Sutton Tools, Australia’s largest manufacturer of ‘rotary shank’ cutting tools, has gained market share in the highly competitive aerospace industry by taking advantage of the linear-motor technology on Anca’s MX7 tool grinder (
www.anca.com).
Jeff Boyd, export manager at Sutton Tools, said: “To gain traction in the aerospace market, we needed to push the boundaries of what could be expected from tools for machining aerospace materials.
“By focusing on how we could improve the surface finish of our tools, and by making full use of the capabilities offered by Anca’s linear motor drives, we have created a product that is delivering significant productivity gains for our customers.
“We are now consistently achieving a longer tool life and shorter cycle times in some of the higher-strength materials — such as titanium — which is a great result.
“With our new MX Linear machine, we have seen dramatic improvements in the surface finish of the cutting tools when compared with tools made on our Anca ballscrew-driven grinders; we have also experimented with different grinding-wheel grades and grinding parameters to ensure that we are achieving the best possible finish.
“The better finish we are now achieving also means that we get better adhesion of the coating and stable cutting performance.
“Tool stability is important, because it means that our customers can confidently forecast their production schedules and reduce machine down-time.
“A company in France had been buying a competitor’s brand, but we saw an opportunity to make a better product and win the business. After studying the surface roughness of a tool, we felt that a linear-motor grinder could achieve a higher accuracy and a better surface finish.
“Subsequent tests confirmed what we had thought, and we now have a tool that performs better than our competitor’s product.
“To validate our grinding methods, we use an optical 3-D scanning technique to measure the surface roughness on the rake face and the cutting rake on the tools. This means we can manage our quality and accuracy to a level that we consider to be world-class in this industry.
“The LinX cylindrical linear motors used on the MX7 ensure that there is no loss of preload or rigidity when grinding tools.
“Moreover, reversal errors are eliminated and higher contouring accuracy can be maintained, due to the control algorithm that Anca uses.”