CUTTING TIMES

As I mentioned in our last newsletter, we at Criterion believe we manufacture the best most complete line of boring heads, tools, bars, and other machine tool accessories available. Recently we exhibited our metric line of products at the EMO show in Paris. This was our fourth EMO show and our metric products continue to be well received and many visitors were interested in our introduction of the metric MD boring bars.

Because commerce has become worldwide, we want you to know that when you are working with partners and/or customers and have a need for metric products, Criterion is the source to call.

Criterion tool products are readily adaptable to many machines. Manufactured from premium alloy steels, our products offer you the highest quality and performance available. Behind our products are skilled craftsmen utilizing the latest in manufacturing technology and dedicated to uncompromising quality, and committed to excellence. English or metric, we have the tools you need to produce quality products.

Criterion is introducing a new line of diamond insert boring bars - CFX Boring Bars. The CFX bars with 80° diamond inserts are highly effective for internal boring and facing. The offset head permits easy disposal of chips and a generous coolant flow. The CFX bars have a ground shank diameter for use in round holders and four flats for use on a flat surface, such as a turret post holder. The line is similar to the TFX line, which uses triangular inserts. There is an additional heavy duty bar in the CFX line, the CFX-1500. Bars and specifications are as follow:

Tool No.	Shank Diameter	Overall Length	Insert I.C.	Min. Bore Diameter
CFX-500	0.500	6.00	.250	0.75
CFX-750	0.750	8.00	.375	1.00
CFX-1000	1.000	10.00	.375	1.38
CFX-1500	1.500	10.60	.500	1.76

GS Manufacturing of Costa Mesa, California specializes in manufacturing a variety of fiberglass spray equipment, and adhesive dispensing equipment. According to founder and owner Gary Smith, he started the company in 1985. In the process of producing the spray equipment, tooling became quite critical in the machining operations and GS Manufacturing turned to Criterion for help.

Since 1985, GS Manufacturing has been producing some of the world's best dispensing systems. Recently the company introduced its state-of-the-art "Superflow" chopper gun. Field testing has proven the new patented gun outperforms any other flowcoating system on the market. The gun is superior to competitors for the following reasons:

Mixing - The patented head/nozzle virtually eliminates any "candy stripping" or "pulsing" of unmixed resin, which is seen on competitive flowcoaters.

Pattern - The Patented GS "Flat-Flow Tip" delivers an excellent resin pattern that is unequaled in the field.

Plugged Tips - The "Flat-Flow Tip" is a completely new design that has virtually eliminated plugging.

Glass Pattern - The new gun has an "outlaw" chute on the chopper motor cover that gives the operator total directional control over the glass. Coupled with the "Flat-Flow" resin pattern, the glass goes on the mold, not on the floor or bouncing in midair. The glass lays flat for minimum roll-out, thus eliminating "cotton balling" or bridging of the glass fibers.

Tip Changes - The "Flat-Flow Tip" is used for everything from small female molds to 100 foot boat hulls. Whether at low pump delivery or high, the gun performs spectacularly.

A further advantage of the gun is a great reduction in VOC emissions, which in itself makes the gun superior to others.

Not only is the fiberglass gun an exceptional design, but its construction dictates intricate machining of parts. According to Gary Smith, Jr. Engineering Manager/CNC Division, it was this factor that caused them to contact Criterion. With lathes and a machining center involved, they wanted a reliable source of tooling.

GS Manufacturing specializes in manufacturing a variety of fiberglass, composites, and adhesives dispensing and spray equipment. Shown is their "Superflow" chopper gun

Tooling requirements included boring, turning, and O-ring grooving tools. In particular, they required the Criterion "Stubby Boring Tools", which assures maximum rigidity whether the tools are used in a boring head or cross-slide of a lathe. The TAS indexable insert boring bar has also proved very useful. These bars will take flat top inserts or chip control type inserts and are held into the pocket with a torx screw. The TAS is used in GS Manufacturing's Fadal VMC.

A variety of machined parts are required in GS Manufacturing's spray equipment. Dimensional quality is extremely critical to ensure proper flow of spray materials.

Another Criterion tool that has proved most useful is the O-ring grooving tool. Meeting MIL-P-5514E specifications, these tools are of outstanding quality. They are ground to produce a groove of extremely high surface finish, with the bottom radii and width meeting AN specifications.

