Milling Speeds 78% Quicker

The new composite four-disc milling cutter increases both the cutting speed and feed rate. The result is a high productivity hybrid milling tool that can operate 78% faster on the same milling centre than a standard steel two-disc cutter.

Key production benefits of the new hybrid four-disc milling tool include:

• Lower inertia moment, resulting in lower energy consumption cost savings.
• Lower thermal-mechanical load on milling machines
• Better anti-vibration damping properties, increasing slot hole machining accuracy.
• Smoother machine operation, enabling a higher quality surface finish.
• Significantly increased output rates and productivity.
• The durability of the new hybrid tool is almost five times greater.

The new milling tool collaboration project was initiated by HOFMEISTER s.r.o. after receiving an inquiry for a four-disc milling tool from a leading European chain manufacturer looking to improve output rates and reduce production costs. By using CompoTech’s carbon fibre technology in the design and production, a new lightweight CF composite and steel hybrid milling tool was successfully developed with two additional cutting discs. The new four-disc hybrid tool was well within the specified Doosan Mecatec HM63H twin pallet horizontal machining centre’s 25kg maximum weight limit; this was not achievable using four conventional metal disc cutters, which individually weigh 7.93kg.

To further boost machining performance, the novel hybrid tool design included additional cutting inserts per disc. The hybrid milling tool has a total of 64 cutting inserts on four discs compared with only 24 on the standard two-disc milling cutter. The net result was vastly superior machining performance, reducing the machining time of a forged steel chain link component from 45 to 10 seconds, exceeding expectations.

The comparative testing carried out during the project conclusively demonstrated that the new hybrid four-disc milling tool could be used for machining in precisely the same way as a conventional all-metal two-disc milling cutter, but with added machining speed and durability. These significant benefits more than justify the initial higher cost of the new hybrid cutter, which HOFMEISTER has estimated has an investment payback period of only around three months for a high volume producer. Table 1 shows details of the technical, operation and economic information comparing the two milling tools.

Table comparing Composite Hybrid Cutter with Steel Cutter
Ing. Pavel Kožmín, PhD., Head of R&D for HOFMEISTER, commented: “This has been another excellent collaboration between the R&D teams from both companies. We have developed an even better performing milling tool than we originally expected thanks to the unique carbon fibre epoxy composite design and production capabilities of CompoTech. The new hybrid milling tool project has exceeded our customer’s expectations with the operational and commercial benefits provided.”

This innovative new hybrid four-disc milling cutter tool offers manufacturers the opportunity to save time and money by achieving significantly higher unit output volumes using existing CNC milling centres, with lower overall production costs. Business benefits from using the new hybrid tool include debottlenecking, improving profitability, and delaying or avoiding the need for further capital investment to achieve growth targets.