. Iscar believes that new innovative solutions, which take machining to a whole new level, can become the new ‘Ariadne’s thread’. NeologIQ, a logic of development for a new range of tools, has expanded the boundaries of intelligent machining.

With its advanced design, substrates, and coatings, the Ingersoll Gold-Duty line of rough turning inserts is a generation ahead of the field in large scale turning, according to Ed Woksa, Ingersoll national turning product manager.  The inserts are physically much thicker and stronger than conventional turning inserts.  Their unique seating scheme enables more efficient top-face geometries in two-sided inserts for the first time.  ‘Rest pads’ on the insert faces mate with bumps in the seat pocket to lock them in place (see diagram).  It’s the rest pads that bear the clamping forces, not the cutting edges on the reverse side. This is what enables 5-7 degree positive rakes and aggressive chipbreakers in a two-sided insert. Recessed clamping provides a flush surface for unimpeded chip evacuation.

DeZurik-APCO-Hilton, in Sartell, Minn., improved a host of valve-turning operations with the move to live turning at rates some people think could damage the spindle.  On the first job, facing time on a large valve flange was reduced from 18 minutes to three, yet the spindle load reading rarely exceeded 50%. The C-axis spindle is equipped with an Ingersoll Hi-Quad F high-feed face mill that doubles as a full-depth face mill capable of depths of cut up to 0.200 in.

Speaking of new turning products, one cannot pass the XNMG insert. It is a beneficial combination of two famous ISO rhombic insert shapes: CNMG and DNMG inserts with 80° and 55° including angles. This intelligent integration resulted in the XNMG 70° angle insert that features improved clearance and ramping angles, when compared to the CNMG, and strengthened cutting corners against DNMG. The advantages of the new insert are visible in efficient multi-directional turning applications. The cartridges carrying insert XNMG, which are intended for mounting on Neomodu units, are available as well.

A distinct course for electric and hybrid cars will lead to a gradual abandonment of traditional cars with an internal combustion engine and a lot of parts that need to be machined. A rise of accurate metal shaping methods, such as precision investment casting, precision forging, and 3D printing, which are all capable of shaping a part very close to its final profile, significantly diminishes the stock that is traditionally intended for chip-removal processes. A logical result of this is the considerably reduced share of machining operations in a part manufacturing cycle and this trend is already noticeable in the market today.

LogIQYgrip, a new Y-axis parting modular system enables vibration-free machining with high-efficiency. A wide range of exchangeable Tagpad-T adapters for inserts ensures the exceptional versatility of the system.

LogIQFeed, a family of high feed milling cutters carrying specific bone-shaped inserts, was enriched by new tools with greater insert sizes. These new tools have several features that substantially improve performance in high feed milling, especially when machining big cavities and pockets in steel parts.

“The Mazak had the power to cut faster; the bottleneck was the tool,” Ingersoll field rep Darrell Boatwright observed during a plant walk-through.  He brought in a Gold-Duty cutter he had in the trunk and they tried it out on the spot. By the end of the day, parameters were optimized at 100SFM/0.014IPR/0250 DOC.

Growing capabilities of modern multitasking machines and turning centers pushed the common boundaries of cutting strategies. Particularly, they brought the method of efficient turning along Y-axis. In quite a few cases, it is a worthy alternative to the traditional X-axis machining. In Y-axis turning, the dissipation of cutting force components is more favourable, and the main load is directed to a holder. The cutting process becomes more stable, and this facilitates increasing cutting data to improve productivity. Therefore, providing appropriate cutting tools for turning operations along the Y-axis is one of the central points of NeologIQ.

Intelligent turning In internal turning, a boring bar is the main factor of tool rigidity. A large bar overhang to diameter ratio leads to the tool deflection and vibrations, and is the bane of machining accuracy and surface finish. WhisperLine, a family of anti-vibration boring bars, was developed to exceed the ratio bounds. These bars have a specially designed built-in absorber and a vibration-dampening mechanism that enables stable cutting with an overhang of up to 14 diameters.

The Hi-QuadF face mill features an extra-thick insert with the usual high-feed radius, extremely rigid seating, free cutting geometry and a 12-degree lead angle for lower lateral forces at entry and exit.  It is so free-cutting that, in similar applications elsewhere, it has doubled throughput without the spindle-load needle even budging.

The main concern was to remove 0.200-0.400 in. of stock fast without overloading the auxiliary spindle, especially laterally.  In flange work, low lateral forces are essential to keeping the flanges perfectly flat, preventing leaks when the valves go into service.

Logical milling High feed milling (HFM), also referred to as fast feed milling, is considered a commonly used effective method for rough machining both complex and plane surfaces. Iscar has an extremely wide range of HFM products to meet the requirements of a customer. However, even in this niche of products, there is place for new innovations.

The main obstacle in the New England rebuilder’s effort to raise capacity of its screw machine fleet was the boring sequence, which represented more than half the total machine time.  The shop still used conventional, negative-rake boring tools, a carryover from the time when most of the work they took in involved free-machining mild steels.  When more work came in that called for long-chipping 8620 steel, they simply accepted as an unavoidable detail the 100% operator attention for chip clearance.

A new design of the three-flute drill body is based on a variable flute helix angle. Such a concept considerably improves the dynamic behaviour of the drill and results in expanding the drilling depth boundaries. The maximum depth can now reach eight diameters.

Up in New England, a screw machine reconditioning shop boosted capacity by 30% on its fleet of Swiss Automatics using Gold-Duty CNMX 43.52 inserts.  Their applications involve OD and ID work on wrought 8620 steel.

