ANCA Creates Solid PCD-Tipped Helical End Mills, Drills

ANCA introduces a new generation of solid polycrystalline diamond (PCD) helical endmills and drills made on the company’s Edge machine. When used in the right application, a PCD cutting tool can reportedly last up to 20 times that of an equivalent carbide tool. According to the company, there is strong demand emerging in the electronics (3C) and aerospace manufacturing industries for such tools that can deliver improved productivity and quality in the finished workpiece.

Solid PCD-tipped tools offer a number of advantages, ANCA says, including complete flexibility in tool geometry. ANCA’s Edge machine’s ToolRoom software enables users to create helical cutting tools — both drills and endmills — with far superior cutting properties compared to equivalent tools with brazed planar PCD inserts. 

Traditional PCD rotary cutting tools feature flat PCD tips brazed onto a carbide tool body. While the PCD will extend the life of the cutting edge, by design the cutting geometry is a shear (straight) edge with a flat hook face.  This geometry inherently limits the performance of the tool.  

With solid PCD-tipped tools, tool designers can have greater flexibility to create unique geometries specific to various cutting applications in the same way this is done for conventional carbide tools. This applies not only to the cutting profile, but importantly to flute and gash geometry that are critical to chip formation and evacuation.

Another important consideration is that while the smallest tool diameter for brazed PCD tools is typically 6 mm, solid PCD-tipped tools can readily be made much smaller than this. Micro tools (drills and endmills) are gaining widespread use in the 3C market with the edge capable of producing drills down to 0.3 mm and milling cutters under 3 mm.

Finally, unlike coated carbide tools, these new drills and endmills can be readily resharpened many times, effectively extending the tool’s usable life.