In tool and mold making, the machining of hardened steels beyond 50 HRC is standard. It nevertheless remains a discipline for specialists, especially for manufacturers of precision tools. The milling cutters used are subject to very heavy wear. Tool manufacturers therefore know that long and, above all, process-reliable tool life is only possible with a coating adapted to the tool. With the new HiPIMS coating material SteelCon, CemeCon now offers the best solution for this. Hard machining, (…)

Kennametal has released the FIX8™ heavy-duty turning system, delivering maximum metal removal rates in steel, stainless steel and cast iron. With eight cutting edges per insert, the FIX8 turning system increases productivity of any heavy-duty turning operation, providing the lowest cost per edge while reducing cutting forces up to 15 percent. FIX8 has eight cutting edges per insert, providing the lowest cost per edge. The tangential design allows it to sustain far higher loads than (…)

With new PCD solid head milling cutters, MAPAL is extending the possibility of machining carbide and other hard-brittle materials to smaller diameters. Deep-drawing dies in the die and mould sector are often made of durable carbide. Machining them by die-sinking or grinding is tedious. Machining with coated solid carbide tools often suffers from high wear and low tool life. PCD tools are a cost-efficient alternative here. The punches and moulds usually require tools with diameters less (…)

METAV 2022 will be showcasing innovations – from micro-milling cutter design to digitalized shrink chucks. "It’s time to wake up," says Professor Wolfgang Boos, Managing Director of WBA Tooling Academy Aachen GmbH, Germany, addressing the tool construction industry. He is drawing attention to the vital role which digitalized process chains will play in the future. However, tools and molds are still made primarily of metal and need to be machined as efficiently as possible. And so, while (…)

For about two years, MAPAL has been working hard on solutions for the die & mould sector. Last year, the company hit the ground running on a broad front – with a product range tailored to the needs of the industry. A peek at the specialist catalogue or at die-mould.mapal.com shows the entire range of services. MAPAL has big plans for the market launch in the die & mould sector. Dietmar Maichel, Head of Segment Management Die & Mould, made a clear statement: “In this interesting (…)

Steel and cast iron are the most frequently used materials in the machining industry. They are used, for example, for pump housings, compressors or steering systems. The developers at MAPAL always focus on the economical machining of these large groups of materials, as two successful examples show. Cutting material series for milling cast and steel components MAPAL has developed a specially tailored CVD-coated cutting material series for milling cast and steel materials. The new cutting (…)

The FixReam high-performance reamer series made of solid carbide cover a wide range of applications and have already proven themselves many times in steel and cast machining. MAPAL is now expanding the series to include the FixReam Short Plus with newly developed coolant outlets. With the new reamer, users can machine both through bores and blind bores. The universal application means that only one tool needs to be kept in stock instead of two, and thus a reduction in tool and storage (…)

MAPAL is launching a new, particularly economical system of replaceable head reamers – the Press-to-Size-Reamer (PSR) – for customers who manufacture in large series. Thanks to the new development, the costs per bore are reduced massively. The solid carbide replaceable heads are specifically adapted to individual diameters and geometries. The replaceable head system for the diameter range 10 to 25 mm consists of a robust holder, the solid carbide replaceable head and a coolant (…)

Since November 2020, the first two series of MAPAL chucks have been available in the new design which is already winning awards. Both hydraulic chuck series – Hydro Mill Chuck and Hydro DReaM Chuck – clearly combine the performance promise of quality and function in their new design. This is achieved through an optimal interplay of geometric and functional properties. The newly-developed hydraulic expansion clamping system enables high machining parameters through excellent stability and (…)

Standard was yesterday. The trend in industrial production is moving further and further away from mass tools for everything to small batch sizes and special solutions for special applications. In recent years, ProTech from Prešov in Slovakia has developed into an expert for special tools that are precisely tailored to the requirements of its demanding customers. In order to fulfill the customer promise of first-class quality on a daily basis, ProTech has invested, among other things, in (…)