Rugby-based Mapal Ltd (www.mapal.com) has added to its HX milling line with a cutter designed for the face and shoulder milling of cast iron and hardened steel.

Target sectors include automotive, mould-making and any other industry where tool life, machining performance and surface finish are critical factors.

The milling cutters can be used with Mapal’s HX indexable inserts (which feature six cutting edges for face milling), or with W-shaped three-edge inserts for shoulder milling and face milling.

This flexibility is provided by special milling cartridges that accept both insert types and can be used with the same tool body (this is manufactured from nickel-plated steel, which Mapal says makes it suited to arduous machining).

Furthermore, a proven clamping system is designed to deliver backlash-free insert mounting. Mapal says a wedge-based adjustment system on the cartridges allows axial run-out to be set with micron precision, while to aid swarf evacuation and maximise tool life during machining operations, the central coolant supply running through the tool body is directed at the cutting edges.

Both the HX and W-shaped indexable inserts are designed as full-face variants, with one whole side ‘tipped’ with a hard PcBN material. These new milling cutters are available in diameters from 50 to 250mm.