Proper setup is critical to your CNC machining operations. It ensures that the end products from those operations are produced efficiently and meet strict quality standards. Choosing the appropriate metalworking tools is vital to your setup, but you also require tool accessories that best meet your needs. Keep reading to learn how toolholders can benefit your production environment.
Precision Coolant Technology
Toolholders perform an important job. They safely hold each tool in the most precise position and with the firmest possible grip. They also reduce the risk of damage to your cutting tool and spindle.
As you may know from your holemaking processes, CNC metalworking tools can generate a lot of heat. Efficient coolant delivery and distribution are critical to keeping those tools in good working condition. Through-coolant toolholders incorporate internal passages that allow coolant to reach the tool shaft. You don’t need to use external nozzles or run the coolant through the tool to maintain optimal tool life and efficiency.
Toolholder Styles
There’s a wide range of toolholders on the market, so you have many options from which to choose. Other common styles include quick-change tap holders as well as Morse and Jacobs tapers. You should select your toolholders based on machine configuration, machining conditions and production needs.
Benefits of Quick-Change Toolholders
Besides through-coolant varieties, quick-change toolholders offer unique advantages. If you’ve heard of offline presetting, you know that it allows you to calibrate your tools before the machining process begins. Once you’ve preset your tool, you can load it into the machine and process the first workpiece. Adjustments can be made based on post-machining offset measurements.
Offline presetting is only possible with quick-change toolholders. Modular tooling solutions also permit you to use multiple adapters. With this functionality, you can arrange many different tool configurations.
Eight Cutting Edges Per Insert
Turning tools increase production efficiency. Moreover, they’re absolutely necessary for manufacturing many kinds of components. Like other metalworking processes, turning removes material from a workpiece to help shape its final form.
You may recall that Kennametal’s FIX8 turning system incorporates a toolholder with a specially designed clamping system. The FIX8 includes eight cutting edges for each insert, with its clamping system pulling each insert into a pocket seat. This ensures that the inserts can handle large cutting forces and a lot of vibration.
The FIX8 requires 15% less cutting force than other turning solutions, so it’s perfect for lower horsepower lathes. It also supports large cutting depths and feed rates up to 1.4 millimeters, ideal for removing metal from steel, stainless steel and cast iron work pieces.
The Importance of Balanced Toolholders
Using toolholders offers you some of the advantages we’ve already mentioned. However, those toolholders must be correctly balanced, which makes them ideal for high-speed machining. Balanced toolholders can operate at the maximum highest spindle speeds and higher feed rates. They’re also less likely to produce chatter, resulting in unpleasant dissonant sounds and reduced cutting precision.
Toolholders improve your CNC machining setup in several important ways: increased efficiency, cost-effectiveness, extended tool life, versatility and support for advanced tooling solutions. Working with a trusted networking equipment vendor helps you create the best possible production environment.
