KAISER Precision Tooling, a leader in premium high-precision tooling systems and solutions for the automotive, mil/aero, energy, medical and watch-making industries, today announced the MW Boring Head, a straight shank indexable rough boring tool for small diameters between 16mm and 21mm.

Based on KAISER’s existing 319 SW series, the MW Boring Head is a twin-cutter boring tool, which means it can quickly remove large quantities of material, compared to single-cutter tools. The MW’s two cutting edges can be pre-set independently to the required diameter, with a tolerance of 0.2mm.

The MW Boring Head is ideally suited to semi-finish or finish boring operations of workpieces with die cast holes. It uses a 20mm shank, which means it is easy to clamp in commonly-used milling chucks and tool holders.

Its precision serrated connecting system ensures secure and rigid connection, and means that torque can be maximised. In aluminium, cutting speeds of up to 280mm per minute can be achieved, with a feed rate of 0.3mm per revolution and a cutting depth of 4mm.

A spiral groove improves chip evacuation. Coolant is provided directly to the cutting edges, and in blind hole boring, coolant is routed through the centre of the tool, which further helps in chip evacuation. The coolant hole can be closed when required using a stop screw.

“KAISER is the only company that can offer adjustable twin-cutter boring tools for diameters as low as 16mm,” says Peter Elmer, CEO of KAISER. “The new MW Boring Head builds on the success of our 319 SW series, and means that reliable, fast and effective boring is now possible at even smaller dimensions.”

The MW Boring Head is available now. Die steel insert holders are provided with the tool.

KAISER Precision Tooling has determined to strengthen its partnership with its long-term partner, BIG Daishowa Seiki Co Ltd of Japan, and agreed to become a company of the BIG Daishowa group as of April 15, 2015.

KAISER Precision Tooling is the leading supplier of high-precision modular boring tools. The company was founded in 1948 by Heinz Kaiser and is owned by the families of the second generation. BIG Daishowa Seiki is one of the world’s leading producers of precision tool holders and measuring accessories. It operates six manufacturing facilities in Japan.

The two companies have had a close technology and distribution partnership since 1980. BIG Daishowa produces KAISER boring tools under a license agreement and sells under the brand BIG Kaiser in the Asian market. In June of 2003, BIG Daishowa expanded its strategic alliance to KAISER’s North American operations near Chicago, and that company was renamed BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc.

“During the past 10 years, our partnership has steadily increased through the creation of two joint ventures in the U.S. and Germany and an exclusive distribution arrangement for BIG products in Europe,” says KAISER CEO Peter Elmer. “Today the distribution channels are practically grown together and the combined products are an excellent portfolio.”

Executive management will remain in place following the transaction, with Peter Elmer as CEO leading European operations, and CEO Chris Kaiser overseeing North American operations. The original KAISER facility in Ruemlang, Switzerland, will continue to have an integral role in the company’s worldwide R & D and manufacturing strategy.

“Our family has been working for some time on a succession plan to ensure the continued growth and success of this company,” says Chris Kaiser. “With 35 years of successful collaboration with BIG Daishowa, we are confident KAISER is in the right hands for the future.”

The strengthened alliance is expected to help the company balance manufacturing resources and market and currency fluctuations around the globe. Customers will benefit from a fully consolidated portfolio of tooling solutions and ancillary products. Following the alliance, BIG Daishowa will have approximately 900 employees.

Image caption: Chris Kaiser, Chairman of Kaiser Precision Tooling Ltd, with R. Kitaguchi, Chairman of BIG DAISHOWA SEIKI CO LTD, in the KAISER facility in Ruemlang, Switzerland, on April 15, 2015

KAISER Precision Tooling, a leader in premium high-precision tooling systems and solutions for the automotive, mil/aero, energy, medical and watch-making industries, today announced its latest digital boring tools, which improve efficiency compared to the analog heads they can replace. The digital heads are also typically 20 per cent quicker to set than analog equivalents.

KAISER’s digital boring tools dramatically increase accuracy and process reliability in the machine tools industry. This is because setting errors by handling are virtually eliminated due to the large, easy to read digital display, which delivers ultra-precise accuracy of 0.001mm in diameter. Reducing errors saves time and reduces the amount of waste produced and therefore reduces costs.

