No matter what brand of cutters you are looking at, unless you are only doing one task with the same material forever, there is no single cutter for all your needs. Trying to save money by using the wrong cutter can damage your material and shorten the cutter&#;s life, costing you more in the long run.
With competitive price and timely delivery, Probuilt sincerely hope to be your supplier and partner.
The cost of a tool is NOT a gauge of its cutting capacity.
With our extensive experience in selling and supporting precision cutters, we have learned that most often, when there is a problem, all brands have the same problem. This common issue is what is known as &#;Over Ranged&#;. It is not the fault of the cutter or of the manufacturer, but of the user trying to cut material the cutter was not designed to cut. This may be the gauge (thickness) of the material or of the &#;Type&#; of material (ie.. Copper, Brass, Stainless). Most often, it is an issue the user of the user trying to cut a &#;Type&#; material that is harder than what the cutters were rated for.
The capacity rating provided (other than specific &#;Hard Wire&#; cutters) is most always for &#;soft solid copper wire&#;. Most all other material used in the Jewelry Trade is harder than copper. I am not saying you cannot cut this harder material; I am saying you should use an appropriate cutter to do so.
The second most common issue is cutting the material at the very tip of the cutters, which happens to be the weakest part of the cutter. The capacity rating published is for the throat and not the tip. When a tool is damaged, we find that most often it was caused by the material being cut, which was not copper but of a harder material. In the Jewelry Trade, there is a need to get into tight small areas to trim up pieces and you want to use an extra small tapered head cutter to do so. Be Careful! Make sure you know what the material is. Maybe pull the wire out so that you can use a larger appropriate cutter, then push/tuck it back in.
Most manufacturers have a &#;Guarantee&#; that covers defects in material, manufacturing and workmanship. &#;Over Ranging&#; is not covered by a manufacturer&#;s guarantee, as it is considered misapplication/abuse.
Here are the essential points to consider when buying a new pair of cutters:
When selecting a cutter, you must determine the gauge and type of material you&#;ll be cutting. Except for hard-wire cutters, cutting capacity ratings are based on soft copper wire. Published cutting capacities are normally for the throat of the cutter, not the tips. The tips most often have a cutting capacity of 4 AWG or less (bigger number/smaller size) than the published cutting capacity.
If you&#;re using precision cutters and are having to squeeze hard to cut your material, you&#;re probably cutting beyond the cutter&#;s capacity.
If you&#;re going to be cutting 18 AWG soft copper wire all day, every day, I wouldn&#;t settle for a cutter that is rated up to 18 AWG. Instead, select a cutter that&#;s rated up to 16 AWG because it will hold its edge longer.
If you need to cut hard, semi-hard, or memory wire, you&#;ll need a specialty cutter like Xuron&#;s , Knipex 74-12-160 or Lindstrom&#;s TRX-. The will cut steel wire up to 12 gauge, and memory wire up to 18 gauge. Trying to cut these materials with a pair of precision cutters will surely damage them. For even heavier gauge material, I would look at the Knipex 71-12-200 Mini Bolt Cutters.
Handles: When selecting a pair of cutters, your first decision will be which handle fits your hand. Many manufacturers offer multiple handle options. Find the handle that fits your hands best. With precision cutters, it should be easy to cut through your material. If you are needing extra strength or longer handles to get more leverage, you are using the wrong cutter.
Head Types & Size: There are 3 basic head types: oval, tapered, and tip cutters. There are also many subtypes, such as relieved and angulated. Choose the strongest head that still allows access to the material to be cut.
Types of Cut:
Please note that different manufacturers may use their own trade names for these different cut types, whereas I&#;m just using the generic names here. When comparing the cutting capacities of cut types, the Semi-Flush cut gives you the highest cutting capacity. The Flush cut will provide a lower cutting capacity than the Semi-Flush cut and the Full-Flush provides the lowest of the three. Another thing to consider is that a Semi-Flush cutter will hold its edge (sharpness) longer than a Flush cutter and a Flush cutter will hold its edge longer than a Full-Flush cutter. The head style is not limited to any one type of cut. For example, an oval head cutter can come in any of the three types of cut, but for maximum cutting capacity, an oval head with a semi-flush cut will give you the highest cutting capacity.
The Strongest Cutter:
The Strongest Cutter is going to be a Semi-Flush, XL, Oval Head (non-relieved) cutter. The main feature that makes one cutter stronger than the other, is the quantity of the metal backing up the cutting edge.
If you have more question or need help selecting a cutter,
Please me at or call 707.446.
Courtesy of Dapra What is the real cost of a cutting tool when it is applied? Carefully controlled tests provide the answer.
One of the perennial issues in metalworking is the cost of cutting tools. Many tool manufacturers promote low-cost tools or &#;free&#; cutters with the purchase of inserts with the idea that their use can save shops money. However, what shops should be asking is: &#;What is this free cutter actually costing me?&#; or, &#;Is this cheap insert really saving me money?&#;
Initial savings gained by using a free cutter body or a low-cost insert can frequently affect performance by sacrificing tool life or cycle time. Upgrading to a high-performance tool will likely cost more per edge initially&#;sometimes significantly more. How do you determine if a specific cutting tool is a good value for the shop?
