Carbide Insert Market to Hit US$ 1,586.71 Million By 2030 | - carbide insert manufacturing

 2024-06-18 22:58:16

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Substances having metallic properties and being composed of two or more chemical elements of which at least one is a metal.

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System that uses high-pressure waterjets in combination with a slurry of fine abrasive grains to machine materials. See waterjet cutting.

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Mr. Gerlach admits there’s nothing fancy about how the shop offsets a newly installed tool. The operator installs the tool, backs off slightly on the presumed cutting depth, machines the part, measures the part and then adjusts the tool offset forward in the amount the previous cut was short of specification.

Structured light scanning is used to create a digital twin of a manufactured part, but we must understand the measurement reproducibility to best use the data.

Sometimes, it’s beneficial to put carbide and HSS inserts into the same tool body, such as a combination cutter for turning a 12 "-dia. part that requires its center to be bored. “On older machines, you can’t change the machine’s rpm during a cut, so the OD of that part has the correct surface feet for carbide but the middle of the part is hardly turning,” Warner said. “They will use high-speed steel in the middle and carbide on the outside.”

Dennis Weaver, sales engineer for Valenite, has watched the powder metal industry evolve for the past 25 years. Here he offers some general tooling and machining nuggets for cutting such an abrasive material.

Angle of inclination between the face of the cutting tool and the workpiece. If the face of the tool lies in a plane through the axis of the workpiece, the tool is said to have a neutral, or zero, rake. If the inclination of the tool face makes the cutting edge more acute than when the rake angle is zero, the rake is positive. If the inclination of the tool face makes the cutting edge less acute or more blunt than when the rake angle is zero, the rake is negative.

Other alloying elements in HSS include chromium, vanadium, tungsten, molybdenum and cobalt. Unlike cemented tungsten carbide, cobalt is not used as a binder in HSS but rather as an alloying element that’s melted with the base steel and other elements and then atomized into the finished composition. “You’re not mixing powders like with tungsten carbide,” Lundvall said. “It’s a totally different process.”

Once upon a time, HSS tools were applied for “high-speed machining,” but that’s no longer the case. In applications where carbide inserts are able to run at 300 sfm, the recommended cutting speed for HSS inserts is about 60 sfm, according to Mike Warner, president of Arthur R. Warner Co., Latrobe, Pa., which specializes in producing HSS inserts. “High-speed steel should be called slow-speed steel, but it’s amazing some of the speeds you can run,” he said. “We have some high-speed steel in applications running up to 125 sfm with coatings.”

Warner pointed out that HSS inserts are effective for cutting gummy and workhardening materials because “HSS actually cuts the material where carbide is meant to fracture it in front of the cut.” He added that, in some applications, HSS is able to impart a finer surface finish than carbide. “High-speed steel cuts it; it doesn’t tear it.”

Intermetallic compound consisting of equal parts, by atomic weight, of tungsten and carbon. Sometimes tungsten carbide is used in reference to the cemented tungsten carbide material with cobalt added and/or with titanium carbide or tantalum carbide added. Thus, the tungsten carbide may be used to refer to pure tungsten carbide as well as co-bonded tungsten carbide, which may or may not contain added titanium carbide and/or tantalum carbide.

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Most powder metal parts require some form of deburring. Here, sprockets are being tumbled in ceramic media.

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The pushbuttons wired to this inverted vertical machine’s control allow operators to change tool offsets without even looking at the control screen.

HSS also has the advantage of costing less than carbide, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into HSS inserts costing less than comparable carbide ones. Arno Rouse offers a TiN-coated carbide TCFT insert for $10 and the same one made of HSS is $37.35. “You have to get a lot more parts to justify that,” Ross said.

The latest episode “Made in the USA” podcast explores a company that uses collaborative robots, one of the key tools helping US machine shops and other manufacturers compete with lower cost countries by automating production.

Tool that cuts a sloped depression at the top of a hole to permit a screw head or other object to rest flush with the surface of the workpiece.

Although edge preps to minimize chipping aren’t required on HSS inserts, the inserts can have chipbreakers to enhance chip control. “Our standard chipbreaker is a 10°, 0.090 " effective-width chipbreaker, which 90 percent of the time will work sufficiently,” Warner said.

When Puneet and Neelam Neotia moved from India to the United States several years ago, they brought with them a family background in manufacturing and CNC machining. Now the couple is working to get their startup machine shop off the ground, sourcing new customers and getting the word out about their shop in Clarksville, Indiana. The couple — proud to publicize their "Made in the USA" parts — is leveraging family connections and manufacturing capabilities back in India, but not in the way that some people assume.

SSP’s commitment to adopting the latest machining technology benefits not only the business, but its employees as well.

As for threading, the shop has settled on titanium nitride (TiN) coated taps, and it has machined threads without coolant for the past 20 years. It also tries to mill and turn dry, with some machines fitted with air blast units used more for chip control than to keep tool cutting edges cool. Machining without coolant means that chips remain dry and are less likely to adhere to the part after machining. But more importantly, dry machining reduces the possibility of rust forming on the parts after machining.

