Straight to a round - grooving insert geometry

 2024-07-24 20:43:47

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.

Fluid that reduces temperature buildup at the tool/workpiece interface during machining. Normally takes the form of a liquid such as soluble or chemical mixtures (semisynthetic, synthetic) but can be pressurized air or other gas. Because of water’s ability to absorb great quantities of heat, it is widely used as a coolant and vehicle for various cutting compounds, with the water-to-compound ratio varying with the machining task. See cutting fluid; semisynthetic cutting fluid; soluble-oil cutting fluid; synthetic cutting fluid.

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With the carbide inserts, Mr. Hylton says he had to peck at 0.005-inch depth increments to keep any edge at all. In addition, the retract amount that was programmed into the peck cycle had to be larger than usual due to tremendous amounts of tool pressure. In this case, the actual surface of the cutting tool/workpiece interface was 0.010-inch farther out than the actual machine position. The need to have a 0.012-inch buffer between pecks increased the actual feed travel to 1.498 inches. This meant the machine had to feed a total of six times the actual depth of the groove. The slow nature of this process was exacerbated by the need to peck.

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The Inconel cladding that bulges above the valve flange is later milled down and then cut with the Ring Max tool during reconditioning applications. The ring groove is cut in just 28 seconds.

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While the ceramic inserts could potentially be used for more than one groove, he says that he changes them after each groove to be on the safe side. But even at one groove per insert, he says he’s impressed with the predictability and longevity of the ceramic inserts. In fact, he’s quit trying to push tool life in the face grooving operation because the ceramic inserts are comparable in price to the carbide inserts when time savings are factored in.

TNG’s most common work is cutting valve seats in 410 stainless with a Stellite overlay. A face grooving tool with Greenleaf’s new Xsytin-1 ceramic inserts and a support blade help cut through all layers in this application.

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

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CoroMill MS 20 is designed for repeated shoulder milling, face milling, linear and helical ramping, full slotting and plunging applications.

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TNG also uses ceramic inserts on its bread and butter work of cutting valve seats in 410 stainless with a Stellite overlay. According to Mr. Hylton, this application is tricky because the groove goes through the Stellite, then through the heat-affected zone and down to the base material—an application that requires cutting material ranging from 40 to 67 HRC.

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Differential gaging measures using two devices, which has advantages over standard, comparative measurements using a single sensing head. These include the ability to measure size without regard to position.

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If desired, the cutter body tool life can be further extended in engineered solutions with PCD inserts protected by rows of carbide inserts, a configuration that also serves to increase the depth of cut capability. While the basic tool with PCD inserts offers 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 inch) depth of cut in full engagement, this can be boosted to in excess of 4 mm (0.157 inch) using the engineered solution with protective rows of carbide inserts.

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Now, Mr. Hylton says the problem is the base material. “Before, I couldn’t wait to get there,” he says. “Now, when I hit the stainless, the chips come off in long strings. The inserts get a little beat up on the sides from the chips because face grooving is a nasty operation.”

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Given the productivity gains for just one valve feature, Mr. Hylton has no question about moving forward using ceramic inserts. TNG is even planning on producing two valves per week in the future because of these improvements.

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Loosely, any milling tool. Horizontal cutters take the form of plain milling cutters, plain spiral-tooth cutters, helical cutters, side-milling cutters, staggered-tooth side-milling cutters, facemilling cutters, angular cutters, double-angle cutters, convex and concave form-milling cutters, straddle-sprocket cutters, spur-gear cutters, corner-rounding cutters and slitting saws. Vertical cutters use shank-mounted cutting tools, including endmills, T-slot cutters, Woodruff keyseat cutters and dovetail cutters; these may also be used on horizontal mills. See milling.

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The ceramic inserts really show their colors during the reconditioning applications, Mr. Hylton says. After the Inconel cladding is applied, he mills down the weld that’s bulging above the flange and follows up with the Ring Max tool, cutting the ring groove in just 28 seconds. Because ring groove machining is a continuous cut, through-spindle coolant is used. The coolant is used not to cool the insert, but to cause the chips to become more brittle and break into smaller pieces, sometimes becoming almost powder-like.

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The Mill A Groove tool can be used to cut step grooves, convex and concave radius grooves, chamfered edges, angles and special profiles with a single insert.

Spurred by often unpredictable tool life and lengthy production times, TNG turned to ceramic inserts from Greenleaf. In the ring groove application, the company decided to use the Ring Max API ring groove cutter with WG-300 whisker-reinforced ceramic inserts. Designed specifically for the oil and gas industry, Greenleaf’s Ring Max line of ring groove tooling is engineered to reduce the machining time of API ring grooves, while the basic concept of WG-300 involves reinforcing a hard ceramic matrix with extremely strong, stiff, silicon-carbide crystals, or “whiskers.” The whiskers are dispersed into a matrix of fine-grained aluminum oxide, where they act much like glass filaments do in fiberglass, for example, by adding tensile strength and improving the fracture toughness of the brittle matrix.

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Mr. Hylton says he’s noticed the Xsytin-1 grade shows significantly less damage when the groove is complete, so he plans to transition the Ring Max application to the new insert grade once he runs through his batch of WG-300.

