Cheshire-based
Rainford Precision Machines Ltd, recently announced as the new UK and Ireland distributor for both 6C Tools AG and BSQ Tech GmbH, will showcase specialist ‘small manufacturing solutions’ from the companies at
MACH 2022 (Hall 20, Stand 573). The event is taking place this week (4-8 April) at the NEC, Birmingham. The tooling specialist will also give away 300 Union Tool V tools free to visitors.
The products from 6C Tools are manufactured by laser ablation, a method of manufacture that avoids damage and significantly increases the wear resistance of the tools, resulting in a five- to 10-times tool-life increase.
The 6C product catalogue covers several drilling, milling and threading tools, as well as tailored tools that are manufactured from PCD and PCBN and designed specifically for machining materials such as ceramics, tungsten carbide, zirconium, sapphire, glass and glass ceramics.
The PCD tools include drills, end mills, chamfer tools, ball-nose mills, ball-nose ‘polish tools’, and a range of PCD thread mills. Like many products offered by Rainford Precision, the 6C Tools range is specifically produced for the machining of small components and features.
For example, the chamfer tools are available in diameters from 1 to 3mm with 30deg and 45deg angles, while the ball-nose polish mills are introduced with a ball radius from 0.05-1.6mm with 2xD and 3xD variants available.
Meanwhile, for engineers looking to improve their productivity when machining aluminium, aluminium alloys, copper brass, plastics, PEEK and all other non-ferrous metals, Rainford will be showing the SwissCeraMill series from BSQ Tech, which the company says “can increase tool life from five- to 25-times and improve productivity by 400% compared to conventional carbide cutting tools”.
To achieve such significant gains, a high-speed machine is recommended, although improvements can be achieved with standard machines.
Manufactured from ceramic zirconium oxide with a 0.3µm micro-grain structure, the SwissCeraMill end mills are available in square-end, corner-radius, ball-nose and special-purpose designations.
The square-end tools are available in diameters from 1 to 20mm; with the chamfer tools, the 45deg chamfer on the smallest tools starts at 0.05mm ranging up to 0.5mm on the 20mm-diameter tools.
The corner radius tools have radii from 0.5 to 2mm. For profiling applications and challenging forms, the ball-nosed series is available in diameters from 4 to 20mm.
Rainford Precision will also be demonstrating cutting tools from world-renowned brands such as Louis Bélet, HOBE, DTS, Osawa, Iwata and ATOM.
Representatives from Rainford Precision and their principals will be available to discuss ultra-precise machine tool solutions from Kern, laser micro-machining from Lasea as well as micro-waterjet machining technology from Finepart.