Ringwood-based Horn Cutting Tools Ltd (www.phorn.co.uk) has expanded its range of milling cutters for precision machining with the addition of new micro end mills with mono-crystalline diamond (MCD) inserts.

These feature sharp polished cutting edges that can produce a surface quality of 0.02Rz.

MCD tools are suitable for finishing aluminium alloys, non-ferrous metals and precious metals such as gold and platinum, as well as the mirror-finish machining of plastics like polycarbonates and PMMA.

Horn says that when using MCD micro end mills to carry out mould and tool machining, subsequent manual polishing operations can be eliminated.

The single-edged tools are available as ball-nose milling cutters from 0.1 to 3mm in diameter.