Accelerator - Increase productivity with elevated speeds & feeds.

Joe B. Napier liked TiN-coated tools from IMCO. The tools had already boosted productivity in his precision-machining job shop, P&N Machine Co., Texas. The company makes products for oil drilling, where cost reduction is important in all phases from tools to machinery.

Recently, P&N switched to an even better product from IMCO, the Accelerator Series 2225 three-flute, 60° –helix endmill. Working on Fadal 40-20HT (high torque) 20-hp VMC, he reports good results machining a locking ring for a down-hole drilling tool.

The workpiece is a ring to mount electrical feed-through connectors, and it has a series of holes around a bolt circle. The workpiece is 416 stainless, heat treated to 38 Rc. The milling cut is a slot 0.700" wide x 0.850" deep through one side of the wall of the ring. The tool goes in straight, but must flare out at a 45° chamfer. Thus there's a lot of metal to cut for each point.

It's not an easy cut, but the single tool speeds production on both roughing and finishing. The tool employs a new TiCN coating that is even tougher than TiN.

Use of the tool eliminated machining steps in two operations. "Originally," Mr. Napier tells Meltfax, "We took three roughing steps and then a finish step to clean up the bottom, Now, with the new tool, we've eliminated one of the roughing steps by going deeper in each of the two remaining roughing cuts."

The tool is a ½", high-helix, square, single-end type. Its use has allowed a 25% increase in sfm speed, while boosting tool life by 15%. This is compared to IMCO's 60° –helix TiN-coated Series 2215 endmill – already a very good tool, according to P&N.

Reprinted from Metlfax magazine.