Specialised parting-off tooling from Advanced Carbide Tooling is being used successfully by R W Brown Engineering to produce high volumes of components, many of them in stainless steel.

Specialised parting-off tooling from Advanced Carbide Tooling isbeing used successfully by R W Brown Engineering to produce highvolumes of components, many of them in stainless steel, on a newCNC sliding-head lathe. The tools are used on a Citizen L20-V11with 20mm bar capacity bought by the precision engineeringsubcontractor in order to increase its ability to produce largebatches of small components. The company also operates sevenother CNC turning and milling machines at its factory atClacton-on-Sea, Essex, where around 60 per cent of output is instainless steel, much of it for the food processing industry.Having used ACT tooling in the past, owner Bob Brown called thecompany in to advise on two particular jobs to be performed onthe new lathe one involving 20mm solid 303 stainless steel barand the other 8mm 304 stainless steel tube.

For both jobs thecompany uses L121C toolholders with 12mm square shanks and 13mmreach.

Two features are a flush-fitting mechanical insert clampand strong side reinforcement, which together hold the insertrigidly in position.

The solid bar is parted-off at a spindlevelocity of 85 metres/minute and a feed rate of 0.05 to 0.08mm/rev, using TiAlN-coated carbide inserts with a cuttinggeometry that optimises chip control.

The tooling consistentlyachieves the clean square surface required by his customer, andeach insert produces at least 2500 components, according to MrBrown.

For the second application, which involves parting-off 8mmdiameter 304-grade tube with a 1mm wall, ACT advised high speedsteel TiN-coated inserts with a 250 positive high-shear top rake.The sharp edge of the HSS inserts reduces cutting pressures,minimising distortion, and also avoids burring.

Parting-off isperformed at a velocity of 45 metres/minute and a feed rate of0.03 mm/rev.

'The specialist knowledge and personalattention we have received from ACT has been extremely valuablein solving these machining problems and enabling us to meet ourcustomers requirements efficiently and economically' said MrBrown.