TECHNOLOGY BRIEFS
Ceratizit launches new reamer
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Ceratizit has launched a new product - the WTX Feed
BR drill reamer – that ensures high accuracy with
tight tolerances and perfect surface quality.
Spot drilling, drilling and reaming to a tolerance
of H7 in just one operation? The company said
the WTX Feed BR three-edged drill reamer has
“succeeded in streamlining and improving the
manufacturing process further with this newly
developed tool”.
The key feature of this drilling tool, especially
for steel and cast iron machining, is its three
effective cutting edges and six guide lands which are
responsible for a significantly shorter cycle times,
high accuracy and surface quality.
In a nutshell, Ceratizit said the WTX Feed BR
is “ideal for all machine operators who require
extremely high quality holes, but do not need the
level of precision that can only be achieved with a
pure reamer”.
The design of the WTX Feed BR solid carbide
drill reamer, with three cutting edges, ensures
14 » JANUARY 2021 » WWW.MADEIN.IE
greater contact in the hole, which delivers greater
cylindricity and roundness.
A considerably tighter tolerance can be
maintained for the hole produced, compared to a
two-edged drill reamer. These have a rather wobbly
penetration behaviour, in contrast the tip geometry
of the drill reamer with three cutting edges achieves
significantly better centring and positioning.
The geometry of the three cutting edges, which
have been taken from the WTX FEED high-feed drill,
also open-up applications in long-chipping and soft
materials, which was previously only possible to
a limited extent with the two-edged version. WTX
Feed BR also achieves higher cutting values so users
can enjoy shorter machining times with greater
tolerances.
The tool is particularly wear-resistant thanks to
its proven DPX14S Dragonskin coating. This is a TiAlN
nanolayer coating with a coefficient of friction (dry
against steel) of just 0.35. It is stable up to a maximum
application temperature of 1000 °C.
Citizen upgrades CNC
sliding head turning
centres
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Citizen Machinery has announced improvements
to three of its Cincom sliding-head models - all
designed to shorten cycle times and raise
productivity when producing components from
32 mm diameter bar and larger.
The machines are available in the UK and
Ireland through subsidiary company Citizen
Machinery UK.
The company’s flagship M32 model, which
can produce parts from bar up to 38 mm in
diameter with cutters in a gang toolpost with
B-axis, a 10-station turret and a back tool post
with Y-axis, has gained the manufacturer’s
low frequency vibration (LFV) chip-breaking
capability on the main spindle.
It makes the machine ideal for efficient
turning, threadcutting and drilling of malleable
materials, as the normally stringy swarf is
broken automatically into shorter chips that do
not wrap around the tool or workpiece, without
any need for high pressure coolant.
Productivity is maximised by avoiding
having to stop the machine repeatedly to remove
clogged swarf, facilitating minimally attended
operation and enabling lights-out running.
Embedded in the operating system of
the Mitsubishi M800-series control, LFV
synchronises the motion of the axis servo
drive with the speed of rotation of the main
spindle. The function is highly controllable, as
it can be programmed using G-codes to switch
on and off during a cycle and either increase
or decrease the size of the resulting chips. It
is distinct from traditional pecking macros in
a CNC program which tend to cause built-up
edge, compromising machining accuracy and
shortening tool life.
Other notable features of the lathe are
simultaneous 5-axis machining, up to three tools
in cut simultaneously and the possibility to
change over in half an hour to use the machine
in guide bush-less mode to reduce remnant
length when turning shorter components.
In line with Citizen Machinery’s systematic
rollout of LFV on all its Cincom sliding-head turnmill
centres as well as currently on one fixedhead
Miyano lathe, the 32 mm bar capacity L32
slider has also benefitted from the chipbreaking
technology. It already had LFV on the 3.7 / 7.5
kW main spindle but now it boasts the same
capability on the 2.2 / 3.7 kW sub spindle.
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