Shops that struggle to manage metalworking chips and optimize tool life in extreme turning applications will benefit from the new Seco -R3 and -RR93 insert geometries. As part of the RCMX and RCMT range of turning inserts, the new geometries make easy work of such challenging applications as turning railway car wheels.

The new inserts combine roughing and medium finishing chipbreakers with Duratomic grade technology. The -RR93 chipbreaker boosts tool life, improves productivity, increases product reliability, enhances chip management and impart a fine surface finish. This new design replaces the -RR94 geometry.

For medium finishing applications in steels, difficult stainless steels and superalloys, the -R3 geometry offers optimally positioned grooves that control chips even at depths of cut as small as 0.059" (1.5 mm), at high feed rates from 0.024 ipr to 0.047 ipr (0.6 mm/rev to 1.2 mm/rev) and at cutting speeds from 3.543 ipm to 6.299 ipm (90 m/min. to 160 m/min). (Within these cutting-data ranges, the correct choices depend on the application at hand.) The -R3 geometry replaces the previous -R2 geometry.

To produce smoother finishes ideal for the surface areas of railway wheels, as well as for medium roughing applications with difficult-to-cut materials, RCMT20-R3 positive screw-clamped additions to the range reduce machining vibration significantly. Dedicated insert edge treatments and retained functional toughness arrest comb cracks and increase edge security.

The new RCMX and RCMT geometries feature the Duratomic CVD aluminum-oxide coating process that optimizes mechanical and thermal properties for enhanced performance. This technology also provides used edge detection to reduce insert cutting-edge waste.

The new -RR93 and -R3 geometries and Duratomic grades have been tested in most common railway wheel materials, including R7, R8, R9, M1, Class B and Class C.