Life Articles

Iscar adjustable Milling Cutters

Iscar recently made public a new family of High Speed Milling adjustable endmills and facemills that will advance milling of aluminum, non-metallics, cast iron and hardened steel. This should prove especially useful in the automotive and aerospace industries.

The cutters are dynamically stabilized and especially built to work with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) or cubic boron nitride (CBN) inserts. The use of these inserts will greatly improve surface finish. Regular HSM-rated HELIMILL carbide inserts will also work with these cutters. Internal coolant holes permit cooler cutting face along with enhanced chip discharge and built-up edge resistance. The insert pockets feature a flexible rear stopper, allowing for axial positioning of the cutting edge within 0.002 mm.

Iscar's endmills designated E90AD are available in HSK A63 shanks in 4 diameters from 25 to 50 mm. Iscar Facemills designated F90AD cover the 50 to 80 mm diameter range are offered in four sizes.

When implemented with Iscar HELIMILL carbide inserts, the adjustable high speed milling cutters produce a fluid cutting action at lesser cutting forces. HELIMILL inserts' helical cutting edges slowly enter the work piece lowering the impact load on the cutting face.

CHATTERFREE Solid Carbide Endmills

Iscar is enlarging the tremendously successful CHATTERFREE solid carbide 4 flute endmill family with the addition of smaller (3, 4 and 5 mm) and larger (25 mm) diameters. The completely new solid carbide endmills are implemented for roughing and finishing operations. Due to their variable pitch they showcase excellent chatter dampening ability. These endmills are an wonderful resolution for low power machines by increasing their material removal rate and reducing vibration. They can be used for full slot machining of up to 2XD with solid carbide endmills.

Iscar's CHATTERFREE endmills increase stock removal rate and decrease cycle time in most milling operations. Their distinctive ground geometry provides fantastic surface finish and long tool life, while machining at high material removal rates.

New ID5 PCD and IB85 PCBN Tipped Milling Inserts

Iscar is adding a new TANGMILL ID5 PCD wiper insert and 2 HELIMILL inserts tipped with IB85 PCBN, for machining cast iron and a wide range of difficult-to-machine materials at high cutting rates. The new LNAR 1106PN-R-S-W ID5 PCD tipped wiper insert has a exceptionally large frontal radius and sharp cutting edge. It provides a consistent clean-cut edge and fantastic surface finish of less than Ra 0.3 µm. Iscar's new HELIMILL insert ADKW 1505 PDER IB85 has an IB85 PCBN brazed tip and can be used on 90 different milling cutters for semi-finishing and finish machining on cast iron. The insert includes a 0.8 mm corner radius and a honed cutting edge (0.03 mm). It can be used on the conventional F90AD...-SFR or the E90AD ...-HSK63-S axially adjustable milling tools.

By adjusting the axial position of the inserts, it is conceivable to accomplish a 0.3-0.7 µm surface finish. IB85 is a fine grain polycrystalline cubic boron nitride grade. The minimal grain size enables grinding a very sharp cutting edge and achieving high surface quality, which provide excellent tool life. The IB85 grade can be used for machining a wide range of hard to machine material at high cutting rates and provides superior tool life. IB85 contains 85% PCBN with Al Co and W binder.

It is a incredibly strong and tough material which can be employed for heavy roughing and interrupted cuts. The range of materials covered by IB85 encompasses hardened and cast steel of over 45 HRc, grey and nodular cast iron, powder compacted and sintered metals as well as heat resistant alloys.