4 Ways to extend the life of Cutting Tools
Smart manufacturers understand that in today’s competitive market, controlling manufacturing costs is a must. Hence, if you can extend the life of your cutting tools, you can reduce some of your costs.
Euro Gulf has put together a list of best practices that can be adopted to extend tool life:
- 1. Controlling the Heat
The biggest factor contributing to tool life is heat and how it’s controlled. Speed has a direct correlation to tool life. As speed increases, tool life goes down and this is true with any material and with any carbide used as an insert. Heat, caused by the friction of chip removal, will eventually begin to degrade the cutting elements. By applying liquid CO2 directly at the cutting interface, life of the insert can be extended
- 2. Preparing the Edge
Edge preparation, which essentially means removing material from a cutting tool, plays a critical role in extending cutting tool life as it strengthens the edge, minimizing the possibility of edge chipping, which can lead to tool failure.
- 3. Controlling the Chips
Controlling the flow of chips during cutting will minimize tool failure. Two ways of addressing this are by way of through-the-tool coolant designs and chip formers or chip breakers designed for specific cutting processes. Chip formers or chip breakers direct chips away from the cutting edge which can extend tool life significantly.
- 4. Coating the inserts
Too much heat on materials damages the cutting tool and impacts the cutting process. One way to combat heat is to apply special coatings on tooling. The two main coatings cutting tool manufacturers use are CVD and PVD coatings. CVD coatings are typically thicker than PVD coatings and help to protect the carbide substrate from heat. They also offer good wear resistance. PVD coatings are thinner coatings so they’re easier to apply to very sharp edges and adhere better to sharp corners than CVD coatings.
Contact EURO GULF today, to know all the ways you can adopt to extend the life of your tool and also to obtain the best CNC Cutting Tools for your machines.
