Counterbore breakthrough: Turning Performance

Offering both speed and strength, a new counterboring tool has what it takes to make the cut in a variety of challenging applications.

So says the manufacturer, Heule Tool Corp. in Loveland, Ohio, about the recently introduced Solo L spot facing and counterboring tool. Solo L can produce front and back counterbores up to 1.95 times bore diameter for applications with bores ranging from 25 mm to 45 mm in diameter.

Billed as both fast and strong, the Solo L is designed for spot facing and counterboring projects. Front and back counterbores up to 1.95 times bore diameter can be cut for applications with bores ranging from 25 mm to 45 mm in diameter. Image courtesy of Heule Tool Corp.

Heule touts the tool’s simple and reliable design, which works without a contact mechanism, a change in spindle rotation or an anti-rotation device. The patented pin-driven system moves the cutting blade in and out radially, thereby preventing chips from interfering with the tool’s operation. The system employs two centrifugal weights installed in a sealed tool head that prevents coolant contamination. When a speed of 1,600 rpm is reached during the bore-cutting part of the process, the weights start moving outward and turn a gearwheel, which moves the blade out by rotating the blade control. Once the bore is cut and the spindle stops or slows to 900 rpm or less, a pullback spring pushes the centrifugal weights back to the center and the blade extends to cut the proper counterbore diameter.

The Solo L replaces an older Heule counterboring tool that also used a single cutting blade but “was much slower and more mechanical,” said Gary Brown, the company’s president. That tool, which employed a stop block anti-rotation device, took about twice as long to do its job, according to Brown.