Cutter evaluation procedure?

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

We're trying to proceduralize as much as possible here, but we don't have any tool life management set up yet. Does anyone have a written procedure for evaluating when a cutter should be replaced / sharpened or have inserts changed?

 

Thanks.

[mkd]

judging by the slow response, maybe people are thinking what i'm thinking. no two parts or setups or material or cutter selection is the same to allow one rule to cover all eventualities.

wouldn't an operator need to learn cutter wear and make a cutter change on a case by case basis??

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

Here's what I've came up with so far:

 

Tool wear quantification:

 

There are two modes of tool wear quantification: direct, and indirect.

 

Direct quantification would be performed on a tool that is not currently in use, to determine whether it should be returned to circulation or slated for resharpening or disposal. This could be done by inspecting the cutter edge under a machinists microscope and measuring chipping, flank wear, and edge radius. If any of these exceeds a predetermined tolerance, the tool requires reconditioning or replacement.

 

 

Indirect quantification would be performed on a tool in use, by measuring the surfaces it has recently cut. If the measurement shows any deviation in form (such as taper or ridges) greater than a specified tolerance, the tool requires reconditioning or replacement. This measurement would ideally be performed automatically by the machine.

 

 

When duplicate cutters are used for different applications, cutters that exceed the wear specifications for one application may be redesignated for another, such as a dull finishing cutter becoming a semifinishing cutter.

[EX-wccprogrammer]

Dynamic evaluation can be used also. I establish a baseline (new insert) spindle load % for each tool. When the spindle load starts to climb beyond an allowable increase (~10%) it is time to change the inserts.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

I think that would be kind of hard for me to implement here. We don't have the load monitoring function on all machines, and most of our tools use a trivial percentage of the machine's horsepower.