When working in a high production environment, tool life is often a top priority. To some extent, it doesn’t matter whether you have the best tool or the most expensive one; it is more important to maintain a consistent lifespan so as not to break parts, but the question is how to achieve this?
How to know in advance the wear of tools?
Many factors can contribute to tool wear, from the tool itself to external factors such as coolant, machine maintenance and material hardness. While achieving 100% repeatability is unrealistic, the key is to keep as many factors the same as possible from job to job and part to part.
Establishing repeatability makes it easier to prevent catastrophic failures that could damage the part and tool, even before the tool is completely worn out, which is much more costly than removing the tool prematurely. Therefore, cost savings are one of the main benefits of consistent tool life. It is better to replace the tool sooner than to push it to its maximum life and possibly damage the tool part or machine parts, resulting in longer setup time and longer machine downtime.
Considering the benefits that can come from establishing a controlled process, here are some tips to help you achieve this better:
Proper Coolant Maintenance and Filtration
From bacteria and machine lubricants to acids and cutting debris, coolant contaminants can hinder the protective coating that coolant provides to tool materials and cutting edges.
Whether it’s using a refractometer to assess concentration levels or water test strips to measure pH levels, coolant maintenance is always less expensive than replacing the entire system or risk damaging your tools.
Perform preventative maintenance
To achieve the same tool life, preventive maintenance of machine tool components and accessories is necessary. Vibration and lack of rigidity due to worn output components can damage new tools encountered in the workshop. Overall, it is important to plan the maintenance and servicing of your equipment to reduce tool costs and machine downtime.
Buy materials from consistent suppliers
Although it may be difficult to purchase materials from the same supplier due to supply chain issues, it is important to try to purchase from the same supplier as differences in materials cause different operation knives. When purchasing from different suppliers, it is important to monitor the inspection reports (MTR) received to ensure that the chemical composition is comparable (in this case, the material composition) and make any changes necessary for procedures to extend tool life.
Focus on the tool holder
For general machining, tool holders are generally not the primary factor in reducing tool life. However, to achieve consistent results at higher spindle speeds, it is necessary to have a well dynamically balanced tool holder and ensure that the tool is assembled with minimal runout to produce good results. Tool cleaning is also an important aspect of tool retention. After use, the tool will be delivered with cutting fluid, which may cause tool measurement errors and result in failure or inconsistent measurement results.
The same tool, the same working conditions and the same processing technology mean consistent results. The key to achieving this is to source your tooling from a manufacturer with a good quality system that produces the same quality of parts every time. If the manufacturer changes, even if the tool size is the same, the process will be affected because quality and performance standards vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Ultimately, not all business owners are or are capable of using predictive tool wear in their processes, but collecting data and tracking tool usage is a good habit to take. If you’re not already used to it, start now.
Daguang focuses on providing solutions such as precision CNC machining services (3-axis, 4-axis, 5-axis machining), CNC milling, 3D printing and rapid prototyping services.
