Kaiser Milling, Grooving Tool Provides Greater Circular Accuracy

Kaiser Tool Company Inc.’s Thinbit Mill A Groove line is a system designed to trepan on CNC and manual mills.

According to the company, the Mill A Groove system enables better sealing surfaces to create a smooth, consistent surface finish; features diameters that are concentric to the spindle rotation, not the table movement, resulting in greater circular accuracy; and eliminates the use of a secondary lathe operation for face grooving.

The Mill A Groove’s cutting insert rotates about the spindle center but does not rotate about its own center. The groove can be symmetrical, like a standard end mill, or asymmetrical. The tool can be used to cut step grooves, convex and concave radius grooves, chamfered edges, angles and special profiles with a single insert. When used as a single-point face mill, the insert can be adjusted to control the exact size of the mill arcs to improve flatness, blending and cosmetic appearance.

Standard inserts come in 0.001" increments, with sharp corner or any corner radius, and custom inserts can be made to match any groove form. Kaiser says the tool features increased insert strength compared to an end mill of the same size due to greater cross-sectional area. This can contribute to faster cycle times when interpolating a groove.

The Mill A Groove toolholders are designed to work in combination with boring heads and are available in common sizes with straight and 90-degree orientations.

Inserts for the Mill A Groove system are available from 0.004"-0.150" in 0.001" increments. Major diameters start at 0.300". Inserts are available in sub-micron-grain carbide grades for ferrous and non-ferrous materials. Inserts can be coated with TiN, TiCN, TiAIN or diamond film coatings. The company offers polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and cubic boron nitride (CBN) tipping options for improved performance in hard or abrasive materials.