The result is excessive and often unpredictable tool wear as cutting edges break down. Success or failure in machining this material rests primarily on the choice and application of the cutting tools.

Weldon Solutions is demonstrating three grinders at IMTS 2024. Though they differ in size and use case, all feature the company’s hallmark customizations.

Each tool setting technique has merit, and it depends on where you are as a shop and the type of work you do, as cost and efficiency all come into play.

Lee Wimmer invited us to tour his second-generation family-owned machine shop in Perkasie, PA. This video explores the production processes behind precision-machined parts for both Wimmer Custom Cycle and LS Wimmer Machine Co., and shows how ingenuity and determination are still at the heart of American manufacturing. Today, both companies are now managed by Wimmer’s three sons.

Because many carbide inserts have a negative clearance on the insert’s periphery, Warner noted that when end users position the insert 7° forward to provide relief on the insert edge, but without a chipbreaker, it creates a negative cutting configuration on the top. That generates a lot of heat and—like carbide—heat is no friend to HSS.

Across a range of technical presentations aimed at small and mid-sized job shops, the first-ever Automated Shop Conference (TASC) offered insights into several automated technologies, implementation strategies, shopfloor training tips, and even the untapped power of automated coolant delivery.

Tool-holder-spindle-machine combinations each have a unique dynamic response in the same way that each person has a unique fingerprint, which can be revealed using modal testing.

The Diatool Top Speed Disc features a solid reamer body with multiple connections to produce tolerance stack up.

Milling cutter held by its shank that cuts on its periphery and, if so configured, on its free end. Takes a variety of shapes (single- and double-end, roughing, ballnose and cup-end) and sizes (stub, medium, long and extra-long). Also comes with differing numbers of flutes.

The materials and production processes for powder metal parts are ever changing, with powder metal molders developing new mixtures, additives and processing technologies. Odds are that the process of machining this material will continue to change over the years as well. One trend Mr. Gerlach has noticed is that some powder metal molders are bringing the secondary machining work back in-house. For that reason, the shop quotes new jobs every day. These jobs aren’t just powder metal work; they also include other jobs such as machining aluminum castings and extrusions.

Surface measurement is becoming increasingly important to ensure proper performance of a manufactured product. Advanced surface measurement tools are not only beneficial in the manufacturing industry but also have unconventional applications.

Tendency of all metals to become harder when they are machined or subjected to other stresses and strains. This trait is particularly pronounced in soft, low-carbon steel or alloys containing nickel and manganese—nonmagnetic stainless steel, high-manganese steel and the superalloys Inconel and Monel.

High-temperature (1,000° C or higher), atmosphere-controlled process in which a chemical reaction is induced for the purpose of depositing a coating 2µm to 12µm thick on a tool’s surface. See coated tools; PVD, physical vapor deposition.

When finishing the periphery of screw-on inserts, Warner said the company locates the periphery off of the countersink instead of the hole to ensure accuracy. “The hole is not what centers the insert in the pocket, the countersink is,” he said.

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In some instances, the shop uses synthetic coolant during machining. One is when high-pressure operations such as burnishing are required to increase surface finish on key features. Another is if there is a high material removal rate in which a lot of heat could be transferred into the part. Liquid nitrogen coolant may be another viable option, and the shop is currently examining these systems.

The number of powder metal components finding their way into the latest automobile designs continues to rise. In fact, such components are now used in more high-profile engine and transmission applications. Though powder metal parts have become the darling of the auto industry, they can still be a demon for the shops that must machine the finishing touches.

Workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a face plate or secured between centers and rotated while a cutting tool, normally a single-point tool, is fed into it along its periphery or across its end or face. Takes the form of straight turning (cutting along the periphery of the workpiece); taper turning (creating a taper); step turning (turning different-size diameters on the same work); chamfering (beveling an edge or shoulder); facing (cutting on an end); turning threads (usually external but can be internal); roughing (high-volume metal removal); and finishing (final light cuts). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chucking machines, automatic screw machines and similar machines.

Tool-holder-spindle-machine combinations each have a unique dynamic response in the same way that each person has a unique fingerprint, which can be revealed using modal testing.

Machining powder metal is like machining pure abrasion. So opines Charles Gerlach, president of Gerlach Machine. Located in St. Henry, Ohio, a small town landlocked by corn fields and quaint farm houses, Mr. Gerlach’s shop has specialized in machining powder metal parts since the 1980s.

Besides machining, powder metal parts may require additional processes such as honing, bead blasting or grinding. The shop has ceramic media tumbling capability in-house. Many powder metal parts require this operation to remove burrs, which are typically problematic with powder metal parts because of the material’s porosity. It’s especially critical to remove burrs on drivetrain components, as an engine or transmission with metal shavings circulating through its oil system likely won’t be operating for very long.

