Button insert end mill PRC SS slashes roughing time in stainless steel
Yukai Zhang | OSG Shanghai
Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a listed company that specializes in the processing and manufacturing of seal products. As a longtime business partner of OSG, Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing has been using OSG cutting tools for many years. They are a frequent user of OSG’s round shank cutting tools, such as the EX-SUS-GDS / GDR drills, WDO drills, EX-SUS-SFT taps, and A-SFT taps.
Most of Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing’s products are made of stainless steels. While working on a drilling application with OSG, Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing brought up a challenge that they were encountering with their flow channel production in SUS304. The roughing process is the most difficult part of the process. The slot width of the flow channel is 20 to 20.3 mm, with a slot depth of 20 mm. There are 10 slots in every workpiece. Prior to the consultation, Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing was using a 20D HSS 3-flute end mill, slotting using water-soluble coolant and running at a parameter of Vc 7.5 m/min (S 120 rev/min), Vf 40 mm/min (Fz 0/11 mm), ap 6.6 mm, ae 20 mm. Unsatisfied with the parameters, Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing was seeking an alternative solution to improve processing efficiency.
After evaluating the application thoroughly, OSG recommended a 20D OSG Phoenix PRC straight shank type radius cutter. Available in straight shank type, bore type or screw fit type, the OSG Phoenix PRC is a highly versatile series of button insert end mills and face mills for contour milling applications. The PRC features an insert rotation notch to allow the selection of 4-or 8-corner insert type based on depth of cut. The PRC’s wide chip pocket geometry enables stable and trouble-free chip evacuation. Furthermore, its large body relief supports efficient 3-dimensional machining and is most ideal for mold and die work where 3-D machining is prevalent.
For Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing’s application, OSG recommended the straight shank version of the PRC, PRC SS, which is a light and highly efficient tool. In terms of inserts, OSG recommended the 8-corner type, XP2040 grade to ensure precision, long tool life and stability in high-speed machining of SUS304.
In the beginning, Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing was hesitant with the recommendation, as they were not very familiar with indexable tooling. Confident with the performance of the PRC SS, OSG provided Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing a trial tool for testing purposes.
The result observed during the trial period greatly surpassed the expectation of Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing. The PRC SS was able to achieve Vc 120 m/min (S 1,900 rev/min), Vf 1,500 mm/min (Fz 0.4 mm), ap 0.8 mm, ae 20 mm. The processing time has improved from 300 minutes to 50 minutes, with each insert corner being able to complete 10 slots. In this application, the life of the 8-corner insert is approximately 80 slots, which is equivalent to eight workpieces. With the significant improvement in machining time and tool life, Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing couldn’t be happier with the result.
During the past decade, OSG has expanded its product offering, invested time and resources in reflecting its vast experiences from round shank tool to indexable tool with the OSG Phoenix series. As demonstrated in the case of Sichuan Nick Seal Manufacturing, the superior performance of the OSG Phoenix series is clearly reflected in the field.
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