Tool and Application Engineering

Scarlett engineering and sales personnel perform a thorough review your intended production components, current machine capabilities, raw materials, quality specifications, and output requirements; we then use this information to design a specific tooling package, and operating parameters, which will optimize your productivity and profitability.
Cutting Edge Wear
A tool that is no longer able to produce a satisfactory cut can tell us a lot about your cutting tool application. Whether or not you are achieving your maximum tool life, or if the edge is failing before the most wear is achieved. There are many different types of wear, and by assessing the type in your application we may be able to save you money.
Healthy Wear
The image above shows the top view of a carbide-tipped saw blade that has a favorable wear pattern. The corner of the tooth is showings signs of abrasive wear caused by extended time spent in contact with the working material. The final result is a rounding of the once sharp cutting edge. More tool life may be achieved with harder cutting material, however, this can lead to an increased risk of mechanical failure (see below).
Unhealthy Wear
The image above the top view of a carbide-tipped saw that has unfavorable wear patterns. The corner of the tooth has broken due to impact or shock in the cutting application. If this occurs frequently then a tougher more impact-resistant cutting material must be selected. Although tougher cutting materials are usually less wear-resistant it will extend the tool life. Currently, the failure mode is a mechanical breakage of the carbide, so the full wear resistance of the cutting material is not currently being achieved.
Other Wear or Failure
- Chemical wear – Binder in the carbide is chemically leached while cutting causing the cutting edge to crumble
- Plastic deformation – Common when harder materials are being cut, the cutting edge actually deforms due to high hardness of working material
- Thermal fracturing – Sudden changes in temperature cause fracturing of the cutting edge
- Build up cutting edge – Workpiece material sticks to or builds upon cutting edge, can lead to mechanical failure of cutting edge, or rapid edge decay
Tool Life Maximization
Make Chips not Dust
From a tool life standpoint you want to have as high of a feed rate as possible in relation to your RPM. or another way of looking at it, produce as large of a chip load as possible. Many factors exist that will not allow you to reach this goal, such as.
- Insufficient work holding (parts will start to move)
- Unsatisfactory finish quality
- Tool breakage (tool cannot withstand large chip load)
- Machine horsepower or feed restrictions
- Tool holder rigidity
All of the above considerations must be taken into account when optimizing your cutting parameters, there is no easy way to provide exact parameters unless all information is taken into account. A useful tool for finding starting parameters can be downloaded by selecting the icon to the right. You must have a version of Microsoft Excel 2008 or newer to use this tool. Simply enter in the working RPM, then the material being cut, style of tool, and the depth of cut, and a conservative starting feed rate will be provided.
In order for your maximum tool life to be realized, careful consideration must be taken to selecting the proper cutting material. Scarlett cutting tools has access to a wide array of cutting tools, complex cutting tool geometries, and Coatings to ensure your lowest cost per cut is being realized.
Let’s keep you running strong.
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