Africa 2017 - 16mm carbide insert

Lake said the first of three factors to study is financial: How much are you spending on outside coating services? “If it’s $200,000 to $250,000 per year, there’s definitely a financial reason to look at bringing it in-house.”

Ideally you’d physically isolate coating from grinding, Lake added, because the latter puts particulates into the air. Otherwise, “you run the high risk of coating voids on your tools, because the particulate gets on your tools. They go into the chamber, and then the coating doesn’t adhere. But we have customers that have coating equipment perhaps only 20 feet (6.1 m) from the grinder and they are still successful. We would advise a separation. But we also know sometimes reality doesn’t allow that to happen.”

Evans said Inveio coatings can consist of various combinations of titanium aluminum nitride, titanium chromium nitride, and aluminum oxide. Inveio is used for indexable inserts, where CVD predominates. Evans reported tool life improvements of 30 percent to 50 percent, strictly due to the coating. For solid-carbide tools, where a thinner coating is needed to preserve a sharper cutting edge, Sandvik Coromant has a proprietary PVD process called Zertivo. The touted benefit again is the ability to manipulate the coating process at the micro level. This is said to yield improved adhesion between substrate and coating, optimized for each grade. Here it’s titanium nitride, or a titanium carbon nitride coating. “We’re starting to see some aluminum oxide type coatings with the PVD processes,” Evans said. He added that Zertivo is now being applied to all new carbide grades.

For machining intricate and detailed work, Tungaloy-NTK UK has introduced its MiniV-LockGroove range of high-precision grooving and threading tools. Perfect for sliding head and CNC turning centres, the MiniV-LockGroove delivers astounding performance in both grooving and threading with exceptional accuracy and reliability.

Steed explained that this capability is especially useful for coating the indexable inserts used in the heavy-duty machining of rails, switches, pipes and crankshafts, as well as in the rotary peeling of cast iron and ferrous materials. “These operations often require a large number of cutting inserts capable of holding up to maximum working speeds and providing high-quality machining. Higher coating thicknesses significantly extend their tool life—the key to economic efficiency. The correlation in such applications is almost linear—and that’s where this coating, which we call FerroCon Quadro, comes into play.”

This performance is credited to a V-shaped insert pocket that securely clamps the insert whilst providing maximum machining clearance. With a secure V-shaped insert seat and high pressure through coolant nozzles directed to both the rake and face cutting edges, swarf evacuation, insert life and machining performance are all significantly improved.

The DuoForceCut is applicable for a wide range of applications with insert geometries and grades available for parting-off, front turning, back turning, threading, and grooving with insert groove widths from 0.5 to 1mm. Perfect for machining everything from low carbon steel to alloy steel, stainless, aluminium and copper alloys, titanium and superalloys with remarkable performance levels – isn’t it time you tried this exceptional offer?

Lake listed control of the supply chain as the second most important factor in deciding whether to coat in-house. “That way, the tools never leave their facility, they never leave their control, they shorten their lead times. That is often a goal.” Shaffer enthusiastically agreed: “Full control of the process gives us a competitive advantage—being able to offer better lead times. We just started a program we call ‘Rapid Edge’ that offers high-performance coated specials in just three days.”

If you would like to have the confidence to run lights-out machining with exceptional productivity rates and astounding tool life, Tungaloy-NTK UK is offering manufacturers the opportunity to buy a pack of 10 inserts and get a free toolholder or buy 10 inserts and get one CHP toolholder or CHP head with an additional 50% discount.

Designed for CNC sliding head turning centres and cam-driven lathes, the DuoForceCut is an innovative range that is ideal for turning parts up to 12mm in diameter. With the ability to undertake parting-off, front and back turning, threading and grooving, the DuoForceCut can immediately reduce tooling inventory and maximise machining performance. As part of the 2024 promotional offer, Tungaloy-NTK UK is giving away a free toolholder when customers buy 10 inserts.

Originally developed for the hardened steels used in mold making, CemeCon’s SteelCon coating is now being applied broadly, reported Manfred Weigand, product manager for round tools. That includes stainless steel, nickel-based alloys, titanium alloy, quenched and tempered steel (42CrMo), and cold-work steel (1.2379).

Steed also noted that in addition to being thick and tough, the FerrCon Quadro coating is very smooth and the thickness is evenly distributed, which provides optimum wear resistance. In fact, it appears smoothness is a feature of not only HiPIMS, but CemeCon PVD coatings in general. Shaffer said they have an older, pre-HiPIMS, CemeCon sputtering unit that “still outperforms the Oerlikon Balzers in applications where we need an excellent surface finish. We’ve seen this with seven flute finishing endmills and some reaming applications.”

