by, Bernard Martin As carbide end mills gain higher and higher speeds and metal removal rates there has also been a trend by round tool manufacturers to tighten up the tolerances on both the cutting diameter and the shank diameter to improve concentricity. At the same time, shrink fit holders have become more and more popular because they hold a tighter concentricity as well. To achieve this both the shank and the bore now have similar surface finishes and this has led to a problem The tools pull out in the cut. Shrink fit holders are the most accurate for TIR as the toolholder engages completely around round shank tools with a bore tolerance of -0.0001" to -0.0003". As high performance end mills have tightened shank tolerances to the same range of -0.0001" to -0.0003" they have used finer and finer grain grinding wheels which give the shanks a 'shiny' appearance. Shiny means that the superfinished shank has a lower coefficient of friction. So, although the TIR is tighter, the shank is more "slippery". End mills traditionally had surface finish of about 8 μin on the tool shank. But that's changed. It's been recommended that tool shanks used in shrink fit holders should not have a finish finer than 16 μin. for optimum holding power, but tell that to the guy who just superfinished the end mill to a super cocncentric tolerance that you don't want it looking that good. Everyone knows that the last thing you want is for the end mill to slip in the middle of a heavy cut or on the finishing pass of a high tolerance part. These 'hi performance' end mills, often times have higher helix angles which are great for ejecting chips but also create a higher pull out force on that slippery shank. And reducing the helix angle is not the answer. We already know that the gripping pressure is a function of the interference between the tool shank and the shrink fit toolholder bore. Most shrink fit holders have a already bore surface finish of between 12 μin. and 16 μin. So they are ground to a very high tolerance and have about the same surface finish as the toolholder shank. End mill manufacturers and machinist have tried a variety of methods over the years to stop the tools from pulling out. This has ranged from grit blasting the shank to rubbing chalk on the shank, but most everyone in the industry has felt that the problem really needs to be addressed by the longer life toolholder rather than the replaceable cutting tool. That's the problem that Techniks wanted to address. Techniks claims that their "proprietary non-slip TTG594 compound virtually fuses the tool shank with the shrink fit toolholder." ShrinkLOCKED Toolholders eliminate cutting tool pull-out and provide 4X the friction drive force compared to un-treated shrink holders. It’s not just a rougher bore finish that enhances the holding power. TTG-594 is a compound that has a much higher Brinell hardness than carbide so it can “bite” into the tool shank. But this does not affect the ability to perform tool changes.
Techniks arrived at their 4x the holding power comes from torsion testing vs. a standard shrink fit toolholder. They used a ¾” carbide gage pin in a standard holder and found the torque at which the tool will spin in the bore. They then tested the ShrinkLOCKED holder using the same test. According to Greg Webb, at Techniks, "We actually could not find the point at which the tool would spin in the ShrinkLOCKED holder as we broke the carbide gage pins at 4x+ times the torque of the standard holder. The holding power is greater, we just have not found a way to measure this, so we kept our claims conservative at 4x."
3 Comments
In order to get the maximum life out of your Steep taper rotary toolholders in your CNC milling machines, follow these best practices that you can implement in your shop. Perhaps not all of them can be implemented every day or every time but it's well worth being aware of how to best protect your investment.
We often get asked to spec out tooling packages for new CNC mills and one of the questions we encounter most, or should, is how do you select the right toolholder collet size for your companies applications? The real choice is in the size of the collet chuck itself. So several considerations should be reviewed... What size are your tools?Your first consideration should be the size of end mills or drills you will be using most often. If you are doing smaller work you would require smaller diameter range collets. Generally you may prefer the ER16 and ER32 sizes. If you are doing very small work then perhaps an ER11 set would be the best choice. If the bulk of your tool requirements are in the mid range you can also use the ER20. The following is a list of tool diameters that can be used with each size collet chuck. Essentially, the most popular, and again, readily available from a number of sources, are the ER 16, ER20, and ER32... in no particular order. If you need more detailed list of dimensions can be found at these links: How far do you need to reach?A second consideration is the actual reach of the tool. Not projection reach, also know as “gage length” "l1" but projection diameter “D”. Obviously, stubbier is better for projection reach "L1". But, you also need to review the families of parts that you intend to run on the machine. If you intend to use the holder to "reach" into a tight fit then the OD of the projection "D" of the toolholder needs to be considered. Many shops don't always consider this and end up using much longer carbide shanked end mills to get into deep pockets when getting a smaller diameter ER collet and collet chuck would be much less expensive over the life of the job. Here is a list of the OD projection diameters:
Sometimes there is just no getting around having a custom tool made. Get in contact with us if you just can't seem to reach into the part with your toolholder.
by Bernard Martin ER, IT’S IN THE DETAILS The ER collet system has several advantages when using today's CNC computerized milling machines. The most significant advantage is flexibility to hold any type of round shank tool. An ER collet can be used in drilling, reaming, and tapping as well as milling applications just by exchanging the collet. Its accuracy also provides greater tool life than older style collet systems like TG or DA. Another advantage is the flexibility of the collet for clamping a wide range of tool shanks with a small number of collets. ER 16 through ER 40 provide a collapse range of ~.039" flexibility for clamping cutting tools. This is a benefit for you because you will not have to carry as many collets in inventory for the different jobs you need to do each day. The ER collet also provides more holding power by using two principles.
In addition to mechanical differences, the ER collet is also user friendly. It is a self-extracting collet, which eliminates the need for collet squeezers to extract the collet by any other means than screwing the nut off. This enables the operator to spend time running the machine, not extracting collets. These basic principles allow the ER collet system to be the most widely accepted collet system in the world for holding round shank cutting tools.
ER style collet chucks should be used for the bulk of your needs. They are the most dependable, with the least runout, both in and out of the cut, are readily available (so the prices continue to drop) and will give you the best tool life out of the lot of them. Advantages of the ER Collet Systemby Bernard Martin We often run end mill "tests" to determine which tool performs best. Obviously, our goal is to "win' the test and get more business for our manufacturer's. This is article is about one our "tricks" and it's also why we represent both cutting tool manufacturers and rotary tool manufacturers. We want to make sure that the products work together. As a general rule most cutting tool & tolholder manufacturers prefer to use single angle (ER/DR style) collet chucks for general purpose cutting tool applications under 1/2" (12mm). The rules are a bit different in High Speed Machining, as there are many more things to consider, but the problems of TIR at high speeds, where you can hear and feel the chatter, are still there in general end mill cutting operations at lower RPM. It's all boils down to runout and uneven chip load. |
Our technical section is written by several different people. Sometimes, it's from our team here at Next Generation Tooling & at other times it's by one of the innovative manufacturer's we represent in California and Nevada.
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