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This was especially true for TNG Energy Services Inc., a geothermal company that provides both equipment and services from its Bakersfield, California, headquarters. The company’s mostly JIT workload along with meeting strict quality control requirements led its employees to work large amounts of overtime. This was due, in large part, to the challenges of machining grooves in valve components for oilfield applications using conventional carbide inserts. By switching to ceramic inserts from Greenleaf Corp. (Saegertown, Pennsylvania), TNG was able to dramatically reduce cycle time for two valve applications, meeting deadlines without the additional overtime costs.

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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.

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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.

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Before switching to ceramics, TNG used carbide inserts to produce two API ring grooves on 31/8-inch-diameter valve bodies with a 1963 manual-engine lathe, a process that took between 10 and 15 minutes each to complete. The real challenge, though, was in reconditioning these valve bodies, because it often required cutting through difficult-to-machine materials such as Inconel. For instance, after opening the grooves in the cast steel base material 3/16-inch larger than the API specifications, the valve went to the welding department for Inconel cladding. From there, the process involved opening a straight face groove with a face grooving tool followed by an API ring groove tool. This was only possible by moving into the cut 0.100-inch axially, then moving in a positive and negative radial direction to the groove’s full width. After that, the machinist would move the tool in another 0.050 inch and blend from side to side to match the width of the previous radial cut. These tiny increments were repeated until the full depth of cut was reached. An experienced, efficient machinist like TNG’s lead machinist, Cimaron Hylton, could produce one groove in about 45 minutes, though many days it took closer to an hour.

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According to Mr. Hylton, taking such small depths of cut was necessary to reduce vibration and chatter, yet it didn’t fully eliminate it. Several times during the grooving process, machinists had to check the pitch diameter to ensure accuracy. They also had to hand-polish the angled groove walls.

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Each valve body features two ring grooves. These features alone would’ve taken two hours to produce on the manual engine lathe during reconditioning applications.

Using Greenleaf’s Ring Max API ring groove cutter with WG-300 whisker-reinforced ceramic inserts helped TNG reduce the time it took to cut one ring groove from about 45 minutes to just 28 seconds.

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Angle between the side-cutting edge and the projected side of the tool shank or holder, which leads the cutting tool into the workpiece.

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M5Q90 cutter bodies are designed according to customer specifications, and therefore meet the requirements of high-productivity machining – the tool can operate in high-speed conditions in excess of 20,000 rpm. However, all cutter bodies offer the same design of tip seat, coolant channel, lead angle and rake angle. Inserts are always kept in stock.

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“The inserts, which are easy to handle and adjust, offer reduced cost per part along with high accuracy and repeatability,” adds Jacques Gasthuys, global automotive application engineer.

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To boost the first-stage roughing operation on newly cast aluminum parts for the automotive industry, cutting tool and tooling systems specialist Sandvik Coromant is introducing its M5Q90 tangential milling cutter. Designed to complete "cubing" (first machining of faces after casting) in a single operation without creating burrs, the new tool is fitted with PCD tangential inserts that provide a smooth and stable cutting action to lower power consumption and eliminate vibration. This concept ensures reliable performance, improved tool life, exceptional surface finish, high metal-removal rate and an increased number of parts per insert.

Capable of both face and shoulder milling, the M5Q90 is also suitable for many applications in the general engineering and aerospace sectors.

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Now, the company uses a face grooving tool with Greenleaf’s new Xsytin-1 ceramic inserts and a support blade. According to Greenleaf, Xsytin-1 is a phase-toughened ceramic insert grade that is showing promise for a wider range of materials than traditional ceramic insert technology, bridging the gap between conventional carbide and ceramic inserts for exotic materials, as well as more conventional metals such as mild and stainless steels. The company says its proprietary phase-toughening ceramic manufacturing process developed for this coating-free grade results in predictable, wear- and thermal-shock-resistant inserts that are twice as strong as the company’s WG-300 whisker grade. It also enables the generation of a sharper insert edge, which can lead to reduced tool pressure and better surface finishes.

Another problem was the machine’s low speed. It simply didn’t have the torque necessary to efficiently machine all layers of the material, and it would rumble and beat everything up, Mr. Hylton says. He often used three carbide insert tips during the process, requiring him to stop, pull the insert, change it and hit cycle start again. The entire grooving process took between 47 minutes to an hour to complete. To make matters worse, Mr. Hylton says that sometimes the insert would break randomly; there was no consistency at all.

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TNG Energy Services Inc. was experiencing inconsistent carbide insert life in valve grooving applications. Greenleaf's Ring Max and face grooving tooling helped to reduce production time and increase reliability.

Although WG-300 is designed for excellent shock and wear resistance at high surface speeds for nickel- and cobalt-based superalloys, the grade is a good match for TNG’s application, which runs the materials at a relatively modest horsepower rating (20 hp) on its Hwacheon Vesta 1050B CNC mill.

Cutting tool material consisting of natural or synthetic diamond crystals bonded together under high pressure at elevated temperatures. PCD is available as a tip brazed to a carbide insert carrier. Used for machining nonferrous alloys and nonmetallic materials at high cutting speeds.

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The groove is produced in one shot, eliminating the finish pass as well. When TNG started using the ceramic face grooving tool, Mr. Hylton says he was nervous. He questioned his Greenleaf representative about his suggested cutting speeds. However, he says his fears were soon calmed when he saw the Stellite coming off like powder. The ceramic face grooving tool can cut the groove in 30 to 40 seconds.

Straight to a round - grooving insert geometry

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