Surface Finishing & Coating

Walter Surface Technologies aims to enhance blending and finishing processes in metalworking shops with its new Blendex U Turbo blending disc. The disc was constructed using a heat-resistant non-woven matrix, which helps it to provide a more consistent finish without smearing.

Cutting Tool Engineering provides coverage of more than 210 of the products that exhibitors will showcase at IMTS 2016. They are divided into tooling and workholding products, machine tools and accessories, and metalworking products. Presented here is the preview for Metalworking Products.

Cutting Tool Engineering provides coverage of more than 210 of the products that exhibitors will showcase at IMTS 2016. They are divided into tooling and workholding products, machine tools and accessories, and metalworking products. Presented here is the preview for Tooling & Workholding.

Cutting Tool Engineering provides coverage of more than 210 of the products that exhibitors will showcase at IMTS 2016. They are divided into tooling and workholding products, machine tools and accessories, and metalworking products. Presented here is the preview for Machine Tools & Accessories.

Most PVD coaters use cathodic-arc evaporation, in which an electric arc vaporizes the coating material from a cathode. The vaporized material condenses on the tool, resulting in a wear-resistant coating imbued with whatever qualities the coater is looking to impart to the tool. But there's another, less-common physical-vapor-deposition method called high-power impulse magnetron sputtering, or HIPIMS, that combines the advantages of high ionization from cathodic-arc techniques with the superior adhesion of magnetron sputtering.

Throughout the sometimes-contentious world of machining, the debate rages about whether to apply flood coolant or cut dry. As in many areas of machining, the choice is not easy and requires careful and informed consideration. To further complicate the decision, minimum-quantity lubrication (MQL) can be a successful compromise that provides an efficient and effective answer to the troublesome question.

It is widely acknowledged within the manufacturing industry that PCD tools deliver excellent results when reaming nonferrous metals and abrasive plastics. Reaming with a PCD tool allows the user to ream holes faster, to tighter tolerances and produce cleaner-edge holes than is possible with carbide or HSS tooling.

Autodesk CAM software developer Delcam Ltd., working with toolmaker Technicut Ltd., has created a software and cutting tool combination for machining blisks that reportedly reduces machining time and costs about 50 percent compared to traditional methods.

An optical cleaning kit designed for cleaning splatter from CO2 laser optics that is ideally suited for sapphire, quartz, germanium, silicon, and other materials is available from Laser Research Optics. The LRO advanced optical cleaning kit was designed for cleaning spatter and blowback from CO2 optics in the field to prevent damage to coatings, extend lens life, and improve laser performance.

Peddinghaus Corp. offers new AGTOS shot-blast machines, which are precisely designed and manufactured in Germany. This kind of machines is used for cleaning, roughening, shot peening or the finishing of part surfaces.

The LUMICLAD finish from Birchwood Technologies forms a nearly non-dimensional black oxide finish on all aluminum surfaces. LUMICLAD is very durable, clean and tightly adherent to the metal substrate.

Deep-hole drilling is virtually an art unto itself, with a host of complexities and considerations inherent to the process. Greg Forman, technical director of toolmaker Precision Cutting Tools Inc. (PCT), Santa Fe Springs, Calif., answered questions to provide some insight into drilling holes greater than 5 diameters deep.