British tooling show highlights innovation

Oct. 1, 2002
Hundreds of tooling advances will be displayed at the Tooling Show at the National Exhibition Center, Birmingham, U.K., November 12-14. Product launches include standard and special-purpose tooling, solid and insert types, as well as carbide and HSS inser

Hundreds of tooling advances will be displayed at the Tooling Show at the National Exhibition Center, Birmingham, U.K., November 12-14. Product launches include standard and special-purpose tooling, solid and insert types, as well as carbide and HSS inserts.

For example, Advanced Carbide Tooling's display includes a new 2.2-mm face-grooving system and recent additions to its Mircona range. The Leicestershire-based company's new face-grooving range includes 20 different standard versions for left or right-hand turning on diameters from 14 to 100 mm and depths up to 10 mm. The new Mircona range is due, in part, to a positive mechanical clamp. This holds the inserts and lets swarf exit freely and coolant easily reach the cutting zone.

NTK Cutting Tools, Farmington Hills, Mich., also has new developments: multi-corner CBN-grade B26 for hard turning of steel; high-performance silicon-nitride grade SX1 with a 'top notch' clamping style that eliminates insert movement within the toolholder under extreme cutting conditions; and the extended DS range for sliding-head machines now includes front turning, grooving, and threading.

In addition, OSG of Glendale Heights, Ill., is announcing the new WX-21 end-mill series and a new range of CA cutters for aluminum. And Renishaw, Hoffman Estates, Ill., is introducing the NC3, a new addition to its growing family of noncontact laser systems, and the new OMP40 probe. Measuring just 125 X 25 X 80-mm high, the NC3 offers tool setting and tool-breakage-detection features, meeting the increasing demand for probing on small machining centers and high-speed cutting machines. Tools as small as 0.2-mm in diameter are measurable anywhere along the laser beam.

Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal, Mount Prospect, Ill., is displaying newly developed cutting materials for high speed, dry, and hard machining; new grades of CBN capable of turning hardened-steel components to precision grinding tolerances and finish; plus new tools featuring Sumitomo's smooth, ultrahard ZX coating technology.

Tooling visitors will also want to see the new additions to WidiaValenite's Widias-elect Super Rougher (SR) geometry inserts. These follow the Madison Heights, Mich. company's successful launch of the original SR high-performance inserts for roughing and heavy-duty machining. They withstand exceptionally heavy chip loads and high metal-removal rates.