It happens every day: someone calls us here at Olander looking for inserts.
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What kind of inserts? Well, they&#;re not entirely sure, because they&#;re not the one who&#;s going to install them.
Can they ask the person who requested the inserts for clarification? Well, yes, but they&#;re not confident they would understand the requestor&#;s answer.
Sometimes, technical requirements tend to get lost in translation between someone very familiar with part usage and someone who has no experience with that.
Many people who call Olander for inserts simply have no idea what they&#;re looking for because it&#;s not their area of expertise. Others seem to have a strong idea, but upon further discussion with our customer service reps, it becomes apparent that this strong idea was actually based on misconceptions about what inserts can and can&#;t do.
We&#;re not trying to poke fun at anyone here. We&#;re merely trying to underline our broader point: there&#;s a lot of confusion when it comes to inserts.
That&#;s why we thought this would be a great time to write the first in what will probably be a series of articles about inserts.
(A series of articles about inserts? Hey, we love what we do!)
If you&#;re serious about finding the right insert for your needs, the best way to start is to not think about inserts.
That sounds like a contradiction, but it&#;s true. Here at Olander, we carry hundreds of different kinds of inserts. Your first instinct may be to start scrolling through your options, reading up on features, and comparing prices.
Please don&#;t. Instead, start by asking yourself the most important question about inserts: &#;What am I going into?&#; Your choice of insert must be dictated first and foremost by the kind of material you&#;re working with.
Your second question should be: &#;Am I drilling a new hole or filling an existing one?&#; Some inserts are most appropriate for new builds, while others work better for repairs.
Your third question should be: &#;Do I have the right tools for the job?&#; Many inserts require you to drill a specific size hole, use a special tap and the proper installation tooling. If you don&#;t have the tool handy, the insert won&#;t achieve the desired result.
And your fourth question should be: &#;What will be the usage pattern for this hole?&#; A hole in which the bolt will be removed frequently could need a material and insert design that is different than a hole where you&#;re installing once and forgetting about it.
We&#;re always happy to walk customers through these questions when they call us. But you can get a head start by thinking about these issues in advance.
Let&#;s get down to inserts. In answer to the first question above, you may be drilling into sheet metal. If so, we generally recommend a Thinwall Blind threaded insert.
For example, AVK inserts are ideal for when the material you&#;re fastening to is too thin for thread tapping. Once you&#;ve made that determination, you can start figuring out the best thread size for your situation and what material your AVK insert should be made out of.
What if you&#;re going into thicker material, such as a metal plate? If you&#;re designing a new product and plan on using inserts in many holes, a Heli-Coil insert could be an excellent choice for you.
Heli-Coil inserts are wire inserts that are available in various lengths and materials for a wide range of applications. With Heli-Coil, you will incur a tooling cost up front to tap threads for a custom hole. But once you&#;ve done that, you&#;ll find the Heli-Coil Wire Thread to be a cost-effective and durable insert.
Now, what if you&#;re going into weaker material such as aluminum and want to install a durable insert that will withstand frequent removal of the bolt? Along with a Heli-Coil inserts, key locking insert (also known as Keensert or keysert) may be the way to go.
Key locking inserts are threaded inserts that are great for reinforced threads in softer parent material. They&#;re also a good solution for replacing damaged or stripped threads in an existing hole.
Now, key locking inserts are larger inserts, so they require more material around them (they&#;re not good for applications in very tight spaces). Once you&#;ve threaded a key locking insert into a machine-tapped hole, you&#;ll drive down the keys to lock the insert into place.
You&#;ll find that key locking inserts are more expensive per part than Heli-Coil inserts. But since you only need inexpensive tooling to install them, you&#;ll save money up front. By contrast, a Heli-Coil manual tooling insert may cost you $150-200 for installation, but after that, each part will cost pennies instead of dollars. Your cost analysis, then, will always revolve around how many inserts you need for your project.
We&#;ve given you a lot of information about inserts&#;.and we hope your head isn&#;t now spinning as quickly as your drill bit.
Believe it or not, this article only scratches the surface of the amazing options that are available to you when you go shopping for inserts. Need a hand selecting the right inserts for your next project? Drop us a line at Olander. We&#;re here to help you Hold It Together! And look for our next article soon.
John Butler has been serving as Olander's Director of New Business Development since June . John has worked in the fastener industry since and has a vast degree of knowledge in fastening technology, services and engineering, and design. He holds a degree in Business Administration and Management from Milwaukee Area Technical College and a Certification as a Certified Fastener Specialist from Fastener Training Institute.
