Walter GB Customers Hit The Jackpot With New Tiger.Tec Gold Milling Inserts

A number of customers across varied industry sectors are already striking it rich with the new Tiger.tec Gold cutting inserts from tooling expert Walter GB in a range of rough and finish milling operations, including:

• A sub-contractor to the rail and energy industries extended tool life on a S275 structural steel component by over 400 per cent and reduced production costs by 69 per cent; 
• An aerospace and automotive supplier increased metal removal rates on an EN24T steel workpiece by over 150 per cent and reduced tooling cost by 73 per cent, resulting in operational cost savings of 71 per cent; and
• A major automotive supplier not only reduced tooling costs by 20 per cent on a grey cast iron job, but on another (GGG40 component) increased tool life by more than 250 per cent.

Recently announced by Walter GB, Tiger.tec Gold features a new and innovative titanium aluminium oxide (TiAIN) coating process that revolutionises carbide insert performance by offering staggering increases in tool life compared to inserts coated using the conventional chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process.

Tiger.tec Gold inserts additionally boast higher wear resistance on flank faces, reduced hairline cracking, a greater resistance to plastic deformation and improved process reliability.

Walter’s high levels of expertise and claims of increased productivity are being proven in the field, with Tiger.tec Gold outshining tooling from competitors. This highlights how, together with customers, Walter GB will always find the best solutions.

The sub-contractor to the rail and energy industries used the new inserts in conjunction with Walter’s M4000 universal milling system on a comparative finish milling operation. The 8,000 revs/min vertical machining centre was run at similar speed and feed rates (251 m/min and 751 mm/min) on the S275 brake level assembly workpiece.

However, the massive 400 per cent increases in tool life and tool cost reductions of 69 per cent achieved with Tiger.tec Gold also involved a 51 per cent saving in cost per edge, a 78 per cent reduction in toolchange times and the release of effectively 13 hours of machine capacity over a year.

For 45 deg face milling of EN24T steel shafts on a 12,000 revs/min horizontal machining centre at a supplier to the aerospace and automotive sectors, Tiger.tec Gold was run at different speed and feed rates (180 m/min and 1,074 mm/min compared to 100 m/min and 353 mm/min with the competitor’s insert).

The resulting operational cost savings of 71 per cent were made up of increased metal removal rates (by more than 150 per cent) and a 73 per cent reduction in tooling costs, and over a year the use of Tiger.tec Gold on this operation alone would release 31 hours of machining capacity.

In addition, a major supplier to the automotive sector has trialled Tiger.tec Gold on two applications. The first, involving Walter’s M4000 universal cutting system, saw a 90 deg shoulder milling application reduce tooling costs by 20 per cent on the rough milling of a grey cast iron workpiece using a 12,000 revs/min horizontal machining centre. Run at similar speeds and feeds (275 m/min and 1,559 mm/min) the new inserts also reduced the cost per cutting edge by over 50 per cent.

However, it was the use of Tiger.tec Gold in a Walter Blaxx milling system that produced the significant increases in tool life – more than 250 per cent – when rough milling a GGG40 component on a 12,000 revs/min horizontal machining centre.

Run at different speed and feed rates than with the competitor insert (200 m/min and 2,122 mm/min compared to 227 m/min and 1,043 mm/min), the Walter insert halved machining times, released 135 hours of machine time over a year and, overall, produced machining cost savings of 38 per cent.