Precisely secured to the through coolant toolholder via a 3-point precision clamping system, the three distinct insert geometries make the TinyInternalCut a versatile option for manufacturers. With the latest SH7025 PVD insert grade, the TinyInternalCut guarantees superior surface quality and process security, making it the ideal choice for internal machining small-diameter bores.

As an industry-leading manufacturer of cutting tool innovations for the small turned parts sector, Tungaloy-NTK UK has a series of enticing offers on its most popular lines with the DuoForceCut, MiniV-LockGroove, FaceMiniCut and the TinyInternalCut among the insatiable autumn promotions.

In one comparison (a 6 mm carbide endmill machining 62 HRC cold-work steel, with vc = 170 m/min, fz = 0.11 mm, ae = 0.05 mm, ap = 0.05 mm), the SteelCon coated tool lasted 1,050 minutes, versus a competing TiAlSiN-coated tool’s 590 minutes, and an AlTiN-coated tool’s 405 minutes. In general, said Lake, SteelCon delivers “the ability to run tools anywhere from 10 to 30 percent longer than even our previous coatings, or run 10 to 30 percent faster than what they have been doing.”

The toolholders are available in shank sizes from 6 by 6mm to 10 by 10mm to fit all compact turning centres and their common tool platten types and configurations. Furthermore, the free toolholder has a rigid and ground insert seat with an optimised clamping screw design that minimises movement, improves repeatability and creates a stable environment for high-quality precision machining whilst protecting unused cutting edges during machining.

Specialty tool manufacturer and regrinder Better Edge, Scottdale, Pa., coats its product with equipment from CemeCon and Liechtenstein-based Oerlikon Balzers. Plus, Better Edge’s Kabrlyn Coating Technologies division offers coating services to other tool manufacturers. Likewise, CemeCon, Balzers and other firms that make coating vessels generally offer coating as a service, too, and these companies can offer useful perspectives on whether to take coating in-house.

For example, said Shaffer, in late 2020 Better Edge invested in an Oerlikon Balzers arc technology coating unit with “TiN, AlTiN, AlCrN, and TiAlN recipes that allowed us to keep 99 percent of our business in-house. We still have the odd case of extremely long tools that need to be shipped out, or a recipe we don’t offer, such as TiB2 or diamond.”

Sandvik Coromant not only patents its coating processes, the company also builds its own coating vessels (not to mention creating specialized pre- and post-processing routines). Evans said 90 percent of the tools Sandvik sells have been coated using its own equipment.

As part of its 2024 promotional offering, the company has a number of special offers that range across the company’s expansive range of small-part turning, high-feed milling and indexable drilling lines.

CemeCon’s president, Marjorie Steed, observed that the intense competitive pressure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic pushed tool manufacturers to seek new ways to distinguish themselves. “They asked, ‘How can we promote our specialty products? How can we prove that our tools perform better than before, or better than our competitors?’ This search for new technology led to a surge in demand for the HiPIMS process, and it has continued as things move forward.”

The third factor to consider, according to Lake, is the ability to develop proprietary coatings. He explained that contract coaters are more or less forced to offer standard products. “We don’t know what’s coming through the door each day. … We can make tweaks with our pretreatment, our post treatment, or cleaning, depending on the size of the tool and the geometry, to optimize in different ways. But we don’t have the same flexibility as a tool manufacturer.” Lake added that there also isn’t a huge difference between materials available from the competitive coaters. Whereas, “when you bring coating in house, you can do whatever you want. And with HiPIMS, you can sputter almost any element on the periodic table.”

As discussed in the 2019 article, PVD is a better technique than CVD for a number of reasons—unless the application requires a thick coating. Lake explained that’s because stress builds within a PVD coating as it gets thicker, and that leads to poor adhesion and premature failure. “The arc technique has always topped out at between four to five microns, unless you did special things to further relieve the stress. Traditional sputtering maxed out at eight, maybe ten, at the absolute most.”

When we last covered cutting tool coatings in detail (ME August 2019: “Better Tool Life through Advanced Chemistry”), the hot new technology was high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). HiPIMS is an advanced form of physical vapor deposition (PVD) that achieves a nearly complete ionization of the coating metal. But the process requires controlling more than 100 parameters. At the time, tool manufacturers were just beginning to recognize the benefits of coatings produced by the method—but many still were leery about attempting it themselves.

Providing unsurpassed levels of stability and precision with exceptional tool life and surface quality, this innovative tool effectively removes chips with its through coolant system and chip redirector that prevents bird nesting and ensures a clean cutting area by rapidly removing swarf from the cutting area.

With slim shank toolholders available from 8 by 8mm to 12 by 12mm, the MiniV-LockGroove is available as a toolholder with interchangeable inserts or as a modular head system with the corresponding ModuMini-Turn heads and shanks. Like the DuoForceCut, Tungaloy-NTK UK offers a vast selection of VGP insert grades for grooving and VGT inserts for threading applications in steel and stainless.

