I recently attended cutting tool seminars provided by Sumitomo Electric Carbide Manufacturing Inc., New Berlin, Wis., which is within an hour's drive from my home.

The toolmaker offers three levels of training. The first level is a 1-day seminar provided twice a year, usually in the spring and the fall. This is purely an introduction to cutting tools for newbies to the industry, such as apprentice machinists and new sales and service staffers. The seminar includes a plant tour so attendees can see various manufacturing processes, such as tool grinding, brazing and coating.

Sumitomo also shows how it repairs and regrinds cutting tools. I never knew how labor-intensive some of this work is and was amazed at how many automated CNC tool grinders are on the plant floor.

The second level is a 2-day seminar provided five times a year that introduces attendees to the company's product groups and grades and covers troubleshooting for tool failures. The product categories covered are milling, turning, drilling and reaming and include PCD and PCBN inserts and specials. This class, which also features a plant tour, is designed for up to 40 attendees.

I jumped right into the second level class. My class had 14 attendees, a mix of customers, distributors and new company employees. It was a good blend of classroom time and machining demos on a late-model turning center and a 40-hp vertical machining center. The demos reinforced what was presented in the classroom, and the three trainers, who alternated product lines, did an excellent job of conducting the seminar.

I also attended the level three event, a 1-day seminar that delves deeply into one of the product groups. It is an equal mix of classroom instruction and machine demos. Sumitomo limits the class size to 10, which helps attendees retain what they learn. Each year, the toolmaker conducts three drilling, three milling, two turning and two PCBN seminars. I was fortunate to attend my first level-three seminar within 30 days of attending the level-two training, which helped reinforce what I had already learned.

The advanced session covered drilling, including solid-carbide, replaceable-tip and indexable-insert drills. The presenter showed slow-motion videos of drills as they enter the cut and taught acceptable chip shapes, how to select an edge prep, how to choose the correct grade for an application and how to troubleshoot various failure modes.

What was really great was being divided into groups of three and having each group determine the feeds and speeds for various drills and sizes. Then, the parameters were plugged into the machining center and run. The resulting chips were compiled and compared between the groups, providing a little competitive fun to see which group had the best parameters. The session also used a Kistler force sensor and software to measure the Z-axis forces produced by our feeds and speeds.

I went into the seminar with some knowledge, but came away with significantly more. I am scheduled for additional level-three training this year on milling and turning, and I can't wait for those classes. CTE

About the author: Michael Deren is the manufacturing engineer/project manager and a regular CTE contributor. [email protected]