Milling stainless steel Inovatools' new milling cutters win big in performance test

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The Fightmax mill series from Inovatools has been tailor-made for handling the rigors of machining steel, stainless steel and titanium. A standout in competitive tests, the Fightmax Inox model outshone its competitors, leading to its adoption across approximately 30 machines by a satisfied customer.

Tool manufacturer Inovatools is sending an exceptionally high-performance premium mill series capable of machining steel, stainless steel and titanium “into the ring” in the form of the Fightmax mill series. All of the milling cutters in the series are sturdy opponents, a point that was proven yet again to customers during the “milling knockouts” when a VHM-HPC Fightmax Inox beat a number of seemingly unbeatable competitors. Following a clear victory on points, the customer will now be switching the milling cutters they use on around 30 machines to Inovatools Fightmax Inox milling cutters.

Cutting Inox materials is a challenging task. A milling cutter must master a number of challenges posed by the material, including edge zone hardening, extreme toughness, and poor thermal conductivity. A quick and reliable chip removal technique is key to clearing chips, which have a tendency to stick together, quickly and reliably from the machining zone. Tools should also be designed to yield long service lives and an excellent surface finish in a cost-effective manner.

For the Fightmax Inox, Inovatools uses a balanced mixing ratio of ultra-fine-grain carbide. The four-edged Inovatools HPC power package has an unevenly split and unevenly twisted geometry and cutting geometry with a high-gloss finish. This gives the tool the necessary performance; ensures quiet, vibration-free concentricity; and guarantees quick and reliable chip removal from the contact zone. This is supported by the smooth, high-performance coating Duocon, which also gives the Fightmax Inox the necessary stability and endurance in the “infight” with the material.

One of these Fightmax milling cutters has scored points in practice with an Inovatools customer who previously used milling cutters from a number of different manufacturers in their production processes. The customer regularly trials different cutting tools to identify and unleash potential for greater productivity. This particular trial entailed the cutting of austenitic steel (1.4305). Machining this stainless steel produces swarf – due to the addition of sulfur. So, this makes 1.4305 the ideal material for automatic machining. The comparison test first involved working with cutting values of vc 70 m/min and fz 0.045 mm. This pushed the two competitor tools to the limit. The Fightmax then entered the fray.

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During the challenge, the Inovatools application engineer who witnessed the test used higher cutting data from the outset, as he pointed out in his test report: “[…] Then our size 12 Fightmax Inox was placed on the machine. I originally wanted to use the same cutting values. But when I learned that values of just vc 70 and fz 0.045 had been used for the two other milling cutters, I decided that those values would be much too slow. My recommendation was to start at a feed rate of 1xD full grooving with vc 100 and fz 0.06. To the customer’s great surprise, at these values, the Fightmax Inox cut through the test piece (approx. 500 mm) completely smoothly and practically inaudibly with a completely flawless finish!”

The Fightmax Inox milling cutter showed what it was made of when the values were increased again: “There was no damage whatsoever from the cutting. Then I took a bit of a risk to show the customer what the Fightmax Inox can really do. I programmed in Vc180 and fz 0.08 and increased the application depth to 2xD full grooving. This took the machine to the limit of its performance capacity, and the customer was amazed when the Fightmax Inox handled even these extremely challenging settings effortlessly and without any resulting damage. And the quality of the finishing was yet again top notch.”

And the results were convincing across the board: “Despite the excellent opponents it faced, our Fightmax Inox won the test by a considerable margin. Our customer is thoroughly impressed and now wants to use nothing but our tools on their 30 or so machines. Due to the time saving, they are even considering replacing their insert tools with Fightmax milling cutters.”

As Dennis Marz explains, “We are systematically expanding our tool families and are taking a ‘quality instead of quantity’ approach to creating a broad range of premium tools. The Fightmax family is one example, and the Fightmax Inox product types really hit the bull’s eye! The special geometry and chip clearance and the defined cutting edge preparation in combination with the optimized microgeometry and high-performance coating prepare these high-performance milling cutters optimally for meeting the special cutting requirements of the versatile Inox material with the right tactics.”

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