Advanced Grinding Solutions

Press Release Jan 2021

Advanced Grinding Solutions Ltd is the sole UK distributors for the Magnetfinish range of machines that have been designed to finish all types of cutting tools and to vastly improve tool lifetime and performance.

Magnetfinish has supplied many machines to specialist tool manufacturers and regrinding companies who are using this new technology to offer end users within the aerospace and mould and die industries premium solutions whereby the finest and most highly precise cutters are required for arduous machining tasks.

After being produced by a grinding process; cutting tools of all types can suffer from having jagged cutting edges and micro sized burrs. These impact heavily upon the lifetime of cutting tools and can affect their performance during heavy cutting. When milling, drilling or tapping at extreme speeds the resulting high temperatures that develop at the cutting edges are the main source for such problems because the tool becomes highly susceptible to wear. The patented Magnetfinish technology addresses this problem.

The Magnetfinish process polishes the flutes on all types of HSS and Carbide rotary tools such as endmills, form cutters and drills, provides the perfect conditioning or “edge honing” of the cutting edges (micron rounding of the edge) and is also used to polish profiles on taps and coated cutters. The Magnetfinish polishing process of the tools flutes results in a superior chip flow leading to the increased productivity of the tool. The tools primary cutting edges are machined to allow a defined and reproducible radius of between 3µm and 50µm to be created. This edge preparation process can increase the lifetime of tools such as ball nosed end mills by a factor of 4 and also allows more consistent machining results to be achieved as from using the tools for the very first time. The processing times for cutting tools are extremely fast with the average machining time for smaller tools being in the region of 5 to 10 seconds.

The patented Magnetfinish process is based around two rotating magnetic heads between which a layer of processing powder is placed. The powder is made up of magnetic and abrasive compounds. The magnetic compound is used to hold the abrasive compound within the magnetic field that is generated by the rotating magnetic heads and then the abrasive compound itself performs the cutting function to the surface of the cutting tool.

The thickness of the processing powder is between 5-7mm and this allows 50 layers of powder grains to contact the surface to generate the fine surface finishes and radius edge forms that are required onto the cutting tool. Because the powder is constantly refreshed during the Magnetfinish process 100% reproducible results across large batches of tools can be guaranteed.

The processing times for cutting tools are extremely fast and, for example, a typical deep hole carbide drill of 6mm dia x 180mm in length can be machined in just 20 seconds with the average machining time for smaller tools being in the region of 5 to 10 seconds.

Hard milling solutions typically use two-flute ball nose cutters for final finishing and these need a highly precise radius and perfectly edge honed cutting edges. The accuracy of the radius has to be extremely tight so that a high or low flute does not cause uneven metal removal, thus affecting part geometry, surface quality and also cutting tool life. The cutting edges of the flutes must have no jagged edges, chips, cracks or other surface irregularities. The presence of these defects would otherwise mean that the cutter edges would be subject to very early wear as soon as they contact the workpiece for the first time and would also lead to a rougher surface finish being created and a shortened tool life.

A variety of Magnetfinish machines are available from small and cost-effective manually loaded machines for low batch production through to large automated cells with a capacity to automatically load cutting tools for processing from 240 station magazines.

The entry level manually loaded MF61 machine has a general capacity for cutting tools from 0.1 to 20mm in diameter and for tool lengths of up to 300mm and is equipped with a simple laser based safety curtain to allow for parts to be manually exchanged at ease without the need to constantly open and close a door. Tools are manually loaded and unloaded to a centrally positioned pneumatic gripper unit that will accept cutters of various diameters and lengths.

This machine in the automated MF61A version can be specified with an optional 45 position automatic part loader. Both machine versions are operated by a simple to use touch panel operator control screen and all tool data can be stored for subsequent recall. Furthermore it is possible to mix different types and sizes of cutters within the optional auto-loader with the entire batch of cutting tools then being processed without any operator involvement. Both variants are very compact machines requiring the minimum of floor space for installation near to adjacent cutter grinding cells.

Advanced Grinding Solutions can arrange for sample cutters to be Magnetfinished and returned to customers for their inspection in order that improvements in tool lifetime and performance can be established and any tool manufacturers, regrinding shops or end users can contact may be contacted on +44 (0) 2476 22 66 11 or via their website www.advancedgrindingsolutions.co.uk