Milling challenging materials like tough steels, stainless steels, superalloys and titanium cause built-up or notched edges and broken inserts that increase tooling costs and cause unexpected downtime. To overcome these challenging ISO P, M and S materials, the new next-generation Seco High Feed SP milling system features a combination of dedicated cutting geometries and insert grades, as well as optimized lead angles, that combine to boost material removal rates, maximize chip evacuation and extend tool life.

Reduce tooling inventories
Packed with versatility, one High Feed SP tool handles a complete range of high-feed milling operations and materials. The tool optimizes such operations as copy milling, ramping, pocketing, face milling and plunging to further reduce tooling inventories. Users optimize milling performance while eliminating the need to switch among numerous tools to implement various machining strategies and part materials.

“Premature tool wear increases job costs and leads to unexpected machine downtime that lengthens production time,” said Benoît Patriarca, Global Product Manager High Feed Milling at Seco Tools. “The combination of dedicated cutting geometries and grades with optimized leading angles of the High Feed SP system allow for faster machining to shorten job turnaround times, while also providing a superior price-to-performance ratio.”

Avoid downtime and scrapped parts
Designed for ease of use, the robust High Feed SP milling tools provide simple foolproof insert indexing that prevents operator mistakes, unexpected machine downtime and scrapped parts. Plus, users can quickly access product information through the Seco data matrix code scanning.

Seco offers a comprehensive range of High Feed SP tool sizes. The range includes:

•  SP10: two geometries, 10 grades, dia 32 to 63mm + inch equivalents
•  SP14: two geometries, 10 grades, dia 50 to 100mm + inch equivalents
•  SP18: two geometries, 10 grades, dia 63 to 160mm + inch equivalents

Seco continues to grow its innovative, highly productive X4 product line to expand the benefits of its short-reach grooving and parting-off system to an even greater range of applications. The line now includes larger radii, additional angled inserts and TGH 1050 grade inserts.

The X4 multi-edge system meets industry demands for grooving and parting-off tools with narrow cutting edges and consists of indexable tangential inserts and a highly stable clamp design. These strong, dependable system components achieve high accuracy, repeatability, productivity and surface quality in external grooving and parting-off operations involving small parts, slim bars and tubes made from a wide variety of common materials.

In addition to the current radii options of 0.1 mm and 0.15 mm, Seco now offers eight new large radii CP500 grade insert versions with widths from 1.5 mm – 3 mm with corner radii of 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm. These target those applications where customers require specific radii. With the larger radii options, customers can apply higher feeds while maintaining high quality surface finishes. Also added are two 1.5 mm angled inserts with smaller radii available.

The extended X4 line also includes the unique TGH 1050 grade featuring a very hard micro grain substrate and new PVD coating for efficiently cutting hardened steels. The new grade, which is available in six widths of 0.5 mm – 3 mm in MC and FG geometries, will benefit manufacturers in all industry segments, especially automotive. While it was designed for hardened materials, the TGH 1050 is also well suited for machining superalloys/heat-resistant alloys often found in the aerospace and power generation industries. In testing, the TGH 1050 cut significantly faster and lasted much longer as compared with existing grades.

Seco’s latest Precimaster Plus modular reamer system builds on the success of the company’s original Precimaster by featuring a new high-precision connection, solid-carbide disposable heads as well as common holders for blind and through-hole applications. Such enhancements boost reaming speed, stability and versatility for more precise, cost-effective hole production, with size tolerances held to between 15 and 25 microns and surface finishes of Ra. 4 to Ra. 8.

The system’s patented connection ensures reamer head exchanges are fast and easy with repositioning repeatability and runout of under three microns. A special three-vertical-drive-pin design enables the connection to handle high levels of transmissible driving torque. Internal axial clamping forces draw the reamer heads up into the system shanks, creating a strong interface that maintains high precision.

Precimaster Plus uses solid-carbide disposable heads in diameters that range from 10 mm to 60 mm and mount to four standard shank sizes. Shank lengths are available in short, medium and long options to accommodate restricted clearance situations, common hole depths and up to 10 x D, respectively. Solid-carbide heads, when compared with traditional brazed-tip technology, allow for an increased number of cutting teeth on the same head diameters for up to 30 percent faster feed rates. Solid carbide also extends tool life by up to 30 percent, delivers increased stability for tougher materials and makes for a more cost-effective system.

For chip control and management, Precimaster Plus reamer shanks can apply different types of flushing for both blind and through holes. Tool body coolant outlets in the front force the chips up along the head flutes and out the blind holes, while standard through-tool coolant blasts the chips forward and away from the tool for efficient through-hole reaming.

Furthermore, the Precimaster Plus features three lead geometries for universal, aggressive feed and fine finish operations as well as five reamer head grades, involving coated and uncoated carbide and cermet, to ensure optimised performance in all workpiece materials.