Milling threads without a tapping drill bore

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Recommendation came from the applications technician

It was at this point that the applications technician from MMC Hitachi came into his own. To a growing extent in its hard machining operations, alongside the tools it sources from other providers, Eropräzisa is now using precision tools from this Japanese manufacturer. To date, the experience gained with MMC Hitachi Tool has been entirely favourable. Production manager Heiko Meyer remembers that the applications technician, Jörg Hecker, addressed the topic of thread milling once during one of his visits. That was in connection with the Epoch Direct Thread series (EDT), which can mill into heat-treated material in a process-reliable and dimensionally accurate manner. The great thing about the EDT range from MMC Hitachi Tool is that the tapping drill hole can be done away with altogether. Although Heiko Meyer was not really all that convinced, both mould inserts appeared to be absolutely perfect to try this thing out.

The practical test by the applications technician from MMC Hitachi Tool then took place using the appropriate M6 thread miller EDT-1.0-15-TH. The EDT series covers the standard sizes M2 to M16 as well as other thread millers with a pitch of 0.4 to 2 millimetres. The Japanese manufacturer states that the precisely matched cutting edge geometries, the specific ultrafine grained substrate and the exceptionally low production tolerances of the EDT range – in conjunction with MMC Hitachi Tool's own nano-crystalline PVD coating ATH (TH60+) – assure high dimensional integrity of threads over extremely long service lives. The application range, tried and tested in practice, is a broad one, and comprises materials ranging from soft metals to hardened steel alloys of up to 66 HRC. With this tool, it is possible to mill directly into the solid material of a helix without the need for any pre-machining. This is because the EDT produces the core drill hole with face-cutting blades – while the thread flanks are being milled.

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Only a few clicks of the mouse

The applications technician from MMC Hitachi Tool worked with the customer on the CAM system to adapt the cutting parameters to suit the mould insert (Hypermill). “Then we were all standing by the machine fairly quickly,” recalls René Schaft. As manager of production planning at Eropräzisa, he is also responsible for NC programming. In this case, the machine was the OPS Speed Hawk 650. Thanks to its fourth and fifth axis in the table, the mould insert fixture settings do not need to be altered. “The actual programming process only took a few clicks of the mouse, thanks to the preliminary work done on the macros, and to the support provided by the applications technician from MMC Hitachi Tool,” explains Schaft. Jörg Hecker adds: “The important thing is that the spindle must rotate counter-clockwise (ccw) because the millers in the EDT series are all ccw tools.” This creates synchronous movement at the cutting edge, which reduces cutting pressure and increases service life.

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