Hundreds of tooling advances will be displayed at the Tooling Show at the National Exhibition Center, Birmingham, U.K., November 12-14. Product launches include standard and special-purpose tooling, solid and insert types, as well as carbide and HSS inserts.
For example, Advanced Carbide Tooling's display includes a new 2.2-mm face-grooving system and recent additions to its Mircona range. The Leicestershire-based company's new face-grooving range includes 20 different standard versions for left or right-hand turning on diameters from 14 to 100 mm and depths up to 10 mm. The new Mircona range is due, in part, to a positive mechanical clamp. This holds the inserts and lets swarf exit freely and coolant easily reach the cutting zone.
NTK Cutting Tools, Farmington Hills, Mich., also has new developments: multi-corner CBN-grade B26 for hard turning of steel; high-performance silicon-nitride grade SX1 with a 'top notch' clamping style that eliminates insert movement within the toolholder under extreme cutting conditions; and the extended DS range for sliding-head machines now includes front turning, grooving, and threading.
In addition, OSG of Glendale Heights, Ill., is announcing the new WX-21 end-mill series and a new range of CA cutters for aluminum. And Renishaw, Hoffman Estates, Ill., is introducing the NC3, a new addition to its growing family of noncontact laser systems, and the new OMP40 probe. Measuring just 125 X 25 X 80-mm high, the NC3 offers tool setting and tool-breakage-detection features, meeting the increasing demand for probing on small machining centers and high-speed cutting machines. Tools as small as 0.2-mm in diameter are measurable anywhere along the laser beam.
Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal, Mount Prospect, Ill., is displaying newly developed cutting materials for high speed, dry, and hard machining; new grades of CBN capable of turning hardened-steel components to precision grinding tolerances and finish; plus new tools featuring Sumitomo's smooth, ultrahard ZX coating technology.
Tooling visitors will also want to see the new additions to WidiaValenite's Widias-elect Super Rougher (SR) geometry inserts. These follow the Madison Heights, Mich. company's successful launch of the original SR high-performance inserts for roughing and heavy-duty machining. They withstand exceptionally heavy chip loads and high metal-removal rates.