Arno Rouse USA LLC (800) 943-4426 www.arno-rouse.com Arthur R. Warner Co. (724) 539-9229 www.arwarnerco.com Erasteel Inc. (973) 335-8400 www.erasteel.com THINBIT/Kaiser Tool Co. Inc. (888) THINBIT www.thinbit.com

The soil in those nearby cornfields is loosely similar to powder metal, in that it is a mixture of nutrients and organic material that come together to provide the base for what farmers hope will be a bumper crop. Along those lines, powder metal parts are a mixture of tiny metal and alloying elements (think talcum powder tiny) that, after being compacted together and heated, form a near-net-shape component.

Each button push will increase or decrease tool offset by a preset distance (typically 0.0002 inch) to reduce the chance of an operator overcompensating for tool wear.

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When it comes to utilizing the spindle’s power, there is a lot of headroom at the upper limits, provided it’s in short bursts. Be mindful of your time at these loads so you don’t stall out.

The Walter Turn toolholder features rake-face cooling to help break and control chips, and double flank-face cooling directly at the cutting edge to extend tool life.

Part of Major Tool’s 52,000 square-foot building expansion includes the installation of this new Waldrich Coburg Taurus 30 vertical machining center.

Substance used for grinding, honing, lapping, superfinishing and polishing. Examples include garnet, emery, corundum, silicon carbide, cubic boron nitride and diamond in various grit sizes.

Powder metal parts have become the darling of the auto industry, but they can be a demon for the shops that must machine the finishing touches. This shop has found that the keys to success machining such abrasive materials are proper cutting tool selection and continuous tool wear monitoring.

Even with the highest-quality HSS, toolmakers have to be cautious when grinding the material—especially finish grinding—to produce good tools, according to Oscar Lundvall of Erasteel Inc. “If you do a bad grinding operation, you’ll have big scratches or grinding burn on the surface and that’ll work as a defect, so it might break,” he said, adding that the same applies to making carbide tools.

Arthur R. Warner doesn’t offer carbide inserts, but Warner said its HSS inserts range from $4 to about $15, depending on type and quantity. As a comparison, he noted that a high-quality TNMC32NV carbide threading insert costs about $7. “Ours are $12, but there are 38 operations on that insert to make it and it will last a lot longer than carbide in quite a few applications,” Warner said. He added that at least until 2 years ago, his research indicated that 30 percent of milling in the U.S. is still performed with HSS tools, including inserts and round tools.

Tool-coating process performed at low temperature (500° C), compared to chemical vapor deposition (1,000° C). Employs electric field to generate necessary heat for depositing coating on a tool’s surface. See CVD, chemical vapor deposition.

When used in lathe or screw-machine operations, this process separates a completed part from chuck-held or collet-fed stock by means of a very narrow, flat-end cutting, or parting, tool.

Not only do HSS inserts run slower in a machine tool, they take longer to grind than carbide ones. Ken King of THINBIT/Kaiser Tool Co. Inc. said that’s because a grinding wheel appropriate for HSS tends to push the insert as it is grinding. “You have to cut a little slower so the insert won’t flex away from the wheel and leave material you wanted to remove,” he said.

Plastics are difficult to cut because they are typically gummy and tend to melt, burn and adhere to the cutting tool. HSS’ toughness enables toolmakers to produce inserts with a keen edge that has minimal edge preparation to reduce heat and friction at the tool/workpiece interface. “It’s a razor sharp cutting edge,” Ross said.

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When revising part designs, investigate the 3D CAD, the 2D drawing and the part’s functional requirements to determine which details should be tightened up.

Recently, cutting tool sales have been down across the board, but King indicated there’s a fairly healthy demand for HSS inserts. “When we add new products, we consider whether to offer it in high-speed steel or not,” he said. “It’s a material we still consider active and not obsolete or discontinued. We know it solves problems for people.” CTE

Dimension that defines the exterior diameter of a cylindrical or round part. See ID, inner diameter.

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Machining operation in which material is removed from the workpiece by a powered abrasive wheel, stone, belt, paste, sheet, compound, slurry, etc. Takes various forms: surface grinding (creates flat and/or squared surfaces); cylindrical grinding (for external cylindrical and tapered shapes, fillets, undercuts, etc.); centerless grinding; chamfering; thread and form grinding; tool and cutter grinding; offhand grinding; lapping and polishing (grinding with extremely fine grits to create ultrasmooth surfaces); honing; and disc grinding.

Similar to producing HSS, making HSS inserts is significantly different from producing carbide ones, which start as a powder that’s sintered into shape. “They press a carbide insert and—bang—they got the hole, the chipbreaker and everything they need right there,” said Arthur R. Warner Co.’s Mike Warner.

However, the abrasive nature of powder metal means that once those new tools are installed, their offsets must be continually monitored and adjusted to account for tool wear. This is the reason why the shop performs 100 percent inspection at the machine for every powder metal part it cuts (most of these parts have 0.001-inch total tolerance). This policy of 100 percent inspection is helpful not only for quality assurance purposes, but also because it alerts the shop when offsets must be changed or tools must be changed-out. The shop’s Zeiss Eclipse CMM is used for spot checks of critical features that can’t realistically be measured on the shop floor (such as feature-to-feature relative position).

