KV Tooling takes first place in ANCA Tool of the Year competition

Article from ANCA

As an industry #ANCATooloftheYear celebrates the knowledge and imagination of cutting tool craftsmen, creating tools with the perfect geometry, profile and finish that shape and build our world every day.

In January 2020, KV Tooling took the coveted first place in ANCA's  first ANCA Tool of the Year competition. The cutting tool industry has cultivated and refined their craft over the years to design beautiful tools, applying science to achieve a submicron surface finish and superior cutting performance.

^{KV Tooling won the ANCA Tool of the Year competition.}
 
Pat Boland, ANCA co-founder, said, “All finalists were of a very high standard and demonstrated a deep understanding for tool geometry, as well as taking full use of ANCA’s software to design unique and special cutting tools. We congratulate the winner KV Tooling, runner up Eshed Tools and Zakłady Mechaniczne Kazimieruk who we gave a special creativity award for daring Bat Man design.”

Brian Beland, president of KV Tooling Systems, said on winning the award: “Competing with world class tool grinding shops from around the world with same grinding machines and winning - regardless of the size of the shop - is something we are particularly proud of. Our entry was a very complex tool with many features incorporated into one tool. We designed the cutting tool to satisfy a customer’s problem, where our one tool replaced a machining requirement that previously required six tools. The customer was very happy with the production gains and for us to submit to ANCA Tool of The Year. We believe winning the competition makes our company more marketable and will give us great exposure and hopefully expand our customer base.”

Eshed Tools entered the competition to share its special tool manufacturing skill set with ANCA users. Shmulik Arbel, the toolmaker's production manager, commented that the company was proud of its expertise to “produce special geometries that are difficult to achieve and save our clients expensive production time.”

^{The finalists in the ANCA Tool of the Year competition.}

Reflecting on coming runners up Shmulik continued, “Taking out this prize creates a great opportunity for global exposure through the Tool of the Year competition. For us ESHED tools as a small and growing tool manufacturer, worldwide recognition is important and will help us expand beyond the local market.” 

Zakłady Mechaniczne Kazimieruk on winning the "most creative tool": “We thought outside the box and were motivated to inspire the grinding community with our entry. During every day work our team make a lot of customized tools so we wanted to make something fresh and unique – even to us. Furthermore, entering was a great test for our grinding skills. We relished the opportunity of seeing others craftmanship and the entries in the tool of the year competition demonstrated to us the range and type of cutting tools that are possible.”
 
The competition was based on the passion and the craft of tool making and celebrate our highly skilled tool grinding community.

Winners:

• First Place: KV Tooling, www.kvtooling.com
• Runner Up: Eshed Tools, www.eshedtools.com
• Most Creative Tool: Zakłady Mechaniczne Kazimieruk, www.kazimieruk.com.pl

^{Pat Boland (left), co-founder and managing director at ANCA, with Ralph Van Hoorn, owner of Van Hoorn Carbide.}

Judging panel:

• Pat Boland, co-founder and managing director at ANCA
• Ralph Van Hoorn, owner of Van Hoorn Carbide
• Thomson Mathew, product manager at ANCA
• Alicona – measurement of surface finish
• Zoller – measurement of profile and diameter 

 
The top five tools were judged on the following criteria:

• Best surface finish in R_a (roughness average) value on the flute or gash surface
• The tool the that is closest to the nominal tolerance as stated on the drawing in terms of diameter and profile (i.e. if the tolerance on diameter is +/-0.010mm and the tool is measured to 0.005" then this will rank favorably)
• Tool that has been ground to the tightest tolerance as per the drawing (i.e. the tool with the lowest tolerance will rank favourably)
• Level of complexity (i.e. in terms of the number of steps, profiles will rank favorably)