Teaming up to boost productivity

END USER: Profiroll Technologies GmbH, +49 34243-74-270, www.profiroll.de.
CHALLENGE: Increase threading productivity while reducing scrap.
SOLUTION: High-performance, through-coolant thread formers.
SOLUTION PROVIDER: Walter USA LLC, (800) 945-5554, www.walter-tools.com/us.

To ensure process reliability, Profiroll Technologies GmbH, Bad Düben, Germany, a manufacturer of machines and tools for profiling rotationally symmetrical workpieces, is increasingly applying thread formers instead of conventional taps.

With its profile rolling machines, the company manufactures a range of products, including base plates for linear guides. The base plates are made from difficult-to-cut A-36 steel and measure up to 3m (9.8 ‘) long and 16mm to 20mm (0.63 ” to 0.79 “) thick. They require up to 90 M5 or M6 through-hole threads.

Courtesy of Walter USA

Left to right: Arno Deutrich, process planning officer at Profiroll, Andre Knofel, machine operator, and Thomas Neugebauer, technical support and sales for Walter.

Profiroll found fluctuations in material quality often made deep-hole tapping difficult. Chips can get jammed and cutting forces can fluctuate when tapping, increasing the risk of tool breakage. In the worst-case scenario, a tool breaks and the resulting tool steel fragments can be removed only by EDMing.

This is time-consuming, expensive and provides no guarantee of complete success, as hard particles often remain in the workpiece material. Therefore, process reliability became a top priority when thread cutting.

To avoid putting the process at risk, machine operators opted for slower feeds and speeds, and pecking was employed, so threads were actually cut in stages. “By working that way, tool life was reduced, because taps rub against the wall of the hole when they are withdrawn and wear out quickly,” explained Arno Deutrich, process planning officer.

“Some years ago, we thought about using thread formers for this application, but we didn’t have the right machine,” said Peter Zintl, division manager in production.