Conditioning of the cutting edge, such as a honing or chamfering, to make it stronger and less susceptible to chipping. A chamfer is a bevel on the tool’s cutting edge; the angle is measured from the cutting face downward and generally varies from 25° to 45°. Honing is the process of rounding or blunting the cutting edge with abrasives, either manually or mechanically.

Alloys cast from the molten state. Most high-speed steel is melted in an electric-arc furnace and cast into ingots.

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Consistency is key for beryllium manufacturing, so the data visibility granted by Harmoni has swiftly become a vital, profitable tool in the shop’s arsenal.

This new quick-change tooling system enables shops to get more production from their Swiss turning centers through reduced tool setup time and matches the performance of a solid tool.

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King concurred that HSS inserts cut slower relative to the same workpiece material. For example, HSS inserts can machine Teflon, or polytetrafluoroethylene, at 250 sfm with a 0.003-ipr feed rate compared to 400 sfm with a 0.003 ipr for carbide inserts, according to THINBIT. For one Teflon application, THINBIT engineered a special HSS insert design with a 60° top rake. “That gives a huge upsharp angle to help peel the Teflon away,” King said.

In many cases, the ODs of the powder metal part the shop machines are molded to net shape. This is why these materials are especially attractive for gear components, as the traditional hobbing process to form gear teeth is not necessary. The molded teeth can then be induction-hardened for wear resistance, while the core remains soft to reduce the chance of fracture during operation.

Tangential velocity on the surface of the tool or workpiece at the cutting interface. The formula for cutting speed (sfm) is tool diameter 5 0.26 5 spindle speed (rpm). The formula for feed per tooth (fpt) is table feed (ipm)/number of flutes/spindle speed (rpm). The formula for spindle speed (rpm) is cutting speed (sfm) 5 3.82/tool diameter. The formula for table feed (ipm) is feed per tooth (ftp) 5 number of tool flutes 5 spindle speed (rpm).

Each tool setting technique has merit, and it depends on where you are as a shop and the type of work you do, as cost and efficiency all come into play.

The company’s most recently purchased CNC lathes are two Eurotech Famar Pronto 5 inverted vertical chuckers. These machines have been fitted with a set of electronic pushbuttons wired to their Siemens Sinumerik 840D controls to allow one-touch offset changes without an operator even having to look at a control screen. There are two buttons for each tool—one for advancing tool offset; another for decreasing offset. Each + or – button assigned to a tool is given a specific offset value for each button push. These increments are very small (typically 0.0002 inch) to reduce the chance of an operator overcompensating for tool wear.

Warner added that if a customer needs more HSS inserts beyond the initial order, the subsequent ones are typically coated. For example, one of his customers was having a problem milling plastics with carbide and found that a HSS insert worked well. “In the next go-around, we coated it and it worked extremely well, so now that company regularly buys coated high-speed steel inserts,” he said.

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FANUC’s IMTS 2024 booth includes real-time demonstrations that show the abilities of its equipment, including robots, controllers and machine tools.

THINBIT, however, charges the same price for its standard HSS and carbide inserts, according to King, even though producing HSS ones requires a longer cycle time. He noted that all THINBIT HSS inserts are made of M-2 conventional HSS.

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Working closely with customers and making careful investments has enabled this Wisconsin machine shop to tackle difficult jobs with tight deadlines as a core part of its business.

To cut a long story short, the advent of carbide as an effective cutting tool material caused HSS to become continuously less popular as a tool material. When appropriate, tool designers developed tool bodies to accept throwaway carbide inserts and enable machining with carbide cutting edges while reducing tool costs. But HSS’ bend-strength toughness compared to carbide’s harder and more brittle characteristics still offers advantages in some applications, and rather than always applying solid-HSS tools, the same bodies for carbide inserts accept HSS ones as well.

Space provided behind a tool’s land or relief to prevent rubbing and subsequent premature deterioration of the tool. See land; relief.

Are AMRs the next big trend in job shop automation? System 3R’s IMTS booth will emphasize both its specialty EDM tooling and its automation products, including an autonomous moving robot.

The MB45 series is designed to deliver the low cutting force benefits of positive inserts and the fracture resistance of negative inserts.

Because high-speed steel inserts can bend without breaking, they are an effective choice for select applications.

Thoughtful considerations will set you on a shortened path to the most optimized solution once cutter meets metal.

Added to titanium-carbide tooling to permit machining of hard metals at high speeds. Also used as a tool coating. See coated tools.

Manufacturers continue to feel the pressure to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and meet their sustainability strategies. As the industry evolves to keep pace with these priorities, there are opportunities within metalworking processes to use less resources with advanced lubricants and technical expertise. Agenda: An overview of metalworking lubrication Evolutions in metalworking lubrication Experience on the shop floor Key takeaways

Part of Major Tool’s 52,000 square-foot building expansion includes the installation of this new Waldrich Coburg Taurus 30 vertical machining center.

AccuRounds has created synergy between culture and technology, driving a commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.

Understanding all the things that contribute to a machine’s full potential accuracy will inform what to prioritize when fine-tuning the machine.

