Micromilling on 384 component sections to an accuracy of 5 micrometres

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Moldino develops basic manufacturing strategy

In accordance with the Production50 production concept developed by Moldino, a basic strategy was initially defined. This means that it was decided where to start milling and which steps would follow. The selection of suitable Moldino milling tools was made step by step according to the machining progress. The EHHR milling cutter with polygon geometry, the torus milling cutters of the types EPDRF and EPDRE as well as the spherical milling cutters EPDBE, EPDBPE and EPDBEH in the diameter ranges 0.2 to 1 millimetre were primarily used. It is also a matter of precisely coordinating the complex machining sequences, the respective tools and the usually very long running times. It makes sense not to have too many different tools following one another. That's why the Moldino process optimiser decided to start with small tools right from the start. A total of three different diameters were used for roughing: the smallest diameter was 0.6 millimetres for finish roughing - a 2-flute torus cutter, type EPDRE, with a working length of 4 millimetres. In order to create homogeneous allowances for the finishing operation, pre-finishing was carried out first.

For all 384 measuring surfaces, a centre roughness value of Ra 0.2 to 0.5 micrometres was specified, which meant glossy surfaces. Minimal protective surfaces were applied at these points so that a small additional allowance existed to then produce the high-gloss surfaces without any problems. Beforehand, however, various procedures were tried out in the test. The best result was achieved with the EHHR cutter with a diameter of 1 millimetre. With this polygon milling cutter, very good surface qualities could be achieved in flat areas. The trick was to set the tool at a minimum of 0.1 degrees. This was then used to mill to the final dimension. These glossy surfaces were milled under minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) at the very end, which produced optimal results.

Gallery

View of the ready-to-install nozzle side with the shiny surface areas created by Moldino know-how without any manual polishing.(Source: Quarder)

Milling the nozzle side of the Spechip tool on the Röders RXP601DSH at Quarder. Except for the milling of the gloss surfaces with minimum quantity lubrication, the cooling as well as the chip removal took place exclusively by air, which was supplied via the red medium distributor from MHT.(Source: Quarder)

Milling replaces die-sinking and hand polishing

Finally, Quarder also refers to the topic of sister tools, which played an important role simply because of the 384 measuring fields. The Röders machine used for this purpose has a special measuring device that gives all tools exactly the same length. This was the only way to maintain the 5-micrometre tolerances. Around 710 hours were needed in total to mill this complex tool. Despite the many manufacturing challenges, the Spechip project was a great success thanks to the help from Moldino, says Quarder.

Here is a small comparison: In the past, such a tool would have been vertically eroded with graphite electrodes and the rough functional surfaces would then have been polished by hand at a cost of around 14,000 euros by a service provider. But that would never have achieved the high accuracies that the milling process alone does today.

(ID:49062031)

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Date: 08.12.2025

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