The brand new MaxiMill 275 milling system available from Sheffield-based Ceratizit UK & Ireland Ltd has been optimised for the rough machining of high-alloyed stainless and refractory steels — materials often found in the manufacture of turbocharger housings and exhaust manifolds.

The MaxiMill 275 face milling system is ideal for processing flat surfaces on these components and is ultra-robust in its construction and design, with a maximum number of indexable inserts for efficient machining.

Inserts are ground all around to ensure a smooth milling action, high-quality milling results, long tool life and particularly high efficiency.

Face milling turbocharger components (see pic below) presents huge challenges for milling tools due to the demanding nature of the material – usually refractory cast steel, often containing niobium. In addition to this, the design of turbocharger housings and exhaust manifolds often create unstable machining conditions, creating a requirement for the tool to be very stable and cut effectively to achieve the required quality.

Ceratizit – a full-range provider in the machining sector – set itself the task of developing a technically optimised, efficient tool system for these kinds of applications, bringing together the expertise of its Team Cutting Tools specialists.

Detlef Erdei, Ceratizit auapplication manager (automotive), said: “This collaboration has been a complete success with the MaxiMill 275 face milling system the end result.

“Our development team began the process by designing the cutter body to be extremely stable and have low-vibration. We were then able to optimise the number of cutting edges based on the diameter.” This resulted in the largest MaxiMill 275 with 125 mm diameter featuring 18 teeth, while the smaller 63, 80 and 100mm diameter variants have 7, 10 and 14 teeth respectively.

“Particular attention was paid to accuracy of the insert seat, which keeps the indexable insert firmly and precisely in place using a wedge clamp. This avoids any cutting mismatches and, therefore, the need for any subsequent height adjustment. This is a plus in terms of user friendliness, too.”

The indexable inserts have also been refined. The basis for this is a special cutting material, which is designed for the highest thermomechanical demands. They have a positive geometry with a 20deg rake angle enabling them to cut effectively and guarantee a smooth tool cutting action. The fact that they are fully ground around the periphery also generates consistent and high precision results.

The PVD-coated inserts are positioned in the cutter body in such a way that the cutting edge is horizontally aligned with the holder. This way, in contrast to most other face milling systems, which remove chips with the corner chamfer, a significantly smoother surface is produced like with an integrated finishing cutter. The indexable insert can be used on left- and right-hand cutting tools.