New tools for boring, milling, threading and turning

Paul Horn, the solid carbide tooling, carbide insert and tool holder manufacturer with over 25,000 standard products will introduce five new lines to the UK and Irish markets at MACH 2024. Wholly-owned subsidiary Horn Cutting Tools will be on Stand 210 in Hall 6 to explain the launches and exhibit a broad cross-section of its extensive tooling range.

An addition to the Horn Supermini boring, grooving and chamfering system will be announced, a variant with a precision-ground rake face designed for producing ultra-fine bores. The ground cutting edge is free from notches when viewed at a magnification of x200. It can be used to machine components with an inside diameter of just 0.3mm. Sharp insert geometry ensures process reliability, even with very small cutting feed rates. 

The Supermini Type 105 system insert requires only one tool holder for well over 1,000 insert variants. The carbide inserts are available coated or uncoated in various grades for a variety of applications, including hard machining up to 66HRc. The patented, droplet-shaped cross section has a vibration-damping effect and delivers repeatability during insert exchange. 

Horn has developed a new, solid carbide milling cutter range for machining stainless steel. The combination of substrate, macro and micro geometry, and IG3 coating exhibits high cutting performance and long tool life. The coating offers high-temperature resistance for machining steels alloyed with chromium, nickel and molybdenum.

The tools are offered in two types from stock. The DSHPR variant is suitable as both a finishing and a roughing tool and the geometry is adapted for trochoidal machining. Type DSR is suitable for very small parts and unstable workholding conditions, such as are frequently encountered in the medical and watchmaking industries. 

A new, high-performance SG3P carbide grade presents enhanced possibilities in terms of performance and tool life when whirling medical screws. It enables shorter cycle times for thread production thanks to higher cutting values. 

A long overhang can cause a turning tool to oscillate when boring internal geometries. In addition to causing chatter marks on the surface of the machined component, the vibrations can lead to a significant reduction in tool life. To help mitigate these difficulties, Horn has introduced a boring bar with adjustable damping so it can be set to match the amplitude of the oscillation generated by the machining process. 

The damping element, a carbide rod supported in O-rings, is adjusted from the outside by turning a screw to fine-tune the pre-tension of the rings. It allows the boring bar to be set accurately to minimise the vibration that is predicted to occur during a machining cycle. As standard, Horn offers the boring bars from stock in length-to-diameter ratios of 5:1 and 8:1. Higher ratios are available as special tools. In the case of grooving, Horn offers the S224 double-edged system. The manufacturer’s BK 224 cassette ensures a stable interface between the boring bar and insert. To increase process reliability further, the tools have an internal coolant supply.

Horn is also launching a new tool range for manufacturing brake discs. It includes solid CBN ISO inserts, mainly used for cast iron machining, and CBN-tipped full-radius and shaped inserts. Horn offers the solid CBN ISO S turning insert with eight cutting edges for roughing and finishing. Cutting speeds of well over 1m/min, depths of cut of several millimetres and feed rates up to 0.7 mm/rev are typical values. 

Additionally, Horn has introduced two different tool solutions for machining the heat dissipation grooves in the discs. The CBN-tipped S117 profile grooving insert is ideal in terms of cutting speed and longevity for large batch production. During the process, each groove is produced in just under two seconds in a single operation.