We were approached by a customer who was experiencing several problems when machining light alloy plates with a 500mm diameter cutter.

The cutter had a tendency to lift the work piece from the clamping mechanism, causing high scrap ratios through poor surface finish and tool life was considered low. In addition, the existing cutters were manufactured in steel and there was an issue with the effect of weight on machine spindles and operators when handling these items.

Our answer was to utilise our Patriot Aluminium bodied cutter design fitted with Poly Crystalline Diamond (PCD) shoes.

The customer was surprised with the improvements. Tool life was more than doubled, there was no lifting of the component and, hence, the scrap dropped to virtually zero. The use of an Aluminium body instead of steel eliminated the problems with the weight of the cutter.