Carbide insert performance improvements often focus on two areas: the addition of superalloys or other enhanced materials to cobalt binding and the production and deposition of enhanced coatings to increase wear resistance. Image courtesy of Seco Tools

The current state of metallurgy means that no magic alloy offers extreme hardness and extreme toughness. Cutting tool performance improvements often focus on two areas: the addition of superalloys or other enhanced materials to cobalt binding and the production and deposition of enhanced coatings to increase wear resistance.

Insert nuts provide strong machine screw threading in soft woods or substrates. External protrusions bite into the wood, preventing the nut from either turning ...

Hardness represents wear resistance, which translates to the ability of a tool to withstand heat during metalcutting. The Rockwell A scale measures the hardness of tungsten carbide, though some specifications translate HRA values to the more familiar HRC scale used to measure the hardness of steel and other alloys. The temperature resistance that correlates with hardness plays a huge role in cutting tool behavior and selection.

Millinginsertspecification

Starting with rough machining (a tolerance of 0.030″), we can see it costs roughly twice as much to make the part with an accuracy of 0.005″ and four times as ...

At first blush, hardness and toughness may seem like interchangeable concepts, but they exist at opposite ends of a continuum that defines indexable insert and solid cutting tool performance, particularly when it comes to carbide inserts. Hard inserts offer greater wear resistance for enhanced performance and tool life in hot cutting environments than somewhat softer inserts do, yet tough inserts can withstand impacts and stressors to achieve high feed rates and DOCs.

BullseyeBore Core solves the problem that every drill user has: how to drill straight (perpendicular to the worksurface). It projects a series of circular patterns on the worksurface that indicate alignment or misalignment of the drill bit with regards to the worksurface. When the patterns are concentric, the drill is straight with (and perpendicular to) the worksurface. Conversely, when the patterns are non-concentric, the drill is misaligned with the worksurface. These patterns make it easy for DIYs and Pros alike to always drill straight.

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.

Process of increasing the surface hardness of a part. It is accomplished by heating a piece of steel to a temperature within or above its critical range and then cooling (or quenching) it rapidly. In any heat-treatment operation, the rate of heating is important. Heat flows from the exterior to the interior of steel at a definite rate. If the steel is heated too quickly, the outside becomes hotter than the inside and the desired uniform structure cannot be obtained. If a piece is irregular in shape, a slow heating rate is essential to prevent warping and cracking. The heavier the section, the longer the heating time must be to achieve uniform results. Even after the correct temperature has been reached, the piece should be held at the temperature for a sufficient period of time to permit its thickest section to attain a uniform temperature. See workhardening.

BullseyeBore Core is designed to work with a wide variety of common commercial drill bits including some Standard, Hex Shank, Spade, Step, Masonry, and Auger bits. Find out more about the supported bits in the FAQ section.

Replaceable tool that clamps into a tool body, drill, mill or other cutter body designed to accommodate inserts. Most inserts are made of cemented carbide. Often they are coated with a hard material. Other insert materials are ceramic, cermet, polycrystalline cubic boron nitride and polycrystalline diamond. The insert is used until dull, then indexed, or turned, to expose a fresh cutting edge. When the entire insert is dull, it is usually discarded. Some inserts can be resharpened.

At the other end of the continuum, toughness represents pressure and impact resistance, which correlate with the ability of a tool to withstand high feed rates, heavy DOCs and the repetitive impacts associated with interrupted cutting. But in exchange for durability, tough carbide becomes vulnerable to heat, making tough carbide less than ideal for high-speed, continuous cutting.

Shop Standard Specialty Company at Ferguson. Find expert-curated Standard Specialty Company products from the #1 US plumbing supplier and top distributor of ...

Walter-Valenite-Indexable-Tool-Holder-Insert-Cartridge-(6 pcs)

Carbide insertmaterial codes

Secures a cutting tool during a machining operation. Basic types include block, cartridge, chuck, collet, fixed, modular, quick-change and rotating.

Toughness represents tool resistance to pressure and impact, which is required when performing interrupted cutting. Image courtesy of Seco Tools

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.

Unlike traditional drill guides, drill cups, or drill blocks, Bullseyebore Core does not need to contact the worksurface you drill into, and thus will not scratch or mar it during normal operation. Further, unlike traditional drill guides, drill cups, or drill blocks, BullseyeBore Core does not block or obstruct your view of the drill bit or worksurface during a drilling operation.

Bullseyebore Core was designed to work with thousands of common standard electric drills and drill chucks. For information regarding use with your specific drill, see the BullseyeBore Core Product and Accessory Compatibility Guide for more information.

Conversely, if a hard grade fractures in a continuous cut, wear analysis should show the need for a tougher tool instead. In these instances of tool fracture or breakage, shops also should evaluate toolholder condition, along with machine tool stability and part setup.

May 4, 2017 — Maybe, a CNMG or a TNMG style insert? Considering that the CPM10V has 9.5% vanadium, won't it be much harder to machine than, say, D2 or M2? I ...

The Pinzbohr modular boring system, world famous for rigidity, ease of use, and years of reliable performance. Featuring a boring range from 0.314 to 40.157.

For any given application, there is an optimal balance of hardness and toughness — and toolmakers have worked diligently to establish metallurgical principles and provide a range of tools that can meet the diverse needs of part manufacturers.

