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Challenge: To meet the need for smaller spindles in machines where a reduced depth of cut is required, with exceptional improvement in productivity.

Solution: A new design with outstanding insert geometry for highly productive cutting, setting a new standard for milling.

(CoroMill 490 video post) CoroMill 490 is the first of a new family of versatile endmill tools that cuts costs in small- and medium-batch face and shoulder milling, especially for smaller depths of cut. Several case studies show that CoroMill 490 offers lower tool costs and inventories, greater flexibility, higher precision and better tolerances and is superior in all respects to existing tools. CoroMill 490 is designed for facemilling, shallow square shoulder milling, repeated square shoulder milling, edging and contouring, semi and finish boring with 2- millimeter stock with cylindrical or helical interpolation and for slot milling with a tolerance of –0.15 millimeter slot width.

CoroMill 490 has four-edge inserts. Cutting is light and quiet, with high axial angles and burr-free surfaces, and less force is required – the result of outstanding insert geometry and new grades. These give sharper edge lines and a smoother profile, requiring less finishing. The insert geometry and grades make this the first cutter with a true 90-degree cut without sharp steps, with cusp heights of 0.03 millimeters and no discernible cusp on a smooth surface. Smaller spindle sizes with lower storage requirements are used in smaller machine tools for shallow cut finishing of near net-shape castings and forgings (maximum depth is 5.5 millimeters, with 4 millimeters recommended). These precision products are ready for final machining. CoroMill 490 is the most effective tool for achieving these savings, as it is designed to give a finished product in one pass.

CoroMill 490 uses the new insert generation milling grades from Sandvik Coromant. These new grades are combined with unique insert geometries to give consistently high-quality components in a productive and predictable way, with better tolerances. The features include new geometry of the parallel land for very thin chips as well as four cutting edges and improved predictability in performance and accuracy.

The versatility of CoroMill 490 reduces costs for face and shoulder milling as industry’s new standard milling tool, replacing stocks and simplifying production control. Overall, the performance of CoroMill 490 is characterized by lighter, precise cutting with less force – a winning combination for small- and medium-batch production and small depths of cut.

Case Studies: New Solutions Boost Productivity

Auto industry component in cast steel.

In the German motor industry, burr generation and excess axial force were problems for one component maker, especially in workpieces with long overhangs. To overcome these issues and boost productivity, a tool with low axial forces was essential. CoroMill 490 has low cutting forces, with more teeth available on the cutting head. This new tool eliminated burr generation and increased table feed from 1,400 mm/min to 1,760 mm/min with reduced axial force, and the feed rate/tooth fell from 0.2 millimeters to 0.18 millimeters.

Perfect Chip Evacuation

Also in Germany a heavy-duty application in the process machinery industry produced 1,000 kilograms of chips per workpiece, a challenge in chip evacuation for any toolmaker. These large workpieces, 4 meters long, 450 millimeters wide and 230 millimeters high, usually had a short overhang with a clamped tool for a slot cut depth of 4 millimeters. A 130-millimeter Coromant Capto extension was used with CoroMill 490, offering a full slot, with an axial depth of 1.5 millimeters. The insert corner edge radius of 1.6 millimeters offered a perfect chip evacuation, with a very good tool life, lower power consumption and high security of the insert and workpiece, with lower sound.

CoroMill 490 Benefits

• A standard milling tool that gives lower tool costs and inventories

• Great flexibility, high precision and better tolerances

• Light and quiet cutting, with less force

• High productivity with outstanding insert geometry and new grades

• Sharper edge lines and burr-free, smoother profiles

• Product finished in one pass

• True 90-degree cut without sharp steps.

CoroMill 490 Technical Facts

• Four-edge inserts

• High axial angle cutting

• True 90-degree cut; cusp height 0.03 millimeter

• Angular accuracy +10–20°, compared with + 30° with other technology

• High starting values

• Available in diameters of 25–80 millimeters

• Insert chip breaker geometries L, M and H available. Radius is 0.4–1.6 mm.

Learn more about Milling Solutions from Sandvik Coromant.

Originally published in Metalworking World 2.2008, a business magazine published by Sandvik Coromant.