“Crest cut” or “wave cut” are brand names of special types of tooling that allow users to mill difficult to machine materials such as titanium and Inconel with less horsepower. The wavy flute form and cutting edges are designed to lessen the effects of tool pressure by breaking up the chips into smaller pieces. The wave structure along the helix varies from flute to flute in conjunction with a staggered or unequal helix. This form greatly reduces the forces that are generated in end milling.
Milling chips come out in smaller sections. Less heat is also generated due to the crests and valleys. When coolant is continually flooded into the cutting zone, the result is less work hardening. Work hardening can occur in many types of high alloyed metals when excessive heat is generated in the cutting process. The heat transforms a thin layer of metal at the surface into a harder “skin” that can be very difficult to cut in successive passes. Wave cut tools allow users to bite deeply into the metal with relative ease without fear of work hardening. With normal end mills, the user cannot take deep radial passes in harder metals. The light passes dull the edges quickly, causing heat and work hardening. Ideally, when machining harder metals, taking one or two deeper roughing pass is the best way to remove stock vs several lighter roughing passes. Semi finishing and finishing with sharp standard end mills then completes the process.
We here at KV Tooling have the capability to re-sharpen Wave cut tooling by probing the flutes along the length multiple times. This digitizing process allows the machine to pick up the form of each flute accurately so the grinding path can automatically be generated for each tool. Less operator intervention means greater accuracy. Each tool is checked for total run out after the grind has completed to assure that each flute is concentric to the centerline of the tool.
We have the capability to grind up to 2” diameter tools x 11” long at gage line of the holder.
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