As a UK manufacturer of solid carbide cutting tools, the specialist knowledge and expertise at Tewkesbury-based Quickgrind benefits OEMs and SMEs in the manufacture of aerospace components and structures.
The aer industry demands are exacting which adds to the requirements of the manufacturing and programming teams hard-pressed to deliver the right part and quality, in the required time. More than 3,000 aerospace companies operate in the UK, and the sector has the largest number of SME companies in Europe, providing over 282,000 jobs directly and indirectly.
As Mike Stobart from Quickgrind says: “For those who produce the components, they need and deserve the best and most optimised cutting tools and strategies to enable trouble-free, consistent production.”
A USP intrinsically linked with flexibility
“The demand for cutting tools to perform at their best, day in and day out requires a serious partner that has the ability and know-how to deliver, and that is exactly what we do at Quickgrind. Our cutting tools, whether in standard form or bespoke form will provide trouble-free and long-lasting performance in all the material types used in the aerospace industry. There are a huge variety of components in the aerospace industry that our tools are suitable for, but rather than try to define such parts, we would rather bring readers’ attention to some of the tools in our ranges.”
“Let us look at some of these and their uses. For machining aluminium, we have the QAlu 3-flute end mill range that is TX-R coated and available as standard from 3 to 20mm with and without corner rads. Then there is the QAlu-R roughing end mill with its NF style form. This 6 to 20mm tool enables high feed rates and excellent swarf evacuation. Others in the range are the Alligator 2-flute end mill and Duo-Ballnose, the Caiman 3-flute for 6000 and 7000 series aluminium and its 5-flute chipbreaker big brother with 5XD flute lengths.”
When machining HRSA such as titanium and Inconel, engineers can use the Mirage and Mirage Super end mills. As Mike adds: “These are complimented by our exciting new QVari 4 flute Variable end mills available from 3 to 20mm. When in need of more flutes, we have the QVari-5 (6 to 20mm with and without corner rads) a 5-flute variable helix end mill and the 7-flute QVari-7. The QVari-7 has chip breakers and 3XD flute lengths.”
“If it’s steel you are machining, then we have the QCut variable flute end mill for those more difficult features and the QPlus2 (also QPlus 2-LS) as an excellent allrounder available from 3 to 20mm. If a high feed tool is required, our Bulldog range competes globally and is a firm favourite with the extra appeal of being able to be remanufactured numerous times. We produce these with many different overall lengths – all the way up to 300mm. While talking about High Feed tools, we have to mention the 3-flute Spectre and 4-flute Phantom which are both suitable for HRSA materials. The two types are available with through coolant options and the Phantom can be remanufactured to as good as new condition. The Spectre is available from 1.5 to 16mm diameter. For machining certain features in steels up to 50HRc, we have the Reaper and Reaper-LS.”
Barrel tools are an important alternative to using ballnose tools for finishing all the materials found in the aerospace industry. The Eliminator range from Quickgrind has conical barrel tools, tangential barrel tools, Lens Tools, Form-F (flat surface finishing) and the newly developed Concave Barrel tools for convex surfaces. “As a leader in this type of tool, we have standard ranges and we also produce bespoke tools designed for the ultimate finish. These tools provide up to 90% reduction in cycle times.”
Quickgrind has been at the forefront of developing and manufacturing tools for high-productivity trimming, milling, routing, drilling and reaming of composite materials for many years. As Mike continues: “Take our Dagger drills – these are used for producing accurate holes without delamination when they exit the hole. For finer tolerance work, we also offer our Dagger drill/ream. Working with our clients, we have developed some of the most efficient tooling for difficult-to-machine composite materials including CFRP (carbon fibre-reinforced polymers), glass epoxy laminates, sandwich materials, engineered plastics and wood. On these materials, there are common issues that include delamination, fibre pull-out, abrasion and thermal distortion. We produce three tool versions, the Fusion-P for polymers, Fusion-M for metal composites and the Fusion-C for carbons.”
“Bespoke tools have always been a major part of our business – and they will continue to do so. We have defined this service as Infinite Possibilities where we work with customers to develop the ideal tools for their components. We provide full backup with regards to machining strategies, cutting data and remanufacturing to enable an economic solution,” concludes Mike.