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Micor standardized on those settings for the balance of the job, and delivered the job three days early as a result.  “Despite the higher removal rates, the inserts lasted 33% longer,” King added.  He estimated that, with an annual volume of 400-500 pieces, Micor would save $13,000 a year on that one titanium job.  Consequently Micor is standardizing on Gold-Duty tooling for all rough turning and facing, for a projected $60,000 annual savings.

The same types of tooling also increased OD removal rates, enabling the whole fleet of screw machines to reach the shop managers’ goal of 30% higher capacity with no capital expenditures.  “Even in miniature precision screw machine work, today’s higher-rake, chipbreaking inserts with advanced coatings can make a material difference,’ said Ingersoll’s Matt Hagenow, who worked on this project.

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Another HFM product that provides the customer with a reasonable cost saving solution is NeoFeed, a family of mills with square, double-sided inserts. This insert has 8 indexable cutting edges to use on cemented carbide and a dovetail-shaped insert pocket that ensures reliable mounting to withstand heavy loads to enable higher cutting data and increased productivity.

With the original Hi-Quad F insert, edges lasted through two complete parts, or four flanges.  Recently the company switched to a tougher insert grade with an improved coating treatment, IN4005.  The change notched edge life up another 50% at the same removal rates. Edges now last through three complete parts.

Micor Industries, Decatur, Ala., reduced rough-turning cycle time on titanium from 45 to 30 minutes with another Gold-Duty insert, shipping a rush order three days sooner. They’ve since standardized on that tool for all rough OD work, and are collaborating with Ingersoll to develop an ID-machining version — projecting the savings at around $500,000 per year.

Anti-vibration boring bars WhisperLine enable stable cutting with the overhang up to fourteen diameters

Does it mean that a few good metalworking shops, factories, or even whole branches will abandon machining? Of course not, but the requirements for machining operations in engineering processes will be changed. The role of productive and accurate cutting with a small allowance at high speeds and feeds will substantially grow, and metalworking industries will require a wide range of suitable tools that are expected to be more precise and durable.

You may think of rough turning as a bottleneck operation, maybe even a hazardous one, and rightly so.  But, across the country several alert machine shops have found different ways around both problems, according to Ingersoll Cutting Tools.  Users report material-removal rate improvements anywhere from 30% to 6-to-1 in OD and ID work, reliably longer tool life, and relief from ‘shrapnel’ flying from shattered tools.

The incoming castings had the usual, wide piece-to-piece dimensional variations and yet needed a lot of stock removed depending on those inconsistencies. “Definitely not the ideal candidates for a first stab at a new kind of process,” said Commerford.

Digitised manufacturing, which is dictated by Industry 4.0 momentum, has its own demand and expects a new level of a cutting tool intellect to be suitable for smart manufacturing. In preparing for the upcoming changes, Iscar considers NeologIQ as the next logical step to the cutting tool for the smart factory. ‘Machining with no Boundaries’ is the motto of Iscar’s NeologIQ products.

Efficient holemaking One of the more impressive product lines introduced in the LogIQ campaign is LogIQCham, a family of drills with replaceable carbide heads and three cutting edges, providing an effective tool for significantly increasing productivity for drilling depths up to five drill diameters.

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WhisperLine bars are important elements of the new versatile modular system Neomodu, providing a rich variety of assembly options for turning tools. A combination of different system units such as shanks, anti-vibration capsules, and interchangeable heads with indexable carbide inserts result in a tool assembly, which is maximally customised to a specific application. The shanks may be cylindrical, square, or with a polygon taper interface in accordance with ISO 26623 standard.

Several years ago, Iscar launched a unique and innovative LogIQ product line – a campaign that brought new families of cutting tools to the world market. These families were designed to address challenges in metalworking industries, from increasing productivity to finding cost-effective indexable alternatives to small-in-diameter solid carbide tools.

How do we overstep the customary boundaries of metal cutting? A short overview of some of the new products will help you understand how this is viewed by Iscar.

Until mid-2014, DeZurik rough-turned their big valve body workpieces with conventional stick tools on a heavy-duty VTL. Then, the company installed a large, five-axis Mazak mill/turn machine, which opened the door to live turning.

“Titanium just complicates ID work with conventional tooling because of its unhelpful chipping characteristics,” said Ingersoll’s Darrell Boatwright. “The aggressive chipbreakers on the new Gold-Duty tool make short work of long chips in OD turning, and soon for ID work as well.”

Iscar has introduced NeologIQ, a logical extension to the previous campaign comprising of an entire range of advanced products and technological solutions for metal cutting tools – a quantum leap in the field.

What are the main targets of the NeologIQ product lines? Iscar believes that NeologIQ provides the answers to typical questions that modern metalworking faces today due to the latest changes in technology. Today, we are witnessing serious upheaval with far-reaching effects on manufacturing.

Now, the DeZurik operation runs securely, cutting cycle time for a typical 36-in. flange from 18 minutes to three and leaving a perfectly flat mating surface. As the part rotates slowly on the machine table, the facemill works much like a woodworking router, rotating at 785 SFM and feeding outward from the center bore at 403 IPM. Synthetic oil is delivered through the spindle.

In parting, one of the secrets to success is well-directed high-pressure cooling. If an adaptor has no HPC channels, mounting a specially designed crown-shaped accessory pushes the boundaries of application limits and enables effective pinpointed coolant flow to the active cutting edge of an insert.

Micor, which built its reputation machining difficult metals, was only midway through a 150-piece rush job turning titanium, and was running late already.  But, the tools they were using, with conventional two-sided negative rake inserts, broke whenever they tried to run any faster than 130 SFM/0.010 IPR/0.200 DOC. That operation, on a Mazak Quik Turn 450, was taking 45 minutes per piece, while the finishing machine nearby stood idle, waiting for feedstock.