Determining the answer is not easy, unless you have the support and knowledge of a qualified cutting tool manufacturer and representative and an accurate in-house calculator designed to weigh the pros and cons of each cutting tool option. In either case, the inputs must be carefully measured, with the ultimate goal of using the results to lower cost per part.
Most cutting tool cost calculators are spreadsheets that measure all pertinent variables in a cutting application. For example, Dapra uses a spreadsheet that includes the metrics outlined in Figure 1. These metrics are often interrelated. The goal of a test report is to measure the variables involved to make an accurate determination of any cost savings.
Figure 1. Variables included in Dapra&#;s cutting tool cost calculator.
Workpiece material and hardness
Shop labor rate
Operation (application type)
Machining time cost
Coolant use
Cost per insert
Machine type, hp
Cost of edges in the cut per load
Spindle taper and maximum rpm
Number of indexes needed to complete
Cutter styles being compared
Time required to index all inserts
Insert styles
Tool change time cost
Gage lengths
Tooling cost total
If you want to learn more, please visit our website plier and cutter manufacturer.
Coating types
Job cost (tooling + indexing + machine time)
Number of flutes (actual and effective)
Dollar savings on the job
Cutter diameters
Productivity improvement
Cutting speeds
Dollar savings per part
Feed rates
DOC
WOC
Total metal-removal rate
Time in cut per pass
Time in cut total
Required number of passes per part
Total number of parts to run
Estimated tool life (minutes or number of parts)
Edge condition at failure point
Number of usable edges per insert
Turbine Blade Cutting
Let&#;s examine two case histories to see how this works. Test No. 1 (Figure 2) compared two different 90° indexable cutting tools used to machine a turbine blade. The shop was using a 1 "-dia., 2-flute indexable carbide endmill to rough turbine blade airfoil surfaces. Running at 43 ipm, the tool took the required 32 passes to complete the part in 12 minutes. Each insert cost $6. The shop produced 2,000 equivalent parts annually. The 2,000 parts required 2,000 indexes because the edges showed wear after each part, so total tool cost was $12,000 ($6 per insert × 2 inserts per tool ÷ 2 usable edges × 2,000 parts).
The shop needed to stop the machine to index, so the 2 minutes required to index the tool cost the shop $6,000 annually at a $90 hourly labor rate. With a 12-minute cycle time per part, 2,000 parts would take a total of about 400 hours annually to machine. At the $90 hourly labor rate, machining time cost $35,900 annually. Total cost for this operation (tools plus indexing time plus machining time) was $53,900 annually.
Figure 2. 1 " square shoulder endmill test report.
The shop tested an $8 insert. Many shops would reject an insert that cost 33 percent more without even testing it, but closer examination reveals that the initial cost difference actually turns positive for the shop. The new insert was capable of both higher speeds and increased feeds, nearly doubling the metal-removal rate of the cheaper insert. Consequently, cycle time per part dropped from 12 to a little more than 6 minutes, reducing the annual machining time cost for 2,000 parts to $18,900. The number of parts produced per edge doubled, from one to two.
The new tooling cost was $8,000, because only half as many indexes were required ($8 per insert × 2 inserts per tool ÷ 2 usable edges × 1,000 indexes). As a result indexing cost was reduced by 50 percent, to $3,000 annually. Total machining cost with the new tool in test No. 1 was: $8,000 (tools) + $3,000 (indexing) + $18,900 (machining time) = $29,900. This represented an annual savings of $24,000 and a per-part savings of just under $12 compared to the old tool.
The Cost of &#;Free&#;
In test No. 2, a shop was purchasing inserts at a high price, but using &#;free&#; cutter bodies. The shop was reluctant to consider any cutting tool supplier that would not offer the same deal, but what were the free bodies really costing? In the test report (Figure 3), estimated annual cost for pocketing mold bases was about $23,500, based on insert cost of $12, machining time per part of 2 hours at a $90 hourly labor rate and an indexing frequency of 0.5 parts. The shop agreed to test a new tool.
Figure 3. 2 ", 5-flute shell mill test report.
The mrr of the test tool was double that of the first cutter, reducing cycle time by more than 50 percent and finishing the part with one cutting edge. The test insert cost $9.70, producing an immediate savings. Estimated total annual cost using the tested tool is $11,125, an annual savings of more than $12,000.
But what about the free cutter body? If the shop consumes one cutter per month in this application, at a typical industry price of about $300 for a 2 " shell mill, annual cutter cost is $3,600. That means the annual cost savings is still more than $7,500.
While this type of testing and analysis takes time, the cost savings are well worth the effort. As mentioned earlier, many factors should be considered when making a cutting tool purchasing decision, and these examples touch on only a few. The bottom line is, there are much more important factors than just initial tool cost involved in the decision to use or not use a particular tool. CTE
About the Author: Michael Bitner is vice president of product development for Dapra Corp., Bloomfield, Conn. He has been with Dapra for 12 years, including 3 years in applications and the last 9 years as product manager. Contact him at (860) 616-, or by at . For more information on Dapra products, call (800) 243-, visit www.dapra.com, or enter #370 the I.S. Form on page 3.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit china hand tools wholesaler.