Reaming Application Illustrates True Cost of Cutting Tools
Cutting tools have two costs: purchase price and combined cost of all time, effort and extra steps required for a particular tool.
Share
One caveat is that this search for savings often requires a change of thinking. Previously, the injector body manufacturer saw the critical hole as a boring application. The savings came when the company saw it as a reaming application instead. Something similar frequently occurs in milling work, Mr. Edler says. Many facilities can double their metal-removal rate in milling, but doing so requires the counterintuitive step of switching to a high-feed milling tool design that mandates a light depth of cut—lighter than what the shop is taking now. Running this tool at a substantially higher feed rate can more than overcome the lighter cut to save overall cost. In applications such as these, he says, the cost-effective approach often looks very different from the way that a given part or feature has historically been machined.
Cost Analysis
This cost analysis for machining the blind hole does not include the savings from eliminating 100-percent inspection. Even without these savings, total cost per piece was reduced by 60 percent, despite the fact that the winning tool had the higher pricetag.
Related Content
Seco Tools' Reamers Optimize Chip Evacuation
The Nanojet solid-carbide reamers are designed to stop chip jamming and enhance application stability.
Read More
Darex Adds End Mill Attachment to Drill Sharpener
This LEX600 end mill attachment enables users to sharpen the primary and secondary grind on the tips of two-, three- or four-fluted end mills up to 5/8".
Read More
Heule Tool Enables Spot Facing of Difficult-to-Reach Areas
The manually actuated bkac spot facing tool is well suited for large boring mills and other open-air machines.
Read More
Ceratizit Product Update Enhances Cutting Tool Solutions
The company has updated its MaxiMill 273-08 face mill, WPC – Change Drill, as well as the HyPower Rough and HyPower Access 4.5-degree hydraulic chucks.
Read MoreRead Next
AMRs Are Moving Into Manufacturing: 4 Considerations for Implementation
AMRs can provide a flexible, easy-to-use automation platform so long as manufacturers choose a suitable task and prepare their facilities.
Read More
Machine Shop MBA
Making Chips and Modern Machine Shop are teaming up for a new podcast series called Machine Shop MBA—designed to help manufacturers measure their success against the industry’s best. Through the lens of the Top Shops benchmarking program, the series explores the KPIs that set high-performing shops apart, from machine utilization and first-pass yield to employee engagement and revenue per employee.
Read More