Specially built to run on small machines, the EWD 2-32 features a concentric insert holder and a wide range of accessories for an optimized tool set up within a diameter range of 2 to 32mm. The EWD 2-32 has a tool body diameter of 50mm.

With a tool body diameter of 38mm, the EWD 41 is the world’s smallest digital precision boring head with an integrated digital display. The EWD 41 provides laterally-loaded cutting for a range of diameters from 41 to 53mm.

KAISER developed the electronics itself, having set up an in-house electronics lab. This means it retains control of this key part of the boring tools, and it is able to ensure the highest quality product for customers.

To ensure compatibility with customers’ existing equipment, all insert holders and boring bars of KAISER analogue tools can easily be used with the new digital versions. The complete KAISER range of digital boring tools covers diameters from 2 to 3000mm, including tools with centered and side insert holders. All digital boring heads belong to the modular KAISER system, which means they can be plugged in any shank with a standard CK connection, and thus used in a huge range of machine tools.

“Digital is the future – digital boring delivers precision and consistency, saving time and money by dramatically reducing operator errors,” says Peter Elmer, CEO of KAISER Precision Tooling. “With the compatibility offered by KAISER, it’s simple for customers to get these benefits by replacing their existing analogue heads with new digital models – and our electronics lab ensures that the digital heads are high quality products, which maintain KAISER’s excellent reputation.”

The tools are individually tested by KAISER at its factory to ensure reliability, and have a long lasting battery life of more than 5000 diameter adjustment cycles. Standard batteries are used, so replacements can easily be purchased at any electronics store. IP69K-rated protection, highest possible, ensures the tools are resistant to the ingress of dust and water, even under high pressure and in extreme environments.

KAISER Precision Tooling, a leader in premium high-precision tooling systems and solutions for the automotive, mil/aero, energy, medical and watch-making industries, today announced new insert holders for face grooving. The new parts are specifically designed to fit KAISER’s series 318 and SW twin-cutter boring heads, giving more flexibility to existing KAISER clients to upgrade their equipment.

Face grooving with boring tools is generally more efficient than milling with circular interpolation, especially when manufacturing bores with large diameters. Also, whenever a surface for sealing application is required, there is no other option except using boring tools with face grooving accessories.

The new face grooving system can be used as either a single or twin cutter grooving tool for diameter ranges from 53mm to 3000mm, with a grooving depth up to 12mm and width up to 9.5mm (5mm with a single cutter).

Using the boring tools as twin cutters, with a simultaneous adjustment in radius and length, allows the feed rate to be increased. Using the cutters in diameter offset operation enables a groove width of up to 9.5mm, and both inside and outside diameters can be adjusted separately within the smallest tolerances. Both cutting edges can be adjusted easily to the same length, due to an eccentric bolt mechanism with clear direction indication.

“KAISER products give our customers an unparalleled combination of quality, precision and ruggedness,” says Peter Elmer, CEO of KAISER Precision Tooling. “These new face grooving holders uphold that tradition, while adding additional options to the applications possible with our series 318 and SW boring heads.”

The new parts are aimed at a broad range of applications across mechanical engineering, aerospace, energy and automotive. KAISER also offers the devices in customized solutions.

The insert holders are available now.

Want to more about this product? Contact
Giampaolo.Roccatello@kaisertooling.com
nishant@mfgtechupdate.com

KAISER Precision Tooling, a leader in premium high-precision tooling systems and solutions for the automotive, mil/aero, energy, medical and watch-making industries, recently announced its new EWBD precision boring head. The new head is self-balancing and ultra-light, thanks to an innovative aluminium construction.

The EWBD is ideal for deep bores which require long tool combinations. It delivers excellent precision due to its internal self-balancing mechanism. This makes it well-suited to boring for machine pedestals, gearbox housing, cranes, hydraulic manifold and vehicle manufacturing.

The new head includes the world’s first PSC interface made entirely of aluminium. This means it is 55% lighter than standard steel boring heads. To give the most choice to customers, the EWBD is also available in steel.

A large, clear digital display provides a resolution of Ø 0.001 mm. The display is easy to read, improving usability, and practically eliminates operator errors.

To enable high cutting speeds of up to 2000m/min, the EWBD is equipped with a highly accurate self-balancing mechanism on its full adjustment range. Due to the light weight of the tool, handling is easy and complications with ATC are minimized.