Principal machine in their machining operations are a HwaCheon Hi-ECO 10 compact universal CNC lathe, a Fadal 4020 vertical machining center and an Ikuma LC-10 CNC lathe. The HwaCheon has excellent repeatability to ensure high-precision machining on critical parts. Recently, an automatic bar feeder was added to the HwaCheon.

GS Manufacturing designs all parts for their spray equipment on Mac-based Vellum 3D CAD software. Vellum 3D is a unique hybrid modeler. It allows the selection of any one of the three methods to create solids: primitives/features, stitching of surfaces, or local face modeling. It also features a seamless transition into their SmartCAM software.

Gary A. Smith is in charge of the CNC operation at GS Manufacturing. Gary stated that the company was having a tooling problem and asked Criterion for help. Criterion has been a reliable supplier of tooling ever since.

Criterion exhibits at trade shows to give you an opportunity to see and discuss tooling. Overall, the shows allow you to see new products and learn about new technologies. They also enable you to network .... to meet new people who not only share your concerns and problems, but people who have developed ways to produce things better, faster and at a lower cost.

The EMO show that Criterion recently attended is the world's largest machine tool show. Held every two years it is rotated among three European locations: Hanover, Germany; Milan, Italy; Paris, France.

Show

Place

Date

Booth No.

South-Tec

Westec

Eastec

IMTS

Charlotte

Los Angeles

West Spring field

Chicago

02/29-03/02

03/20-03/23

05/23-05/25

09/06-09/13

1246

2662

365

E-2594

Criterion is adding a new and larger boring bar to its CHB line of Crosshole boring bars. The new bar is 1.50 inches in diameter and 9 inches long, allowing a minimum bore diameter of 9.25" and maximum bore of 17". Designated the CHB-80F, the new bar is used on a Criterion DBL-206 boring head.

This family of boring bars is ideal for boring larger diameter holes. Available in .500, .750 and 1.000 diameter shanks with four flats, the bars use an 80° diamond insert (CPMT Style) to give side and end clearance without sacrificing insert strength. These bars are designed to fit the cross-hole of Criterion's DBL-202, DBL-203, and DBL-204 boring heads.

Many factors effect the performance of boring tools and bars, and the quality of the parts they produce. Probably the most significant factor effecting performance is "tool overhang".

"Tool overhang" is that portion of a tool or bar that extends beyond its holder, or the unsupported portion of the tool or bar. The force required to deflect a boring tool decreases by the cube of its length or, when the tool overhang is doubled, its resistance to deflection is decreased approximately eight times.

In simpler terms this means that the further a tool's cutting edge is from the holder that supports it, the less force it takes to cause the tool to deflect. It is this deflection that often causes chatter, poor finishes, variations in bore size, and poor tool life.

Another important factor is the radius on the tool's cutting edge. Our standard brazed carbide and H.S.S. tools have a radius of .005" maximum and an overhang ratio of about 4-1/2 to 1. These tools have proven to work very well. However, if a larger radius is applied to the tool, say a radius of .030", then the overhang ratio may have to be reduced to about 3 to 1 to prevent chatter and poor surface finish. To meet this requirement most of our boring tools are available in a stubby length. The stubby overhang ratio is about 2 to 1. If you have a requirement for a fine finish or shoulder with a large radius and your hole is somewhat shallow, this would be a good option.

Another way would be to use one of our TFX, TF or TBG bars and cut off the back end of the bar so that the minimum overhang for your particular job is achieved.

However, there are times when a large overhang ratio and a large radius is required. In these situations several options are available. The first is to have a relatively slow RPM with a relatively high feed rate. The purpose of this is to apply a large down force to the bar so it takes a "set" or deflects and stays there. This will help prevent chatter. Another option is to have a special bar produced of solid carbide (with a brazed steel head if an insert is required) or heavy metal (a machinable high tungsten alloy). Both of these options utilize the high-density characteristics of these metals to resist deflection and chatter.

Another option is to use one of our vibration dampening bars. This family of bars incorporates anti-vibration modules, allowing overhang ratios of 8 to 1, and sometimes more.

When you are planning a job or "setting it up", tool overhang and its effects on finish quality should be uppermost in your mind.

Our customer service staff is dedicated to providing you, our valued customer, with the service and support you require. Our engineers and customer service department are fully staffed and qualified to meet your requirements. Criterion's service is second to none, and we are ready to be the first source for your boring needs.