With the application of new tool technology, manufacturers can focus on cutting time costs, shortening auxiliary man-hours, and in many machining situations, the break-even point of tool investment can be reached within a few hours.

How should we measure the technological progress of cutting tool products? How to measure success in business and career? No matter how you answer these questions, the answer will always be related to some measure of time (for example: how long it takes to produce a tool, how much money the company makes each year, how much money you make per hour). Among all things related to manufacturing, time is the factor that has the greatest impact on improving profitability and enhancing the company's capabilities.

For mold processing technology (such as machine tools, CAD/CAM, cutting tools, materials, etc.), the technology you are using today is out of date. The research and development of concepts such as the next generation of machine tools and cutting tools have been completed, and they are entering the stage of production and application. These new ideas will eventually affect the manufacturing methods of the entire mold industry.

Although technology is constantly changing and rapidly shifting, and there is a price to pay, it can be measured. Once these technologies are proven to be worthwhile, they should be invested in them. This article focuses on tool technology and how these tools can reduce total manufacturing costs.

Of all the technologies used in daily mold processing, cutting tools are the least expensive, but at the same time they are also the most preoccupied when buying. As an employee, you need to have a general understanding of how your boss or purchaser evaluates an investment; as a boss, you must consider the overall situation when determining the value of a tool (or any other technology), not just the price. Therefore, the correct question is not "What is its price?" but "How much return can I get by applying this technology?"

Investment in knives can bring returns to the enterprise very quickly. Through the introduction of new tool technology, the metal removal rate has been greatly increased, so that the processing capacity can be improved.

Tool cost

Using new tool technology can also save tool costs. Tool manufacturers who use the latest technology to develop tool products can provide more economical processing solutions by developing stronger tools and inserts. Through the application of the latest cemented carbide blade pressing technology, it is possible to produce more cutting edges and higher strength tools and blades, so as to make better use of cemented carbide materials.

Simple process

The process of introducing new tool technology is not necessarily complicated, and companies can usually benefit immediately after tool upgrades. When introducing new cutting tool technology, you only need to establish a working relationship or a cooperative relationship with the cutting tool professional and technical personnel. These tool experts have to come into contact with a large number of machining application examples, which can become a valuable resource for continuous upgrades and updates of tools using new technologies that are constantly being introduced.

Application examples

In order to improve the processing efficiency of a certain project, a tool and die manufacturer needs to shorten the overall cycle time of the processing workshop to produce more parts in a shorter time. Through a cooperative relationship with a tool supplier, they are able to obtain some of the latest tool technology.

The material to be processed is annealed AISI/SAE 4140 low alloy steel (alloying element content less than 5%). In order to rough out the mold substrate, ramp milling and groove milling are required to perform heavy-duty rough milling on the workpiece. After analyzing the processing requirements, the tool supplier recommended a sleeve milling cutter specially designed for fast metal removal (FMR) processing as a possible solution. The short installation time, long tool life, and ultra-high feed rate processing capabilities of this tool make it very suitable for rough milling. It uses a special type of triangular blade, and its feed per tooth can be as high as 3.5mm. This unique blade geometry forms a large arc cutting edge structure, which enables the tool to achieve high feed processing even when each tooth bears a large chip load. In addition, the bottom of the insert is designed as a cylinder, which can be clamped in the matching hole of the tool holder, so that the insert can withstand greater cutting force, so that it can be milled at an ultra-conventional feed rate. After adopting this structural design, the clamping rigidity of the blade is greatly improved, which can eliminate most of the stress normally acting on the fastening screw. Since the cutting force acts on the spindle in the axial direction, it helps to improve the stability in machining. These design features enable the tool to obtain a high metal removal rate, which can improve the efficiency of the entire project.

After adopting this advanced tool, the production efficiency of the tool and die processing workshop is greatly improved, the cutting speed is maintained at 128m/min, and the cutting depth is maintained at 1.27mm. At the same time, the feed speed of the worktable was increased from 1270mm/min to 6528mm/min, which was an increase of more than 5 times; the feed rate per tooth was also increased from 0.5mm/revolution to 2.0mm/revolution; the average chip thickness was increased from that of the original tool. 0.23mm increased to 1.45mm. Even with this greatly improved cutting parameters for processing, the number of workpieces that can be processed by each cutting edge has doubled (from 0.1 to 0.2), and the processing time for each cutting edge has remained stable at 15 minutes. The total cutting time of the machining project has been shortened from approximately 16 hours to approximately 4 hours.

In this processing project, the shortening of working hours not only helps to reduce processing costs, but also allows the tool and mold processing workshop to accept more processing projects. For manufacturers, time is an important resource that can have a significant impact on enterprises.