“With the EWBD, KAISER has applied truly innovative technology to create an industry-leading tool,” says Peter Elmer, CEO of KAISER Precision Tooling. “Light, accurate and rigid, the boring head delivers excellent results while being easy to use – a perfect match.”

There are two variants of the EWBD high performance boring head: the EWBD 100 AL aluminium version, and the EWBD 68 in steel. Both are available now.

KAISER Precision Tooling, a leader in premium high-precision tooling systems and solutions for the automotive, mil/aero, energy, medical and watch-making industries, recently announced its EWH precision boring head. The EWH has been developed specifically for effective use with exotic materials such as titanium, making it ideal for the aviation industry.

Built for use with coolant pressures of up to 70 bar, the EWH is designed to the highest standards, with an ultra-rigid monoblock construction. This means it can meet the requirements of rigid tools and high coolant pressure that are needed for the efficient machining of difficult work piece materials.

The new boring head is available with a length of 95mm or 155mm and includes HSK/SK/PSC interfaces.

The EWH hydraulic clamping delivers a form- and force-locked connection that clamps the tool holder perfectly, with high pressure around the entire circumference. This is a superior solution to clamp over side lock screws, which have a point and line contact on the circumference.

High coolant pressure of over 50 bar is important to ensure effective cooling, especially when cutting HRSA and titanium work pieces with low heat conductivity. If coolant was supplied with insufficient pressure, it would vaporize, and temperatures would therefore rise – reducing the hardness of the cutting material, and decreasing the lifetime of the cutting edge. The high coolant pressure supports chip breaking and helps achieve enhanced chip forming.

“Its robustness and advanced design make the EWH an ideal solution for the aviation industry, and other applications that include exotic materials,” says Peter Elmer, CEO of KAISER Precision Tooling. “By enabling high coolant pressure and rigid clamping, the new head improves the quality of boring, and saves money by increasing cutting edge lifetime.”

KAISER Precision Tooling, a leader in premium high-precision tooling systems and solutions for the automotive, mil/aero, energy, medical and watch-making industries, is proud to introduce a new integrated damping system. The Smart Damper reduces vibration and chatter for increased productivity in deep-hole finish boring and extended-reach face milling applications – achieving better surface finishes and improved metal removal rates.

The high-precision Smart Damper system is ideal for critical applications that require very long tools in the automotive, energy and aerospace industries, for example gearboxes for construction equipment.

A standard holder with a projection length of over 300mm and boring bar diameter of 50mm allows for a maximum cutting speed of 40m/min in manufacturing GG30. Raising this speed to 60m/min would cause terrible chatter results. The new Smart Damper system enables speeds of up to 100m/min without any chatter – translating into 25 instead of 15 holes and a 1.6 times longer tool life.

“With this integrated dynamic damping system we have raised the bar for high cutting speed and productivity”, says Peter Elmer, CEO of KAISER Precision Tooling. “Smart Damper outperforms conventional solutions with six times higher productivity, higher cutting speed, better surface quality and longer tool life due to dynamic vibration damping”.

Designed for KAISER’s modular boring tools or for shell mill arbors, all models of the Smart Damper offer center through-coolant delivery.

BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc. continues to expand its product line while staying true to its mission of bringing the highest quality, most precise, most reliable and most accurate tooling and accessories to market.

KAISER’s entire digital head lineup will be on display, including the new Series 112 EWD 2-32 made for small machines with tight work envelopes. This is KAISER’s smallest digital precision boring head with a concentric insert holder, and outside the digital vs. analog readout, has exactly the same characteristics as the existing EWN 2-32 boring head. Features include power management for optimized battery life, a display that can be changed to show diameter adjustment in millimeters or inches, IP 69K seal rating, minimized imbalance with tool carrier in center position and optimized bore depth by a through-hole tool carrier.

BIG Daishowa will feature an exciting enhancement to a product that has demonstrated immense utility as of late—angle heads. These new extended reach angle heads are designed for drilling and key slotting in deep and hard-to-reach sections of a workpiece. They utilize +100mm (3.937″), +200mm (7.874″) and +300mm (11.811″) extensions on our standard angle heads to vastly increase reach. Even amid the ongoing proliferation of increasingly sophisticated multi-axis machine tools, the relatively simple angle head has proven to play a critical role in the production of complex-geometry parts. And now, an extended range of angle head exponentially increases access to deep and accurate cutting.

