December 2, 2016
In the early industrial days of cutting tool development, metalworking was very limited. It remained a slow task until the nineteenth century when the industrial age brought the availability of machine power via the steam engine and, later, electricity. Machine tools developed considerably in response, and with the introduction of high speed steel (HSS) in the twentieth century, the modern metal cutting era began. Today, there are two types of cutting tools, rotary and indexable. Rotary, also known as solid round tools, forms one entire piece made up of the cutting edge and shank. It is typically associated with drilling, threading and milling applications. Indexable tools are predominantly made of inserts or tips, where the cutting edge is a replaceable shaped piece that is welded or clamped on to a tool body. These are generally used for turning, milling and hole-making operations. Fabio Sala is Dormer Pramet’s Product Manager for round tools, while Lukas Pavlis is the company’s product manager for indexables. They discuss the…