Milling titanium is different from other metals because of the risk of heat build-up. Thanks to the metal’s low thermal conductivity, overly aggressive milling may even pose a risk of combustion. With titanium, in other words, there may be more than one reason why the cutting speed can’t be increased. And yet the speed of production still can be increased.

Process of both external (e.g., thread milling) and internal (e.g., tapping, thread milling) cutting, turning and rolling of threads into particular material. Standardized specifications are available to determine the desired results of the threading process. Numerous thread-series designations are written for specific applications. Threading often is performed on a lathe. Specifications such as thread height are critical in determining the strength of the threads. The material used is taken into consideration in determining the expected results of any particular application for that threaded piece. In external threading, a calculated depth is required as well as a particular angle to the cut. To perform internal threading, the exact diameter to bore the hole is critical before threading. The threads are distinguished from one another by the amount of tolerance and/or allowance that is specified. See turning.

AccuRounds has created synergy between culture and technology, driving a commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.

Weldon Solutions is demonstrating three grinders at IMTS 2024. Though they differ in size and use case, all feature the company’s hallmark customizations.

Most powder metal parts require turning and tapping operations rather than milling, which is why Mr. Gerlach’s shop has more CNC lathes than mills. Because powder metal parts are near net shape, heavy roughing cuts are typically not required. Appropriate tooling, therefore, is that which is geared toward semifinishing and finishing duties. For turning operations, Mr. Gerlach primarily uses cermet inserts from Valenite (Madison Heights, Michigan). These inserts have essentially no edge prep in order to provide an extremely sharp cutting edge and free cutting action, which Mr. Gerlach has found effective in turning powder metal parts.

Ross noted that the lower machining parameters for HSS inserts, which he estimated are about half of the recommended parameters for carbide, make them suitable for machining plastics. Other suitable workpiece materials include aluminum, wrought and cast alloys, nickel alloys, copper, brass, bronze “and the outside skin on a forged part, which is really difficult to machine,” he said.

To enhance HSS’ toughness while increasing its hardness, HSS producer Erasteel Inc., Boonton, N.J., is producing P/M HSS with higher alloy content, according to Oscar Lundvall, the company’s business developer. That includes alloying the material with niobium, such as for Erasteel’s ASP 2055-grade P/M HSS with about 2 percent niobium. “The powder steel is very homogenous in its structure, but with the niobium alloying we achieve even finer dispersion of carbides, which gives us a material that is even tougher than a similar steel without niobium,” he said. “It is easier to grind and produce a surface finish that is much finer than ordinary P/M steel.”

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Jennifer Warner, vice president of operations for Arthur R. Warner Co. (above), examines a HSS insert turning kit, containing five CCMW-3-2.5-2 screw-on, 7° positive, 0.031 " radius inserts; left- and right-hand ½ "-shank tool bodies; insert screws; and a wrench. The left-hand tool body has two pockets, with the second one providing a 50° side-cutting edge angle. Top photo: A selection of the company’s application-specific HSS special inserts.

Cone-shaped pins that support a workpiece by one or two ends during machining. The centers fit into holes drilled in the workpiece ends. Centers that turn with the workpiece are called “live” centers; those that do not are called “dead” centers.

He explained that his company starts with a sheet of HSS and uses an abrasive waterjet machine to create insert profiles. For the 90 percent of the inserts that are held with screws, the toolmaker then drills a hole and creates a countersink for the setscrew. Finishing involves grinding all surfaces.

Warner explained that the depth of an edge preparation, such as a T- or K-land, on a carbide insert equals the minimum DOC the insert can effectively take. “If it’s an 0.008 " hone on an insert, you can’t take a 0.006 " depth of cut,” he said. “It would generate so much heat that your tool life would deteriorate.”

Space provided behind the cutting edges to prevent rubbing. Sometimes called primary relief. Secondary relief provides additional space behind primary relief. Relief on end teeth is axial relief; relief on side teeth is peripheral relief.

Interrupted cutting is one area where HSS offers an advantage, according to Ken King, CEO of THINBIT/Kaiser Tool Co. Inc., Ft. Wayne, Ind. The toolmaker offers standard HSS inserts for grooving, face grooving, threading and parting, as well as specials. Compared to carbide, “high-speed steel will take a lot more abuse as far as flexing and interrupted cuts,” he said. “If you do crash high-speed steel, sometimes you’ll see the inserts are actually bent or flexed. You can use that to your advantage if the application is so bad that you require the tool to bend a little bit.”

The L.S. Starrett Co. has been manufacturing precision measurement tools in Athol, Massachusetts, since 1880. Attention to U.S. manufacturing often focuses on reshoring manufacturing from other countries, but Starrett never left. The facility in Athol employs hundreds and produces thousands of tools that remain vital for measurement in machining and other fields.

Job shops are implementing automation and digitalization into workflows to eliminate set up time and increase repeatability in production.

