Coolant Fed Endmills

[eorourke]

I am in the process of evaluating coolant fed endmills. These endmills are carbide with coolant holes running up and down the flutes. They are available in 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 flute geometries in both 30, 45 and 50 degree helix angles in regular lenths. Minimum end mill size is 1/4" diameter up to 1" diameter. Would there be any interest in the market place for these endmills?

[rustamd]

what kind of spindle would those require? I would think that if someone is set up for flood coolant, it would be lots of hassle to retro special spindle, no?

[eorourke]

Yes, in order to use the endmills efficiently, coolant thru the spindle would have to standard on the machine. Usually, you will find this option as standard equipment on horizontal machining centers(CNC) and on many of the newer vertical machining centers(CNC): such as Haas or Makino or Toyoda machines will employ coolant thru the spindle (CTS).

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

eorourke, Similar tools have been on the market along with rotary coolant inducers for at least 40 years. I believe the company name is George Whalley Co. or something similar to that. There are other manufacturers as well.

This type of tooling works quite well. My experience was mostly deep hole drilling, tapping and milling. I switched from thru tool tapping to formming taps to avoid tap breakage.

[eorourke]

Yes, you are correct that coolant fed with rotary inducer unions have been on the market for several years. George Whalley's products are primarily HSS and the coolant thru the tool exits out the bottom of the tool. This tool that I brought up is made of carbide tubing and has a minimum of three coolant holes axially along the length of each flute, thereby permitting coolant to get under the chip and help it to evacuate the chip while maintaining ambient temperature thru the cut.

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

eorourke, You are correct on the end cutting tools with end coolant supply. We did purchase end mills that fed coolant through the axial holes as you describe. Also had indexable carbide face/shell mills. There were/are even coolant fed lathe tools available.

If you are simply evaluating for use, I'm sure you will find them usefull. If you are evaluating for sale or manufacturing, I think you will find an underserved market. My personal experience with coolant fed, especially high pressure, is very positive. I feel this is not applied as often as it should be.

In another thread we discussed "micro drop" coolant/lube. I used thru tool micro-drop "near dry" coolant/lube with fairly high pressure air instead of water or oil based liquid very successfully.

Keep on evaluating. I think you'll be happy with the results.

[dertsap]

one real benefit to thru spindle tooling is in pocket cutting , generally pockets fill up with chips and the cutter has recut those chips ,
if the thru spindle is a good high pressure system then those chips usually get blasted out of the pocket leaving a far cleaner area for the cutter, less chance of chipping or breaking the cutter

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

The lathe tools mentioned above directed the coolant up under the tip of the insert keeping both the insert and workpiece cooled. Cooled chips as well. Coolant was fed thru the tool shank with pipe tapped drilled holes. They were plugged and could be accessed from the end or sides by removing the appropriate plug and leaving the unused plugs in place.

[eorourke]

Yes, I am considering importing them and reselling them. I am trying to get an idea of how receptive the machining public would be to buy them and use them. I also believe that there would be a huge aerospace market for them.

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

eorourke, FYI the end mills I referred to above (with holes in the sides) were actually brazed carbide with the holes in the steel body. This gave us the strength of the steel body and the benefits of carbide on the cutting edge. The bad news, they required grinding. The good news, they didn't crack and were re-useable plus less expensive than solid carbide. Replacement carbide high helix inserts were/are available for re-brazing. Smallest diameters, I believe, was 1/2" could be 5/8".

[eorourke]

I am familiar with those tools. I believe that Sonnet out of California as well as Cleveland offered these tools back in the 70s and 80s. The endmills that I am talking about are totally unique with coolant entering thru the back and exiting out the flutes. They are available in 2,3, 4, and 5 flute designs with helix angles ranging from 30 degrees to 45 degrees. They also can be coated with the latest ALTIN coatings or ZRN coatings.