Complementing the MiniV-LockGroove tools is the FaceMiniCut, the new benchmark in deep face grooving. Specifically developed for deep grooving applications, the FaceMiniCut can groove up to 10mm DAXN and 9mm deep. The impressive machining parameters are the combined result of an extremely rigid insert clamping system, inserts with a sharp cutting edge and optimised geometry with a ‘chip redirector’ and an advanced SH7025 PVD grade.

Brian Shaffer, vice president for operations and quality at Better Edge, added that you also need to consider the expected volumes of specific coatings. “Recipes are very expensive, especially in the high-performance arena we like to play in. So we have to do enough testing to prove the recipe is worth it to our customer’s bottom line, and ask ourselves if we will have enough volume to fill the unit to make it worth running.”

Should you coat in-house? Factors to consider include costs, supply chain issues and the ability to make proprietary coatings

But now—and you probably saw this coming—CemeCon’s HiPIMS is able to reliably achieve a 12-µm thick PVD coating. Steed said that’s because CemeCon is uniquely able to synchronize the cathode pulses with the substrate table, thereby “actively managing and limiting” the residual stresses of the coating. “We’ve even tested coating as thick as 25 microns,” added Lake, “though not in production. Even 12 was unheard of as recently as three years ago.”

Completing the seasonal offer on small turning tools is the ‘ultimate’ series for internal grooving and thread turning in bores down to 5mm diameter – the TinyInternalCut. With a truly unique clamping system, the TinyInternalCut is available with a steel or carbide tool body for maximum rigidity and three insert geometries – the MGR for grooving, the MGR with full radius for profiling and undercutting as well as the MTR for threading.

Tungaloy-NTK UK is giving the small turned parts industry a ‘shot-in-the-arm’ with a multitude of offers on its latest range of advanced turning technologies.

With a quick-change insert system, the TinyInternalCut is perfect for the modern sliding head machine shop and small turned part manufacturer. If you want to witness how this remarkable product can revolutionise your turning – you can buy a pack of 10 inserts and get a corresponding tool holder free of charge, but hurry as this offer ends soon.

One company that you might say is obsessed with creating proprietary cutting-tool solutions, to include coating, is Sandvik Coromant, whose U.S. headquarters is in Mebane, N.C. The company’s Inveio coating uses a patented chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process to manipulate the grain structure such that it is “more perpendicular than any other aluminum coating on the market,” according to Doug Evans, development specialist. This uniformly perpendicular structure is stronger than other CVD coatings, he said, using a unique illustration. “If you lay an egg on its side and apply pressure to it, you’ll easily break it. But if you can stand that egg up, you get much better compression forces and it takes a lot more pressure to break. The same is true if you can get that aluminum grain structure to stand straight up.”

Achieving cleanliness is another cost consideration, noted Shaffer. “We found that investing in a superior cleaning unit helps tremendously in decreasing coating vessel downtime by reducing arcing errors.”

The company’s latest operating software makes it relatively easy to control the multitude of factors that govern the HiPIMS process, Lake explained. He recounted a recent installation in which a customer sent staff members to CemeCon for two-week training sessions, followed by another two weeks in-house. “None of them had ever done coating before, yet they were [soon] up and running.” As he put it, CemeCon is “able to train anyone that has interest in the technology. If they can figure out how to successfully make quality cutting tools, they can learn how to do coating.”

Weigand attributed this success to SteelCon’s excellent thermal stability and insulation, which “hardly lets any heat into the tool, but dissipates it via the chip. This is particularly advantageous for materials that are themselves very poor heat conductors, such as stainless steel, nickel-based alloys and titanium. Without SteelCon, the high temperatures that inevitably arise during machining of the hard materials would damage the tool and embrittle the carbide.” Like other HiPIMS coatings, SteelCon is “highly wear-resistant,” due to the excellent adhesion of the coating and its high hardness and toughness, said Weigand. “This combination of properties results in significantly longer tool life and excellent machining results.”

The result is prolonged unmanned operation with the confidence that the machine can be left unattended to maximise your profitability. To maximise your profitability even further, Tungaloy-NTK UK is now giving machine shops the opportunity to try this exciting new system with an offer to buy 10 inserts and receive a corresponding toolholder free of charge – make sure you take advantage of this limited-time offer now.

CemeCon, a coatings technology provider based in Horseheads, N.Y., now offers systems that can be operated by new users after just a few weeks of training—and these systems are even more capable than earlier models, according to Sales Manager Ryan Lake.

So is it worth adding more to the mix? Shaffer pointed to Balzer’s Tisaflex, which he said had proven successful “in hardened steels and other difficult to machine materials. That’s another recipe we may one day consider bringing in-house if we have enough demand.” The lesson here is that cost considerations go beyond getting a vessel.