Hardness is a measure of the resistance of a material to surface indentation or abrasion. There is no absolute scale for hardness. In order to express hardness quantitatively, each type of test has its own scale, which defines hardness. Indentation hardness obtained through static methods is measured by Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers and Knoop tests. Hardness without indentation is measured by a dynamic method, known as the Scleroscope test.

User-friendly inspection software for CNC machining centers is shown monitoring measurements between and after machining while performing SPC based on recorded measurement values.

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Ever wonder what sets Top Shops apart from the competition? Dive into their award-winning practices and explore behind-the-scenes strategies for operational excellence.

Legacy Precision Molds takes us on a tour of their moldbuilding facility. They've recently implemented two automated 5-axis cells for metal and graphite machining that run lights out during nights and weekends.

Take a look inside James Engineering, a high-end CNC Deburring OEM that became a job shop when they decided to produce their own parts in-house.

Horn USA’s new booth concept is designed to enable attendees to (literally) get a better feel for its various tooling offerings.

It is because of molding process limitations that other part features, such as threads, require secondary machining. While holes that are parallel to the axis of mold compression can be molded, cross holes (those perpendicular to the compression axis) and grooves around the periphery of the part can’t be molded. There are also limits to how thin part walls can be molded. In addition, machining may be necessary to reach the tighter tolerances and better surface finishes that are required of the latest automotive components.

He added that, in addition to controlling chip size and the direction chips travel, the chipbreaker creates a double-positive cutting configuration to reduce heat at the tool/workpiece interface and impart a finer surface finish. As previously noted, tool bodies that accept carbide inserts also hold HSS ones, but not all bodies will work equally well. “A lot of people will buy a high-speed steel insert and put it into a negative carbide holder and it won’t work,” Warner said. “We watch that very closely whenever we’re matching high-speed steel to holders for carbide inserts.”

New tech center is serving as a cutting-edge showroom and a technological hub for advanced machining applications.

Standards for surface finishes and profiles are not static; they change as technology changes or new processes come along that need to be considered.

This presentation focuses on the vital role that linear and angular encoders play in ensuring precision in machine tools. Attendees will learn about the common challenges compromising accuracy, such as thermal expansion, mechanical misalignments and vibration. Whether you're an OEM, integrator, or machine operator, this webinar will offer valuable insights into optimizing CNC performance. Agenda: Challenges to CNC machine accuracy Understanding encoder technology How encoders address accuracy challenges

ANCA CNC Machines is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a global producer of CNC tool and cutter grinders.

Unfortunately (for the powder metal molders, anyway), secondary machining operations are typically required to bring the part to its final form. At this stage, the powder metal part may have an apparent hardness rating that isn’t very daunting in terms of machineability (30 Rc, for example). However, those individual powders retain their individual hardnesses—which could be 50 Rc or higher—even after the part is molded. A tool cutting into such material will be slicing through very small, very hard particles—in essence, it’s pure abrasion.

Formnext Chicago is an industrial additive manufacturing expo taking place April 8-10, 2025 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Formnext Chicago is the second in a series of Formnext events in the U.S. being produced by Mesago Messe Frankfurt, AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, and Gardner Business Media (our publisher).

Attend TASC, The Automated Shop Conference, in Novi, Mich on Oct. 11, 2023 for a comprehensive look into how to use automation to transform your machine shop.

Refined machines at EROWA are handling heavier loads, while its precision workholding enhances stability and rigidity.

Though most frequently used for diameter measurements, an air plug and platen can be readily configured to measure perpendicularity.

In the latest episode of our View From My Shop series, MMS Editor-in-Chief Brent Donaldson visited the JN Shapiro Watches headquarters and production facility where Founder Joshua Shapiro—a history teacher turned watchmaker—realized his dream of "making a watch from scratch and everything in it."

New tech center is serving as a cutting-edge showroom and a technological hub for advanced machining applications.

Incremental mode can be more advantageous when programming sculptured surfaces or for certain hole-machining canned cycle applications.

Groove or other tool geometry that breaks chips into small fragments as they come off the workpiece. Designed to prevent chips from becoming so long that they are difficult to control, catch in turning parts and cause safety problems.

In certain instances, powder metal parts will be hardened via heat treating or induction hardening prior to machining work. Parts that are induction-hardened may require a finish machining pass because the quality of the finished surface was altered. For these hardened parts, the shop is more likely to use cubic boron nitride (CBN) inserts that are typically used for most hard turning applications. Again, those CBN inserts have minimal edge prep, so that their cutting edge is as sharp as possible.

Pushbutton offsetting saves time by eliminating the need to navigate through the machine’s control screen to enter offset values. It also eliminates the possibility of the operator keying in an incorrect offset value. A maximum offset value is stored in the control to prevent a crash that could occur if too large an offset value (too many button pushes) is entered.

Walter USA has acquired PDQ Workholding, intending to strengthen its offering of workholding products and develop future cutting tool sales.

The number of powder metal components finding their way into the latest automobile designs continues to rise.

For some of its machines, the shop relies on the experience of its machine operators to follow trending part measurements and, when necessary, enter the appropriate new offsets into the control to account for tool wear. Other machines have been modified to speed the process of updating offsets.

