Miniature Inserts Reduce Tooling Change Frequency

Milling and drilling operations that require tooling under 10 mm in diameter have historically not had many options beyond solid carbide or high speed steel tools. Iscar is changing that story with its miniature indexable Nanmill shoulder-cutting tooling, as well as its Sumocham line of hole-making tooling with interchangeable solid carbide heads. These tooling lines, both of which are on display at Iscar’s booth, reduce the complexity of setting up automated production runs in a lights-out setting.

In production setting, small end mills and drills made of a solid material tend to be sharpened or replaced at short intervals. The frequency of these change-outs are typically out of sync with the larger tooling that commonly leverages indexable inserts. Iscar’s 4-mm indexable Nanmill shoulder-cutting inserts provide the opportunity to restore a cutting edge without fully removing the tool, eliminating costly, time-consuming tooling changes.

The solid carbide heads found on Iscar’s Sumocham hole-making tooling offer similar advantages: faster changes on tools that are typically made from solid material. The ability to replace the drill head eliminates the need to sharpen or replace the entire tool. By restoring a factory edge without entirely replacing the tool, there is no need to zero out a freshly sharpened tool.

Iscar’s Nanmill inserts combine a small size, indexability and a small-diameter multi-toothed end mill. The company says the triangular insert’s three cutting edges are well-suited for 90º shoulder milling and reduce diameter size to 8 mm. Photo Credit: Iscar