I spend an absurd amount of time using a standard handheld corner punch (maybe 5-7 page limit) on small custom notebooks. Has anyone ever worked with these ...

Seco Tools has increased the application range of wear-resistant TH1000 and TH1500 turning insert grades with additional positive and negative geometries, chipbreakers and nose radius sizes. Image courtesy of Seco Tools

With increased focus on hard-part turning, shops must decide as well whether to machine before or after a material reaches its hardened state, plus they have to select cutting tools that match the hardness of their workpiece materials. In a “green” state, many materials test at half the hardness they demonstrate after hardening, with obvious effects on tool selection, life and behavior.

BullseyeBore Core works in any orientation, so it can easily be used on walls, floors, ceilings, or boards at any angle. The Core’s unique shape also allows it to be virtually invisible during drill rotation, so the drill bit, worksurface, and the Core’s projected worksurface patterns are clear and easy to see.

Any machining process used to part metal or other material or give a workpiece a new configuration. Conventionally applies to machining operations in which a cutting tool mechanically removes material in the form of chips; applies to any process in which metal or material is removed to create new shapes. See metalforming.

... flute carbide micro end-mills with a 0.5 mm diameter were adopted for validation experiments (Section 3). The actual geometry of the mills, including their ...

Shops that experiment with cutting tools only to experience shorter-than-expected tool life can examine tool behavior to help find and correct the causes of failure. For example, inserts that develop large craters in continuous cutting applications show a lack of wear resistance and indicate the need for a harder substrate or a wear-resistant coating.

Material development also sparks cutting tool innovation. Workpieces can have powder metals, carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics and stacked and layered materials with fiber directionality that varies from batch to batch. When industries create materials to reduce surface-against-surface wear in medical implants or produce lightweight options for aerospace manufacturing, for instance, cutting tool manufacturers must respond with products that optimize the machining of these new materials. In some cases, existing tools effectively cut these materials. In other cases, the development of new tool technology is required.

If a foreign object mistakenly comes into contact with BullseyeBore Core during rotation, the connection between BullseyeBore Core and the drill chuck is immediately broken, and the Core’s rotation ceases (even if the drill bit is still spinning). Please read and follow the BullseyeBore Core Safety Guidelines before attempting to use BullseyeBore Core.

Ability of the tool to withstand stresses that cause it to wear during cutting; an attribute linked to alloy composition, base material, thermal conditions, type of tooling and operation and other variables.

Works with a wide variety of common commercial electric drills. See the BullseyeBore Core Product and Accessory Compatibility Guide  for more information.

Any machining process used to part metal or other material or give a workpiece a new configuration. Conventionally applies to machining operations in which a cutting tool mechanically removes material in the form of chips; applies to any process in which metal or material is removed to create new shapes. See metalforming.

In the cutting zone, temperatures can rise above 760° C (1,400° F). Hard carbide withstands and dissipates those high temperature levels and therefore handles the high heat generated in continuous cutting. High hardness levels can make metal brittle, however, which explains why heat-resistant carbide tools tend to chip in situations that produce large amounts of pressure or vibration.

West Coast PVD fuses color onto metal to create an unequaled finish like you've never seen before. Environmentally friendly, vibrant PVD coating.

Additionally, casehardened and through-hardened materials present two very different hardness scenarios. Casehardening creates a hard surface with potentially softer material underneath it while through hardening produces a uniformly hardened workpiece. In these cases, DOC plays a vital role in tool selection because it determines whether a task requires an insert that can cut harder or softer material.

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.

Carbide insertidentification chart PDF

Grain size also can determine the level of hardness and toughness. Hard carbide grades have smaller grains, and tough grades have larger ones. Hard grades need less cobalt binding to hold their grains together, which promotes better heat resistance for longer tool life during continuous cutting than with softer grades. Tough grades include more cobalt binding, which gives carbide grains better adherence to help a tool handle pressure and vibration with less heat resistance. Midway between hard and tough, cutting tools made of general-purpose carbide grades can deal with slightly interrupted cuts and offer considerable but not extreme wear resistance.

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

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) are resin rich materials that present specific machining challenges, such as hole expansion and delamination, ...

Carbide insertShape chart

Cutting tool manufacturers strive to help customers succeed with innovative tools and thorough support for informed tool selection. Successful toolmakers will continue to develop grades, geometries and coatings that effectively handle new workpiece materials and to add performance options for existing materials. Shops that want to ensure they make the right choices between hardness and toughness can benefit from toolmaker expertise to optimize the productivity of their cutting applications.

Both attributes tie directly to the primary elements that make up carbide: tungsten, carbon and cobalt. Tungsten promotes hardness and toughness while carbon boosts hardness, and the combination of the two yields tungsten-carbide molecules. Meanwhile, cobalt, which has a lower melting point than tungsten and carbon, contributes to toughness and intensifies the performance characteristics of other elements. In tungsten carbide, cobalt serves as a binder, essentially glue that holds carbide grains together.

Aaron Eller is product manager of ISO turning/advanced materials for Seco Tools LLC, Troy, Michigan. For more information about the company’s cutting tools, call 248-528-5200 or visit www.secotools.com.

Generic term covering several processes applicable to steel that change the chemical composition of the surface layer by absorption of carbon, nitrogen or a mixture of the two and, by diffusion, create a concentration gradient. Processes commonly used are carburizing, quench hardening, cyaniding, nitriding and carbonitriding.