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Trochoidal speed cutting (TSC) is the method of the hour, particularly when it comes to profitably manufacturing large, top-quality cross-sections using low cutting forces at high speeds, even under critical usage conditions. Tool manufacturer InovaTools provides the metalworking industry with customized tools to do exactly this. In combination with the innovative machining cycle, machining time can be reduced by up to 60 percent compared with conventional full-slot milling, depending on the application.
Static and dynamic trochoidal speed cutting (TSC) is a combination of circular and linear slot milling with higher feed rates, large cross-sections and high engagement depths. Using small tool diameters, the special trochoidal machining path allows for a much larger cutting diameter than that of conventional full-slot milling. In addition, the entire length of the cutting edge on TSC tools is utilized evenly. The bottom line is that the user gains significant benefits in terms of productivity, even when machining hard-to-cut materials.
Douglas Kline, Managing Director Inovatools USA LLC: "The computing power of control units in modern machining centers is continuously improving and increasing in speed. In combination with optimally adapted tools from InovaTools, TSC is therefore now completely reliable and is setting new standards, particularly in slot milling. Thanks to our special TSC tools, InovaTools customers are able to get even more out of their machines, including less powerful ones."
The primary aim of TSC milling is to reduce the cutting force and therefore the resulting buildup of heat in the respective application – and InovaTools achieves this thanks to a smaller cutting arc angle. After all, the smaller the angle, the shorter the chips and the better the chip-breaking. Since the end mill does not completely fill the slot, not only are all chips quickly removed from the contact zone but the heat from cutting is also transported away from the area. As a result, the TSC end mills from InovaTools can be operated with high cutting depths, speeds and feeds as well as low cutting forces. To reduce machining time even more, a greater number of teeth are used, whereby the feed rate can be further increased. Despite the extreme cutting parameters, there is less wear on the cutting edge than with conventional milling methods. The TSC tools can be optimally utilized and are a great deal more durable.
InovaTools offers TSC tools that have been optimally adapted in terms of substrate, geometry and chip clearance for various materials, such as special alloys, hardened steel, tempering steel, INOX, general construction steel, aluminum and plastic. Examples include the five-edge TSC TITAN end mill (diameter: 6–20mm) for machining special alloys such as titanium or Inconel. The three- to four-edge HARDMAX end mill features a particularly robust design. With diameters ranging from 2.5 to 20mm, it is particularly suitable for TSC milling hardened steel (55–60 HRC). The SC end mill TSC INOX is available in diameters of 6 to 20mm.
TSC allows for significant performance increases in aluminum cutting, too. The two- to four-edge lapped end mill TSC ALU, which is available in diameters ranging from 4 to 25mm, is optimally designed to meet these special cutting requirements. For plastics, InovaTools offers lapped SC end mills (diameter: 3–25mm).
In addition to personalized advice on technical cutting parameters, InovaTools also provides the cutting database INOCUT online (www.schnittdaten.eu) for PCs, tablets, smartphones, etc. The database features its own "TSC circular milling" calculation tool for a wide range of applications. For example, the user enters the slot width or drill hole diameter and is recommended an engagement width calculated using a predefined cutting arc angle.
Kline said: "It is important that the engagement depth for the application is at least 1xD and that the chosen tool radius is smaller than the smallest radius on the component in order to optimize cutting data and process reliability. Under ideal conditions, this can reduce machining time by up to 60 percent."
Related Glossary Terms
- alloys
alloys
Substances having metallic properties and being composed of two or more chemical elements of which at least one is a metal.
- centers
centers
Cone-shaped pins that support a workpiece by one or two ends during machining. The centers fit into holes drilled in the workpiece ends. Centers that turn with the workpiece are called “live” centers; those that do not are called “dead” centers.
- chip clearance
chip clearance
In milling, the groove or space provided in the cutter body that allows chips to be formed by the inserts.
- clearance
clearance
Space provided behind a tool’s land or relief to prevent rubbing and subsequent premature deterioration of the tool. See land; relief.
- conventional milling ( up milling)
conventional milling ( up milling)
Cutter rotation is opposite that of the feed at the point of contact. Chips are cut at minimal thickness at the initial engagement of the cutter’s teeth with the workpiece and increase to a maximum thickness at the end of engagement. See climb milling.
- cutting force
cutting force
Engagement of a tool’s cutting edge with a workpiece generates a cutting force. Such a cutting force combines tangential, feed and radial forces, which can be measured by a dynamometer. Of the three cutting force components, tangential force is the greatest. Tangential force generates torque and accounts for more than 95 percent of the machining power. See dynamometer.
- feed
feed
Rate of change of position of the tool as a whole, relative to the workpiece while cutting.
- gang cutting ( milling)
gang cutting ( milling)
Machining with several cutters mounted on a single arbor, generally for simultaneous cutting.
- metalworking
metalworking
Any manufacturing process in which metal is processed or machined such that the workpiece is given a new shape. Broadly defined, the term includes processes such as design and layout, heat-treating, material handling and inspection.
- milling
milling
Machining operation in which metal or other material is removed by applying power to a rotating cutter. In vertical milling, the cutting tool is mounted vertically on the spindle. In horizontal milling, the cutting tool is mounted horizontally, either directly on the spindle or on an arbor. Horizontal milling is further broken down into conventional milling, where the cutter rotates opposite the direction of feed, or “up” into the workpiece; and climb milling, where the cutter rotates in the direction of feed, or “down” into the workpiece. Milling operations include plane or surface milling, endmilling, facemilling, angle milling, form milling and profiling.
- milling machine ( mill)
milling machine ( mill)
Runs endmills and arbor-mounted milling cutters. Features include a head with a spindle that drives the cutters; a column, knee and table that provide motion in the three Cartesian axes; and a base that supports the components and houses the cutting-fluid pump and reservoir. The work is mounted on the table and fed into the rotating cutter or endmill to accomplish the milling steps; vertical milling machines also feed endmills into the work by means of a spindle-mounted quill. Models range from small manual machines to big bed-type and duplex mills. All take one of three basic forms: vertical, horizontal or convertible horizontal/vertical. Vertical machines may be knee-type (the table is mounted on a knee that can be elevated) or bed-type (the table is securely supported and only moves horizontally). In general, horizontal machines are bigger and more powerful, while vertical machines are lighter but more versatile and easier to set up and operate.
- tempering
tempering
1. In heat-treatment, reheating hardened steel or hardened cast iron to a given temperature below the eutectoid temperature to decrease hardness and increase toughness. The process also is sometimes applied to normalized steel. 2. In nonferrous alloys and in some ferrous alloys (steels that cannot be hardened by heat-treatment), the hardness and strength produced by mechanical or thermal treatment, or both, and characterized by a certain structure, mechanical properties or reduction in area during cold working.
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