o-ring grooving tool?

[Eric S.]

hello

 

 

I am milling an o-ring groove in 316ss that has a dia. of 1.071", a width of.130", and is .078 deep (all with a tollerance of .004"). At the moment I am using a 1/8" stubby carbide endmill and ramping down. This works but it takes forever!

I was thinking what would work much quicker; would be some sort of form tool that I could just plunge down into it. Anyone know if I can buy one someplace? Or I was also thinking that I might be able to use a boring head with a ground tool in it. That way at least I could adjust the dia. of the groove. But I would prefer to buy something that way it would not be such a pain in the a%s to change to a sharp cutter.

 

Any input here would be greatly appreciated

 

Thanks.

Eric

 

[ 04-17-2003, 12:51 PM: Message edited by: Eric Salsman ]

[jeff]

Check out PH HORN.

They have tons of small carbide tooling.

[robk]

We run a lot of different size o-rings in tne shop here, and the quickest way to do this is to regrind an end mill to your desired O.D. and burn out your I.D. deeper than the depth of your o-ring on an EDM.....

[mold100]

I do similar o-ring grooves with 2d ramp contour

I thought it actually went kind of quick.1/8 diameter 2 flute stub tialn 14000 rpms 45 ipm

using depth rather than angle set at .007 took less than 2 minutes each, I have these saved its only like a .001 chip load at 600 sfm in p-20 however I am not so sure about 316ss.

[specv]

Depending on the dia. of the groove we usually use the boring head option.

[Eric S.]

Thanks for the input.

 

I tried a little experiment. I took a boring bar for face grooving on a lathe and stuck it in a toolholder of my mill and plunged with it. It worked great! At least the finish was nice but of course the sizes were all wrong. If I stick it in a boring head at least I could adjust the outer dia. Then I could grind the side of an insert down to the proper thickness and it just might work . If that fails the at least I would just have to mill the inner dia.

 

Eric

[Eric S.]

mold100 I was wondering what material you are machining at those feeds and speeds?

[mold100]

Eric P-20 or any softer tool steel I cut them in heat treated tool steel as well but about half but somewhat slower feed.

[EZ3PUTT]

Eric, Heed Jeff's suggestion about Ph Horn. They are great tools. A little pricey but worth it. I have several of their tools that I have been using for nearly 10 years now. A little caution and common sense and they will last. Check them out at WWW.hornusa.com

[Henk]

Eric,

 

I know HASCO has some special tools for o-rings

i dont know if HASCO has resellers in the US

look at www.hasco.com

[Eric S.]

Thank you for all of your suggestions.

Looks like I have some web surfing to do

 

thanks again.

 

Eric