Tool life and metal removal rate multiplied
Andreas Greiner and Achim Hoepfner replaced a copy mill with a Walter round insert cutter fitted with ROHX1204MO indexable inserts. The cutter body, indexable inserts and relative cutting data, significantly changed from the previous machining parameters, achieved surprising results. Andreas Greiner: "We were able to increase the tool life by more than six times. The metal removal rate per minute was almost quadrupled."

The results when milling a slot were even more drastic: A conventional solid carbide cutter was replaced by a high-performance Walter Proto▪max™ ST solid carbide cutter. Andreas Greiner: "We have increased the metal removal rate by more than sixteen times from just 1.72 cm³/min to 28 cm³/min." That naturally resulted in a significant reduction in working time.

Working time dropped from five hours to just 50 minutes per component for this step in the process. In addition, Mr Greiner and Mr Hoepfner recommended the Walter F2238 porcupine cutter for further milling operations. This cutter helped to shorten machining time further, while improving quality at the same time.

"Experience is required when working with this material," explains Andreas Greiner. "If machined incorrectly, the material will become so work hardened that it is unmanageable for replacement tools." He also refers to the important factor of speed, using an ideal tooling concept: "If the machines are working at full capacity, solutions are then required that save the customer time and achieve cost optimisation through lower machine tool cost rates."

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