Ball-nose endmills (BNE) are the preferred endmills for machining dies; with increasing demands in die making , like machining hardened dies, eliminating polishing of dies, etc, the demands on the ball-nose have increased dramatically from being merely a copy milling tool to a modern profiling tool which can efficiently machine the same die. To do this, today’s modern die making softwares define such tool paths which enable high speed machining strategies , like contouring, cornering, etc. This changes the demand on the conventional ball-nose endmills & it is necessary to manufacture modern endmills by designing new geometries, having new levels of accuracies on the ball-nose radius and optimum crack inhibiting PVD coatings.
Aayudh have worked diligently in these applications to develop a new class of BNEs, which can machine dies at different hardness levels (42-48HRC, 55HRC,60HRC). These will be Aayudh BNE P, BNE G, BNE H.
Typical cutting data for aayudh BNE G on 48-55 HRC Die Steel would be :-
| Vc (m/min) | Ap | Ae | Fz (mm/tooth) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROUGHING | 80-100 | 8-10%Dc | 35-40%Dc | 0.05-0.1 |
| FINISHING | 90-120 | 2-3%Dc | 15-25%Dc | 0.02-0.15 |
From the above it is clear that the BNE cannot be subjected to higher feed rates as, only its weakest point i.e. the ball centre is mainly in contact with the die; which means, when one applies a cutting speed of around 100m for dia 8 BNE with an RPM of 3980 at the diameter of contact the cutting speed is just 30-35 m/min.
Modern softwares are able to generate tool paths that support ramping & contouring, this will enable us to use corner radius endmills with unique gashing geometry which enables 50% higher feed rates to be used.
Aayudh manufactures high feed corner radius endmills with different geometries & coatings to suit the die & mould applications.
Aerospace applications are rapidly increasing and these have different demands on profiling endmills. Materials like Titanium & Inconel which are very common in aerospace are normally machined on 5-axis machines which have modern high speed machining softwares like trochoidal milling, ramping, cornering, etc. This puts new demands on profiling endmills like being able to profile, slot, mill trochoidal,etc.
Aayudh have developed such versatile& accurate profiling tools customised to such application demands.
