The MAPAL Center of Competence for solid carbide tools grinds interfaces for replaceable head milling cutters on a QUICKPOINT 3000-60S. These precision parts connect the solid carbide tool head to the shank. The robust QUICKPOINT ensures efficient, highquality series production thanks to its high level of automation and capacity utilization – exactly what MAPAL requires from the machine.
Whenever Thomas Baur is standing in front of one of his QUICKPOINT machines from JUNKER, it is usually running at full speed. “QUICKPOINT has one of the highest production hours that we have ever achieved,” says Baur, Head of the Cylindrical Grinding department at the MAPAL Center of Competence for solid carbide tools. “Here, QUICKPOINT’s capacity utilization is up to 95%,” adds Managing Director Ulrich Krenzer. The MAPAL Group is a leading international supplier of precision tools for machining almost any materials, with over 5,000 employees around the world.
This large machine with enormous cutting force always delivers very high quality “even when used for unmanned production, overnight and on the weekend,” says Krenzer. JUNKER only uses high-quality components, which ensure a stable process, in its QUICKPOINT machines.
Reliable interface grinding with QUICKPOINT
The reliability provided by QUICKPOINT is crucial for the company. The MAPAL Center of Competence for solid carbide tools in Altenstadt, Germany, produces high-performance drilling and milling tools for renowned customers in the automotive industry, aviation, mechanical engineering, and the tools trade.
These include replaceable head milling cutters which have solid carbide blades and a steel shank piece, which are connected to one another by a coupling. “We grind these couplings here at MAPAL on the QUICKPOINT 3000-60S from JUNKER,” says Baur.
Benefits for series production
MAPAL’s replaceable head milling cutters are manufactured with such precision that they can be exchanged without the need for tool offsets in the machine. “The tool head is unscrewed and the new blade is fitted. You basically press the start button again and production continues,” explains Baur. “This is especially important for series production.” Conventional shank tools can normally only be exchanged in the tool presetting room, where the lengths must be precisely set on the measuring machine.
Replaceable head milling cutters represent the more favorable alternative for machining tasks. “The bigger the tool, the greater the benefit,” says Krenzer. “And when it comes to quality and accuracy, our replaceable head milling cutters perform as well as their solid carbide equivalents,” stresses the Managing Director.
Accuracy results in high parts quality
To do this, the interface must be ground with maximum precision, “otherwise it just doesn’t work,” explains Baur. One of the challenges, he says, is that “if the coolant temperature changes by just one degree Celsius, then the tool will not be produced with micron accuracy”.
The measurement system used on the QUICKPOINT 3000-60S detects these types of fluctuations and automatically corrects them, as well as the wear level of the grinding wheel, for example. It is this level of accuracy which results in consistently high quality.
The replaceable head milling cutter system is also beneficial for customers who work with a high degree of automation. “Instead of having to keep three or four complete tools to hand, only the replacement heads are needed,” says Krenzer. This is because the shanks can be reused and combined with different heads. “This reduces warehousing costs and ties up less capital in the form of tools.”
Efficient thanks to high level of automation
QUICKPOINT can be used to grind almost all workpiece contours, materials and material combinations with just one grinding wheel in a single clamping set-up. At the MAPAL Center of Competence, they are used for grinding operations such as diameters, shoulders, tapers and surfaces. MAPAL grinds its blanks on the QUICKPOINT 3000-60S. As well as the interfaces, these are mainly products with a large diameter range of 12 to 32 millimeters. QUICKPOINT is particularly efficient at this task and guarantees reliable, high-quality series production thanks to the high level of automation. MAPAL know that they can rely on this machine.
Excellent service experiences
Thomas Baur finishes by raising another advantage of QUICKPOINT: “We have had a really good experience with JUNKER.” And he is not just referring to the hardware. “The service is the best - they are there for you should you need it,” says Baur, in his expert opinion.
