Milling

North American Tool Corp. has introduced a new line of standard solid-carbide thread mills. These thread mills feature a helical flute design and are manufactured from premium micrograin carbide for increased life and improved thread quality in a variety of materials. Straight-flute tools are available as specials.

For all practical purposes, says Bob Warfield of CNCCookbook.com, manual machinists always use conventional milling and CNC machinists always use climb milling. "Most of us do one or the other, and seldom change," he observed, but is that right?"

The Spike sensory toolholder is a wireless force sensor used for tool monitoring. During the machining process (e.g drilling or milling), it can measure the generated force and torque directly at the toolholder. The occuring data will be transmitted wirelessly to the receiver and the tool measurement software.

The optimal machine tool plus the optimal tool equals the perfect combination. And that makes cost-effective processes and impressive machining results possible. One good example of this is the cooperation between the machine manufacturer, F. Zimmermann GmbH, and MAPAL. For demonstrations and machine acceptance tests, Zimmermann equips its new horizontal machining center with milling cutters from MAPAL.

Walter has announced several extensions to its Tiger-tec Gold inserts, all of which possess the features that have made it so successful: A smooth rake face for excellent friction characteristics; optimal wear detection due to its gold-colored top layer; an especially tough cutting edge for maximum process reliability; and the latest coating technology for long tool life.

UNISIG continues to expand its product line to meet the growing needs of today's manufacturers, especially moldmakers. The company offers the USC and USC-M series machines, which combine deep-hole drilling and milling capabilities to allow mold shops to reduce setup time, increase accuracy and eliminate mold design restrictions associated with traditional machining centers.

HEIDENHAIN's ACU-RITE brand of digital readout (DRO) products for the machine tool marketplace has introduced a line of three innovative DROs with new software features and robust hardware, which is reportedly making a difference for milling, turning, grinding and boring applications.

The STC series has been designed to provide unrivalled economy in the machining of the most demanding structural parts, multiple-blades and casings with long cycle times, and provide the customer with a whole host of practical options.

ARNO Werkzeuge USA announced it has reintroduced the H.B. Rouse brand of American-made, carbide cutting tools and inserts. Formerly sold and marketed under the Arno-Rouse name, the company has reintroduced Rouse as a stand-alone product offering under its original brand name: H.B. Rouse.

With its release of new tool bodies and inserts, Walter USA LLC significantly expands its cutter family for milling large threads, the T2711/T2712 system.

When programmed to follow optimal CAM toolpaths and matched to a machine tool's capability, expensive cutting tools engineered for high efficiency may offer total-cost-and-performance results that are significantly better than lower-cost cutting tools.

The newly introduced MT Drill from Carmex is designed to drill, chamfer and thread mill a hole in a single operation. Constructed of solid carbide, the 2-flute drill/thread milling cutter, with 45-degree chamfering, reduces cycle times by combining operations and eliminating tool changes.