Working closely with customers and making careful investments has enabled this Wisconsin machine shop to tackle difficult jobs with tight deadlines as a core part of its business.

After experiencing process stalls in the finishing stage of production, Bryan Machine Service designed an air-powered twin spindle and indexable rotating base to effectively double its production of small parts.

Chiron Group combines the best of both worlds at IMTS 2024, featuring live demonstrations of their Micro5 and Mill 2000 machines, alongside a cutting-edge virtual showroom. This innovative approach allows visitors to explore Chiron’s full product lineup without the logistical challenges of transporting large equipment.

Harder tool materials, such as carbide, don’t like to bend. King used the analogy of glass and wood to compare and contrast the material properties of carbide and HSS. “You’re not going to bend a piece of glass; it’s going to break and shatter,” he said. “Whereas wood will shatter eventually, it will bend more than glass.”

Automation is no longer a luxury in manufacturing today – it’s a necessity. The Automated Shop Conference (TASC) will connect job shops with experts who offer advice and considerations for this process.

Wheel formed from abrasive material mixed in a suitable matrix. Takes a variety of shapes but falls into two basic categories: one that cuts on its periphery, as in reciprocating grinding, and one that cuts on its side or face, as in tool and cutter grinding.

Heidenhain and Acu-Rite Solutions are offering several hands-on experiences at their booth this year, as well as internal components that reduce energy use.

Machining grooves and shallow channels. Example: grooving ball-bearing raceways. Typically performed by tools that are capable of light cuts at high feed rates. Imparts high-quality finish.

Fryer Machine Systems Inc. presents its TC Series of CNC machining centers for high-performance cutting, accuracy, reliability and ease of use.

Available in two major types: tungsten high-speed steels (designated by letter T having tungsten as the principal alloying element) and molybdenum high-speed steels (designated by letter M having molybdenum as the principal alloying element). The type T high-speed steels containing cobalt have higher wear resistance and greater red (hot) hardness, withstanding cutting temperature up to 1,100º F (590º C). The type T steels are used to fabricate metalcutting tools (milling cutters, drills, reamers and taps), woodworking tools, various types of punches and dies, ball and roller bearings. The type M steels are used for cutting tools and various types of dies.

Misapplication of these important CNC features will result in wasted time, wasted or duplicated effort and/or wasted material.

When it comes to utilizing the spindle’s power, there is a lot of headroom at the upper limits, provided it’s in short bursts. Be mindful of your time at these loads so you don’t stall out.

Modern Machine Shop is the leading publication and media brand in North America devoted to CNC machining. MMS combines unprecedented editorial access to manufacturing facilities with decades of experience to provide long-form content that is both insightful and impactful. About Us

Thoughtful considerations will set you on a shortened path to the most optimized solution once cutter meets metal.

Lundvall noted that applications exist where HSS, in general, outperforms carbide because HSS’ higher toughness is more forgiving and its sharper cutting edges prove more effective. “One good area is milling high-strength titanium, such as the new titanium 555-3 alloy where we’ve seen some spectacular results with a coated high-cobalt ASP 2060 special endmill compared to carbides,” he said.

Though most frequently used for diameter measurements, an air plug and platen can be readily configured to measure perpendicularity.

When coated, the coating must be deposited at a temperature that’s not too high to temper HSS, which causes it to loose its hardness. Therefore, HSS inserts must be PVD coated, where the deposition process takes place at 350° to 900° F compared to 1,800° to 2,000° F for the CVD process. The same coatings found on carbide inserts, such as TiN, TiCN and AlTiN, are available on HSS inserts. Although coated HSS inserts can cut at higher speeds and feeds than uncoated ones, Warner noted that only a small percentage of the HSS inserts his company sells are coated. “Shops don’t try high-speed steel unless they’re having a particular problem with carbide and usually 10 uncoated inserts gets them out of the problem,” he said. “Eighty percent of my customers buy fewer than 50 inserts.”

FANUC’s IMTS 2024 booth includes real-time demonstrations that show the abilities of its equipment, including robots, controllers and machine tools.

The shop runs its highest volume jobs across these inverted vertical machines. That way, it can take advantage of their unique capability to use their spindles as their parts loaders, which greatly speeds throughput by eliminating manual loading.

Alan holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Including his 20 years at CTE, Alan has more than 30 years of trade journalism experience.

Warner added that when a machine tool, particularly an older one, does not have an adequate spindle speed to achieve the required surface footage to cut efficiently with carbide, HSS is the material of choice. “You have to slow down a little bit but your tool is going to last a lot longer and you’re going to get more parts per tool,” he said, adding that the chip load can be larger when cutting with HSS inserts vs. carbide inserts.

Machining operation in which metal or other material is removed by applying power to a rotating cutter. In vertical milling, the cutting tool is mounted vertically on the spindle. In horizontal milling, the cutting tool is mounted horizontally, either directly on the spindle or on an arbor. Horizontal milling is further broken down into conventional milling, where the cutter rotates opposite the direction of feed, or “up” into the workpiece; and climb milling, where the cutter rotates in the direction of feed, or “down” into the workpiece. Milling operations include plane or surface milling, endmilling, facemilling, angle milling, form milling and profiling.

