CNC turning and milling company MacVere has reduced its costs by using Taegutec inserts in its machines

The 16-employee business trialled Taegutec parting-off tools on its turning centres, resulting in improved tool life, surface finish and straightness.

With plenty of parts coming off the turning centres as complete parts, the improved surface finish and straightness are important for MacVere.

In comparison with the previous Scandinavian tooling supplier, the Taegutec part-off inserts are double- as opposed to single-ended.

The Taegutec inserts deliver longer tool life per edge, and when combined with the double- edge advantage, tool life has been improved by over 75 per cent.

On the company's Emco turning centres, Taegutec introduced its WNMG inserts to stainless steel turning operations.

The company has just implemented the part-off technique throughout its plant - with 23 turning centres, the benefit to MacVere will be considerable in terms of cost reduction, tool life and productivity.

The inserts improved tool life by 50 per cent, while demonstrating a marked increase in speeds and feeds that reduced cycle times.

This turning discovery led to the Taegutec representative introducing the company's T-Cap concept.

The T-Cap is a tooling development that allows drilling, boring, face turning and OD turning with just four tool.

Used on MacVere's 303 and 316 stainless steel parts, the T-Cap reduced cycle times by an additional 50 to 60 per cent by virtually eliminating tool changeovers whilst improving productivity.

An additional benefit to MacVere was the reduced number of cutting tools required in the tooling carousel.

With extensive aerospace and marine manufacturing, aluminium components are a large percentage of the MacVere portfolio, so the Taegutec representative brought milling research and development product manager Dr Kang from Korea to review the situation.

The result was the introduction of Taegutec's 12mm rectangular insert with a fully polished face.

The polished face prevents material sticking to the insert, a common problem with aluminium machining, and allows the cutter to machine at increased depths of cut while eradicating sticky swarf.

Taegutec polished inserts have a tool life comparable with that of solid carbide cutters, with the added advantage of significantly reduced cost.

This combination improved cycle times by over 25 per cent, with improved tool life and reduced require for tooling changeovers.