4. FAQ
1. How to reduce vibration in cutting tools?
Vibration is a response to a mechanical system deteriorating its performance. It is known that the parameters of machining affect vibration. Thus, increasing the cutting speed decreases the vibration. Simultaneously, increasing the depth of cut and feed rate increases the vibration as well.
It is recommended to revise the CNC turning machine’s settings, so they are more optimal without compromising the quality of finished components.
2. Why do cutting tools need to bend?
The reasons why cutting tools bend or are deformed in any other ways are the following.
- Bending strength and toughness are low compared to the material being cut.
- Excessive force.
- High stresses and temperature.
- The hardness of a tool is not enough.
- Low-pressure resistance of a tool.
- Tool wear is inappropriate.
3. What are two types of threading cutting tools?
Taps and dies are the cutting tools intended to create screw threads. The first ones are intended to form the female portion of the mating pair, while the second ones cut the male portion. You can find additional information in the “Classification of Lathe Cutting Tools” section in the above text.
4. How to remove rust from cutting tools
It is not recommended to remove corrosion that mechanical methods cannot treat with chemical acids as it may damage processing accuracy. The acceptable ways to remove rust are immersion cleaning and wiping cleaning.
- Immersion cleaning. Add the professional cleaning stock solution into the plastic tank and heat it to 40-50°C with an electric heater (further maintenance is recommended but not obligatory). Soak a cutting tool into the tank. To improve the efficiency, agitate the bath by a circulation pump or equal manual movement with any tool made of a neutral material – glass. Wait until the rust is completely dissolved, remove a tool from the tank, and rinse it. After natural drying and dehydrating, apply rustproof.
- Wiping and cleaning. Wipe repeatedly with a rag and a cleaning solution. After wiping, dry it with hot air or naturally dehydrate, and apply anti-rust oil.
5. What type of steel are lathe cutting tools?
Here is the list of all the materials lathe cutting tools can be made of.
- Carbon Steels
- High-speed steel (HSS)
- Cast cobalt alloys
- Carbides
- Cermets
- Ceramics, such as Alumina and Silicon Nitride
- Cubic Boron Nitride
- Diamond
It can also be noted that whisker reinforcement and coatings are applied to modify cutting tools made of some of the mentioned materials.
6. Why are coatings used on cutting tools?
Coatings are 2 -15 micro-m thick layers of material, including titanium nitride, titanium carbide, and aluminum oxide. Coatings are frequently applied, especially to carbide tools, to improve a cutting instrument’s life and/or to enable higher cutting speeds. Thus, coated tips typically live 10 times longer than uncoated ones.
7. What process is used most to coat cutting tools?
Techniques used for applying coatings are the following:
- Chemical vapor deposition (CVD). It is the use of thermally induced chemical reactions at the surface of a heated substrate with reagents supplied in gaseous form.
- Plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD). This method is the form of CVD with the use of plasma deposition to provide energy for the reaction enabling it to be conducted at a lower temperature.
- Physical vapor deposition (PVD). It is the use of a metal vapor that can be deposited on electrically conductive materials in a vacuum chamber.
Summary
Cutting tools for CNC turning centers are vital parts intended for exceptionally precise shaping of workpieces. Each cutting tool has its specific purpose, and all of them can be classified by the angle they are fed to a workpiece.
To select a sufficient cutting tool is vital to consider machining parameters and materials both a tool and workpieces are made of.
