Gloucestershire-based Quickgrind (
www.quickgrind.com) has extended its product range with the introduction of the new Mirage Super range of solid carbide end mills. Designed for a wide range of applications in a variety of materials, the new end mills are available in standard or application-specific formats for cutting stainless steel, titanium. Inconel, duplex and other super alloys.
Building on the reputation of the existing Mirage series, Quickgrind has introduced its next-generation coating technology and combined it with the very latest micro-grain carbide substrate that increases performance on the most challenging of materials.
The new range is available with 4, 5, 6 or more flutes in diameters from 3 to 32mm with any combination of edge preparation radius, chip breaker, through-coolant or neck reduction to allow end users to optimise their program and machining processes. Perfect for trochoidal milling applications on challenging materials, the Quickgrind Mirage Super can achieve full flute engagement at 3xD.
This performance is afforded by the new XRed-SL coating technology that has been developed using advanced arc technology that Quickgrind is introducing in this new cutting tool range.
The new process deposits coatings at far higher energy levels than possible with conventional arc sources providing a significantly increased coating density that leads to improved abrasion resistance and reduced tendency for chipping at the cutting edge.
The coating also has fewer growth defects and this results in a smoother surface, which can be further improved with the appropriate post-treatment.
The cutting performance is enhanced due to the highly controlled composition and internal stress gradients that show increased performance in dry and wet machining.
The multi-layered TiSiN based coating has been developed for high-speed milling of the hardest and toughest materials including exotic nickel and titanium alloys under low lubrication and dry conditions. It performs best on tungsten carbide tools where it withstands temperatures of up to 1,100°C at the cutting edge.
The new range can be re-ground and re-coated a number of times at Quickgrind’s Tewkesbury headquarters as part of the company’s remanufacturing service that can reduce tooling budgets by as much as 40%.