Reduce costs, eliminate steps

Photo Courtesy of Kyocera SGS Precision Tools

A customer was working with forged 4140 steel in a milling application on a component for the firearms industry. They approached Kyocera SGS Precision Tools (KSPT) with a need to drastically reduce time and money. The existing process was to drill a hole to remove some of the material, followed by a 4-flute end mill using several axial plunge and radial interpolation movements to create the final bore dimension. Flood coolant was being used to aid chip evacuation, but it was only partially effective.

The KSPT engineers’ strategy was to implement the company’s Z-Carb HPR end mill, which was able to helical ramp into the workpiece and eliminate the need for the drilling operation completely. The tools and test parameters were as follows:

While needing to produce 7,000 parts annually, the customer’s total cost with the existing process and tooling was $439,764. This included 2,129 tools, $10,645 in tool change time, and an additional $31,699 for the drill cost and cycle time. Even at the identical milling parameters, removing the drilling cycle and using the 5-flute Z-Carb HPR end mill alone to create the finished hole, the total cost was reduced to $323,095.

The new process used only 1,077 tools to complete the job, eliminated the drilling costs completely, and reduced the tool change costs to only $5,385.

The Z-Carb HPR end mill has a very robust end geometry, but the tool implemented also has a single internal coolant hole. This aids in chip evacuation and reduces heat, which allows high ramp angles into a variety of materials. It was so effective in this case that an extra 140 hours of machining time was realized, and with the addition of the through-coolant delivery right at the cutting edge, tool life was doubled compared to the competitive end mill.

When the job was completed, using the Z-Carb HPR end mill saved this customer not only a great deal of time and convenience, but also $116,669 – a reduction of more than 25%.

Kyocera SGS Precision Tools www.kyocera-sgstool.com

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