Speroni will also present its newest innovation, the benchtop MAGIS CNC. This tool presetter and measuring system is numerically controlled for operator-independent measuring results, in addition to fast, ?-precise axis positioning. Together with the optional Autofocus spindle, an operator can automatically execute measuring cycles, speeding up the measurement process and guaranteeing even more precision. The unmatched repeatability and quality will further increase efficiency and profitability in any operation.

BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc. is a leader in high-precision tooling systems and solutions. With brands including BIG Daishowa, KAISER, Speroni, Unilock, Sphinx and more, BIG Kaiser’s line is focused on extreme accuracy and repeatability. BIG Kaiser’s mission is to support North American manufacturers with products that are designed and manufactured to a superior standard. Guaranteed.

BIG Kaiser hosted a group of US manufacturers on a visit to the KAISER headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland in February. The third annual event paired educational presentations, tours of the assembly and machining areas, and traditional Swiss hospitality.

“The challenges of manufacturing are universal,” Dennis Rosene, owner, Rosene Machine, Firth, NE, said. “Visiting factories outside the US can help us find new ways to solve the same challenges we face at home.”

Operations from product and fixture design to rough and finish machining and assembly are done on two levels of the original KAISER factory. A flexible production process supports lot sizes from one to 1,000, but typical lots are 10 to 150 pieces. At KAISER, high quality products come with a long operating life. Visitors on the tour were shown a 30-year-old tool body that had just been returned by a manufacturer for repair work.

A universal take-away for the American visitors was the Swiss model of efficiency. “In this part of our country, close to Zurich, the operating costs, cost of land, and demand for talent are all very high,” Peter Elmer, CEO, KAISER, explained. “We must always drive efficiency, quality and process optimization to be successful here.”

“We were really impressed with how much production could be done in a relatively small space,” Ronda Peterson, CEO, Peterson Machining, Boulder, CO, said. “That gave us some ideas for our own shop.”

The visitors were given a brief overview of the global organization. Many were surprised to learn that 25 percent of the BIG Kaiser products they use are actually licensed for manufacturing in Tennessee.

“Many of our tools are designed to the CAT specification common only in the US. With a portfolio of over 30,000 items, it’s important we have domestic production and inventory for our customers,” Jack Burley, VP, BIG Kaiser explained. Meanwhile, products like digital boring heads, micro tools, tool presetters and HSK shanks are produced at the facilities in Europe. In 2003, KAISER entered into a global sales and marketing partnership with BIG Daishowa of Japan, thus changing the name of the US operations to BIG Kaiser, and expanding the product line globally.

One highlight of the tour was the selection of new boring head technology. Released in 2012, this line of high-precision digital boring heads designed and manufactured at the Swiss facility. A small sensor and digital display are built into each tool body, allowing quick and precise adjustment of the tool carrier. The patented design saves time and enables critical boring adjustments down to Ø.00005″.

Machining tests demonstrated the benefits of proper tool selection and tool balancing. Cycle time, chip management and part finish can all be notably improved even on machines that are not particularly robust.

While there is no single brand strategy for machines, the commitment to process optimization is clear in the number of combined mill/turn operations on the shop floor. “We look for a minimum 20 to 30 percent increase in throughput for any new capital investment,” Elmer said. The company also runs one 12-hour shift per day, and targets 30 percent of machining time to be completed during unmanned hours.

High interest in KAISER’s apprenticeship program reflected the common challenge of finding skilled machinists. Each year, a few select students are accepted into KAISER’s four-year program. The apprenticeship combines continuing education in the classroom and on various CNC machine platforms and controls. Over four years, students master fundamental skills and move on to real-world challenges like fixture design or process improvement. Approximately 90 percent of the machinists at KAISER graduated from an apprenticeship, and many continued studies to become master craftsmen. This level of talent, paired with efficient and flexible processes and high quality machines, is the core competency of KAISER.

BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc., Hoffman Estates, IL, is a leader in high precision tooling systems and solutions. With brands including BIG Daishowa, KAISER, Speroni, Unilock and Sphinx, BIG Kaiser’s line is focused on extreme accuracy and repeatability. BIG Kaiser’s mission is to support North American manufacturers with products that are designed and manufactured to a superior standard. Guaranteed.