The Automated Shop Conference (TASC) will give shops of all sizes and production volumes key insights and practical guidance on how to implement automation.

Gerlach Machine didn’t set out with the intention of specializing in powder metal machining. The shop’s Midwestern location had a lot to do with it. A number of local powder metal molders approached the company 25 years ago to machine the features that couldn’t be created in the molding process. Many of these early parts required only boring operations to bring IDs to tolerance or tapping operations, because threads can’t be formed in the mold.

Pairing automation with air-driven motors that push cutting tool speeds up to 65,000 RPM with no duty cycle can dramatically improve throughput and improve finishing.

The choice between buying a new machine or refurbishing the current one will become clear after a thorough assessment of the machine.

Moving from cut tapping to form tapping for a notable application cut tooling costs at Siemens Energy and increased tool life a hundredfold.

Cutters tooled with HSS inserts are also suitable when machining with less-than-optimal rigidity. “High-speed steel inserts are for machining at a lower cutting speed where high toughness is required for application under unfavorable machining conditions,” said Hellmut R. Ross, president of Arno Rouse USA LLC, Harvard, Ill., which supplies HSS inserts among other tools. “I wouldn’t say the machine, but the setup might not be that rigid.”

Join Mahr for an informative webinar to discover the latest advancements in precision measurement, designed to elevate your quality assurance processes and unlock peak productivity. It'll explore cutting-edge technologies — such as modern height gages and contour measuring systems — along with their applications, benefits and technical capabilities. Discover the power of height gages: Learn how intuitive and sophisticated height gages can revolutionize your measurement processes, enabling quick and accurate results in inspection and production areas. Explore the practical functions and ease of use that make height gages an ideal solution for manufacturers seeking high-performance and reliable measuring technology. Examine sample applications and industries where height gages excel, such as qualifying first parts, inspecting incoming parts and measuring series of parts in industries like aerospace, automotive and medical. Unlock efficient contour measurement: An introduction to the latest contour measuring technologies that enable fast, simple and comprehensive contour measurement in the production environment. Discover how these innovative solutions ensure reliable measurements, saving time and increasing efficiency while measuring a wide range of workpieces. Learn how to streamline your contour measuring process with speed and simplicity, achieving fast and precise measurements with incredible versatility. Register now and discover how to unlock peak productivity with new innovations in precision measurement. Agenda: Insights into the latest precision measurement technologies and their applications Understanding of how to improve quality assurance processes and increase productivity Knowledge of how to select the right measurement solutions for your specific needs Tips on how to optimize your measurement processes for maximum efficiency

Did you know that the show was postponed for WWII? Or that McCormick Place was expanded in the ’70s just to accommodate IMTS? A fascinating look at the show’s history from 1927 to today.

Zoller’s open house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, provided attendees with a glimpse of the connectivity and efficiency the company’s products offer to users.

From quadruped robot dogs, to an in-booth putting green where you can test out a new golf putter, to a 3D-printed car and more, attendees enjoyed cutting-edge technology and innovations all week long. Take a look to see what (or who!) you might have missed this week!

Rust is an inherent problem with powder metal parts because of the material’s porosity and high iron content. For that reason, not only does the shop typically machine dry, but also, most parts are submerged in an oil bath very soon after machining to prevent oxidation. Mr. Gerlach notes that in some cases, rust seemed to appear almost immediately after machining. This might be an indication that rust somehow developed in the molding process and was captured inside the molded part. The shop may break a pre-machined part in half to see if rust is found in the part’s core to determine if a problem may exist in the molding process.

Are AMRs the next big trend in job shop automation? System 3R’s IMTS booth will emphasize both its specialty EDM tooling and its automation products, including an autonomous moving robot.

FANUC’s IMTS 2024 booth includes real-time demonstrations that show the abilities of its equipment, including robots, controllers and machine tools.

So far, Made in the USA has looked into system-wide effects of broken supply chains, automation, skilled workforce issues and our perception of manufacturing jobs — examining each topic through a prism of individual experiences. For this final episode for Season 1, let’s look at one more system-wide question and bring it back to personal perspectives: Is there today a new dawn, a new moment for American manufacturing?

FANUC’s IMTS 2024 booth includes real-time demonstrations that show the abilities of its equipment, including robots, controllers and machine tools.

Thoughtful considerations will set you on a shortened path to the most optimized solution once cutter meets metal.

Distance between the bottom of the cut and the uncut surface of the workpiece, measured in a direction at right angles to the machined surface of the workpiece.

Q-Mark has built its metrology business by providing what customers need, when they want it. This goes for its IMTS booth, too, with free drinks alongside custom technology.

A comparison of the toughness (as measured in bend strength) and hardness for Erasteel’s ASP-grade P/M HSS, conventional tool steel (CWT), conventional HSS and cemented carbide.

Carbide Insert Market to Hit US$ 1,586.71 Million By 2030 | - carbide insert manufacturing

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