Precise measurement for precise production

To develop and refine its machining tools, cutting tool manufacturer Xiamen Golden Egret Special Alloy Co. Ltd. (GESAC) works with piezoelectric dynamometers from the Kistler Group, including the new wireless rotating cutting dynamometer from the Kistler Instrument Corp. in Novi, Michigan.

With the precise measurement data, GESAC’s customers benefit from detailed performance comparisons between different tools and application-specific solutions such as advanced drill bits.

As industry has become more digitally connected over the last decade, machining centers have been able to leverage improved automation technologies. Machining centers equipped with CNC, sensors and advanced transmission technologies ensure efficient production with high precision, speed and quality. Cutting tools, as consumables, have always played a critical role in these changes: their qualities — or more specifically, their precision, durability, stability and applicability — ultimately determine the performance and cost-effectiveness of machined parts.

Located in Xiamen, China, GESAC was launched in 1989 with joint funding from Chinese and foreign investors. Since 2004, the Cutting Tools Div. at GESAC has focused intensively on cutting tool R&D. As a backbone member of Xiamen Tungsten Co. Ltd. (XTC), GESAC has set up a number of manufacturing bases and technical sales centers in China, Brazil, Japan, Germany and Thailand.”Tool R&D requires great learning efforts, and it has to overcome major technological barriers,” said Lin Liangliang, R&D director of the Cutting Tools Div. “Tools play a decisive part in machining quality, but they are also consumables that are sensitive to unit costs. In that way, they differ from many other industrial products.”This makes it essential to evaluate tool properties in relation to downstream customer-specific machining scenarios.A successful R&D process requires measurement systems that can collect dynamic cutting force data for use as analytic evidence of the performance and condition of tools and machined materials. To meet this need, GESAC opted for dynamic measurement products from Kistler.”Aided by our collaboration alliances with various Chinese universities, and based on recommendations from professors and industry experts, we launched our trials of Kistler products in 2009. We’ve now been using dynamometers from Kistler in our R&D for over 10 years,” said Zhao Biaochun, manager of product testing and analysis at GESAC.The wireless rotating cutting dynamometer (Type 9170B) is the latest addition to the range of dynamometers at GESAC. Image courtesy of Kistler Group

The toolmaker focuses on three main product categories: solid-carbide endmills, indexable cutting tools and drills. Samples of all products in each category must undergo testing of properties and durability, as well as tests under working conditions at the end of the manufacturing process.

“Measurement results acquired with Kistler dynamometers have improved our ability to assess tools, especially drill bits, given that our previous approach was not sufficiently objective,” Zhao added.