AboutWillie Cutit Expertise Types of Tools to use on machining applications.
Experience My expertise is in cutting tools. Present job is Senior Applications Engineer with a major Indexable tooling line which supports turning, milling, boring and drilling.
Education/Credentials Tool and Die trade, over 25 years in the industry
Question what are the reconsiderations involved in the decision to recondition recycle or discard a cutting tool?
Answer Hey Joe,
Good question.
Endmills: Make sure the endmill is not damaged along the cutting edge. The number of regrinds will be dictated by the chip evaluation of the flute and material you will be cutting. I try to get 3-5 regrinds and have a program for offsets. Example .500" endmill, first regrind: .490, second .475" third .460". Color code or laser etch diameter.
Carbide drills ( Hi Penetration): the trick here is to take them out before you chip the cutting lip edge or seeing thermal cracking on the margin. If you have to cut the the tip off, you could be wasting tool life of that drill. Take out a drill when you see the wear on flank of the cutting lip an or wear on the margin meeting the cutting lip. To recondition a drill in this state might mean grinding .020" off the point. You would at least get 10-15 regrinds depending of the depth of the operation.
The big factor is how long you let a tool run. You can get predictable tool life and also have a acceptable regind program with some tool life studies on the tools you want to recycle.
