Milling Tool Components
CompoTech has developed light weight carbon composite cutting tools and spindles that increase machining speed as well as life time of the tool.
Carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) material is a solution to light weighting components for milling. Creating a hybrid structure of pitch fibre composite with steel reduces weight, while adding other benefits due to damping and customised thermal expansion.
Carbon composite milling tool components include:
- HSM Spindle
- Spindle cover
- Milling head
- Milling Disc
High-speed machining spindle
CFRP-steel hybrid spindle can accelerate to maximum rotation speeds, 17% faster than a steel spindle.
Damping properties also lead to increased stability of machining. The hybrid solution ensures twice the cutting chip limit thickness is safely achieved at a broader range of spindle speeds. Meaning stable machining is achievable while taking twice the amount of material. For example, a faster feed rate.
These factors combine to give more durability to the spindle and the tool.
Spindle cover
Composite cover tubes produced on high-precision tooling are up to 50% lower in cost to manufacture than steel. With no internal machining required it can be a light weight and low cost solution.
Milling heads
Large face mills are used for machining surfaces or rough machining in the horizontal direction.
The reduced weight and increased stiffness due to the pitch fibre translates to an increased natural frequency of the part. Damping properties in the tool are critical to reducing unwanted vibrations in the machining process so the tool has improved cutting stability.
Tests indicate the tool can perform better, meaning faster and more accurate machining or an improved machined surface. In certain circumstances, it can perform the job typically requiring two steel toolsets for rough and final machining. Resulting in decreased machining time and reduced overall machined part cost.
Milling discs
This composite, tool developed with Hofmeister, sees reduction in machining time of 78% in increased tool life.
The tool is a series of flat discs with teeth, generally used for machining slots. CompoTech’s lightweight hybrid tool allows two additional cutting discs within the machine payload limit. The new four-disc hybrid tool is well within the horizontal machining centre’s 25kg maximum weight limit, not achievable using four conventional metal disc cutters which individually weigh 7.9kg.
The hybrid milling tool can manage 16 cutting inserts across four discs compared with only 12 on standard two-disc milling cutters, a further boost in machining performance.
The net result is to reduce the machine time of a forged steel chain link component from 45 to 10 seconds. The inherent damping has also dramatically increased the tool insert life by up to 5 times.
