In today’s manufacturing environment, the sheer quantity of available cutting tools can turn decision-making into a full-time job. With thousands of new products released each year, it can be difficult for any manufacturer to stay informed on the best possible solutions for specific jobs.

For small to mid-size shops, it often proves impossible. For Nuflo Inc. (Jacksonville, FL), establishing a close working relationship with Sandvik Coromant (Fair Lawn, NJ) has allowed it to reap the benefits of new technologies that it might have otherwise overlooked.

Nuflo was founded in 2000 by a group of investors who moved the assets of a struggling shop from New York to Jacksonville to take advantage of contacts within the defense manufacturing industry. The new company was established with a focus on pipe-fitting components for the Navy and commercial marine customers. In less than nine years, the shop grew from 5000 ft² (464 m²) with a handful of employees to fully occupy a 50,000 ft² (4645-m²) facility containing 15 CNC machine tools and employing nearly 50 people.

Tom Connor of Nuflo credits Sandvik Coromant with tooling that has improved the company's productivity in machining large dies.

Despite its success, the company sometimes had trouble finding the best tooling solutions for its processes. Nuflo’s relationship with Sandvik Coromant began in 2006, when it was awarded a $2 million contract for the production of flanges to be used in naval vessels. The shop was experiencing difficulty in machining the components fast enough to meet the necessary turnaround times. Part of the difficulty arose from the fact that the parts were being machined from forgings with a significant amount of scale on them, requiring multiple finishing passes.

Matt O’Neil of Sandvik Coromant came in to look at the job, and suggested that Nuflo switch to CNMG 432 MM 2025 inserts. Tom Connor, Nuflo manufacturing and operations manager, remembers: “That immediately improved our processes. We then added a wiper insert and saw production increase by another 20%. The wiper achieved a clean enough cut that our finishing operations were significantly reduced.”

Shortly afterward, Nuflo was given the opportunity to be awarded a $3 million contract that required it to produce large dies from pre-hardened tool steel with tolerances of 0.003″ (0.08 mm) and a delivery time of eight months. Among other processes, the dies required milling a 12.75″ (324-mm) diam hole into the two halves of the die. Nuflo was using a 1″ (25.4 mm) diam end mill at 1100 rpm and a 0.075″ (1.9-mm) depth of cut. The tool could only handle a maximum feed rate of 20 ipm (0.5 m/min) at these cutting conditions, and the dies were taking over 1300 machining hr to produce.

Knowing that it would be unable to deliver the parts for the job on time at that rate, Nuflo turned once again to Sandvik Coromant. “We were running the job on a 40-taper machine, and it really needed the power of a 50-taper,” says Connor. “Our Sandvik rep evaluated it and recommended that we switch over to a CoroMill 210 with a 2″ [51-mm] diam. It instantly gave us the heavy-duty performance we needed, without investing in a new machine. The cutting feeds and speeds we’re able to get out of that tool are beyond what I would’ve believed possible.”

Sandvik Coromant tooling enabled Nuflo to reduce total machining time for a large die component from 1300 to 260 hours.

When the CoroMill 210 was first implemented, Sandvik Coromant recommended machining feeds and speeds of 768 rpm and 60 ipm (1.5 m/min) with a depth of cut of 0.04″ (1 mm). These new cutting parameters significantly reduced the time it would take to produce a die. However, Nuflo needed to increase productivity even further if it was to capitalize on the contract, which required production of thirteen dies in an eight-month period.

Nuflo began experimenting with the cutting parameters to see if the tool could be maximized even further. By shifting to 1100 rpm and 90 ipm (2.3 m/min) with a 0.04″ (1-mm) depth of cut, productivity was improved, but tool life suffered, as the higher heat levels impaired the life of the inserts. After further testing, Connor upped the cutting data to 1480 rpm and 190 ipm (4.8 m/min), with the depth of cut remaining at 0.04″ (1 mm) and the tool buried 1.3″ (33 mm) into the material at all times.

The results were surprising. “When we were running at 768 rpm and 1100 rpm, a lot of heat was going into the tool and the inserts were very hot to the touch when changing them,” says Connor. “When I moved to 1480 rpm and 190 ipm (4.8 m/min), the heat started to transfer into the chips. When cutting at these speeds using forced air only, with no coolant applied, the inserts lasted longer and were cool to the touch when changing them.”

In addition to faster metal removal rates, the move to the CoroMill 210 also allowed more accurate roughing, greatly reducing the amount of finishing operations required. Total machining time for the component dropped from over 1300 hr to approximately 260 hr per die. This boost in productivity proved vital to achieving the turnaround time necessary to meet the customer’s demand.

Learn more about Tooling Solutions from Sandvik Coromant.

Originally published in Manufacturing Engineering 10.2009.