SPEEDMAX Drill

If you want to drill stainless steel, titanium and alloy steels quickly and cost-effectively, you will rapidly reach the limits of conventional tools. What is required is a high-performance, resilient sprinter such as the SPEEDMAX from Inovatools, according to the company. The tool manufacturer offers just such a powerful package in the form of the SC twist drill. Thanks to cutting edge preparation and the special tool design in terms of geometry, chip control and high-performance coating, it can be operated at much higher feed rates for a significantly longer service life than conventional tools.

Hardness, excellent mechanical and thermal durability and good corrosion and erosion resistance make stainless steel and its alloys, as well as low-density hard titanium, materials with outstanding functional characteristics. Consequently, these materials are used for industrial component manufacture in many areas.

"However, drilling into tough stainless steel, for example, places certain demands on the tools used," says Jochen Eckerle, Head of Production at Inovatools. "If geometry, chip control, coating and cooling are not optimally aligned to the respective application and/or material, cost-effectiveness and quality can quickly fall by the wayside. With our SPEEDMAX HA, HB, and HE shanks with h6 shank tolerance, manufacturers can now be on the safe side."

Maximum cutting capacity due to high feed rates with better quality and service life than standard tools was the focus for development of the SPEEDMAX. One crucial element of the improved performance of the SPEEDMAX is the interplay of various special design features. As a substrate, Inovatools uses selected, tough micro-grain carbide and chamfers the cutting edges after cutting. This special preparation eliminates any tiny nicks and anomalies at µm scale. This makes the cutting edges more stable and hence more resistant to premature wear due to edge breakouts and micro-cracks.

The lifting frontal polished section and the six-surface point thinning, for example, also boost performance. This means that SPEEDMAX not only has outstanding self-centering capabilities but also generates the optimal chip shape required for the high level of cutting data. A special groove chip space with extremely flat surfaces helps to remove chips from the contact zone quickly. This controlled-speed chip removal is aided by the precise internal cooling. Depending on the application, SPEEDMAX is equipped with a high-performance coating that also has a positive impact on wear behavior and service life.

As Jochen Eckerle explains, "Thanks to its special design, SPEEDMAX ensures that the tool runs smoothly even at greater drilling depths. That means that with SPEEDMAX, users can really move up a gear. It is possible to operate at higher feed rates than with conventional SC drills, yet with lower axial force and minimal cutting pressure."

One example is drilling in non-rusting, austenitic steel, 1.4301, X5CrNI18-10, cutting depth 45mm, drill diameter 9.5mm. In contrast to a standard stainless-steel drill, which reaches its limits at a maximum cutting speed of v_c = 50 m/min, a feed rate of v_f = 251mm and a feed rate per revolution of f = 0.15mm/rev, the SPEEDMAX achieves v_c = 90 m/min, v_f = 753mm and f = 0.22mm/rev. "In addition to the increase in feed rate of approximately 200 percent, SPEEDMAX has a considerably longer service life and delivers better hole quality," comments Jochen Eckerle.