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Fine boring heads and reamers can both finish established holes, but how do you decide which is best for a particular hole finishing application? As with most things in a machinist&#;s life, the decision isn&#;t always simple. Fortunately, the following seven questions should help you navigate your way to the best tool for the job at hand.
1. Is hole straightness a priority for this piece?
You know that standard drills can walk, shifting the location of a hole, even with proactive measures like spot drilling. It happens. That&#;s OK because hole straightness is not paramount to every single component you machine.
However, you&#;ll have jobs that will end up in the scrap bin if they can&#;t meet the required hole straightness. For example, size and straightness are key when machining pin and bushing holes. That&#;s when you want to tool up your boring bar. They&#;re a reliable remedy for finishing existing holes that have run off course a bit too much. Boring tools are remarkably sturdy and can maintain the same tool path from beginning to end. While a reamer tends to &#;follow the leader,&#; your boring bar isn&#;t influenced by the pre-existing hole&#;s path.
Think of it this way. If the existing hole drifts off course, then your reamer will likely be led astray. Your boring bar knows the goal is straight forward and will methodically chip away at any obstacles that try to pull it off course.
2. Do I need to reduce my cycle time for this application?
Have an order with a pressing deadline? Need that competitive advantage to win that contract? If the components have to get done fast, boring probably isn&#;t going to be the best option for you. It&#;s pretty simple. Reamers have an advantage over boring tools when it comes to speed. Simply put, a tool with multiple teeth (i.e. reamer) can be fed harder and faster than the single tooth on a boring bar.
Reamers have an advantage over boring tools when it comes to speed.
Investing in a modular (a.k.a. replaceable head) reamer might reduce production times even further. Solid carbide or carbide-tipped modular reamers can be run about five times higher than HSS. Also, changing out the replaceable head takes seconds compared to replacing the entire tool on the spindle. While a standard chucking reamer costs less than a replaceable head reamer, the quality produced and time saved justifies the investment for most manufacturers and machine shops.
3. Is this run high-volume production work?
Since rapid production is necessary for high-volume hole finishing applications in metal, you&#;ll need to go with a reamer to maintain the cycle speed (see previous section). A reamer&#;s multiple cutting edges allow for much faster feed rates than a boring tool with a single-point cutting edge.
Reamers are top-notch when it comes to high productivity and surface finish, but keep in mind they tend to travel down the path of least resistance. If your existing holes aren't straight enough, you'll still need to establish the required straightness with a boring pass before reaming.
4. Is this a low-volume production run?
Let's face it. There are benefits to embracing one-off requests, short-run contracts, and smaller production runs. When manufacturers allow for this flexibility, they can gain business from other companies with various goals. They could be looking to improve their existing product designs, testing their market with small batches of new designs, or offering customization and exclusivity to their customers.
If you&#;re machining products that are a high-mix/low-volume, it&#;s probably not cost-effective to finish the holes with a reamer. If a production run consists of prototypes, products with variable customization, or short-runs, typically boring tools are your go-to tool. You might even consider keeping a boring kit on hand for versatility.
5. Is the hole diameter tolerance tighter or looser than 0.&#; (0.010mm)?
This one is easy to remember. Bigger than 0.&#; (0.010mm), then bore. Boring bars remove larger amounts of bulk material at a higher material removal rate (MRR).
With four to ten cutting edges, reamers are designed to remove smaller amounts of material at each pass. This enables a reamer to hold much tighter hole tolerances.
6. Am I machining holes with interrupted cuts, angled surfaces, etc.?
If your components include keyholes, cross-holes and other types of interruptions, boring tools will perform much better for you. Why? There are a few reasons.
· Chip Control: A single point tool leaves room for chips to escape while a reamer tends to trap and recut them, causing damage to your tool&#;s lead angle.
· Cost-savings: Interruptions are hard on cutting teeth. It&#;s much more economical to index an insert than to replace an entire reamer.
· Cutting Forces: When multi-fluted tools like reamers pass through an interruption in a workpiece, teeth exiting and re-entering the interrupted section are impacted by the unloading and reloading of cutting forces. These alternating cutting forces vicariously affect the teeth that are machining through the uninterrupted portion of the cut too. This causes inconsistent hole size and finish.
7. Is my required surface finish less than one micrometer?
Workpiece material is a big variable when it comes to surface finish, but if the components you&#;re machining require a surface finish of one micrometer or better, then a reamer is usually the best choice. Reamers are engineered to deliver single-digit RAs and micro finishes. In fact, you&#;re likely to get surface roughness in the order of 0.2 &#; 1.0 μm (micrometers) with a modular reamer. Fine boring tools remove more material and generally deliver a roughness between 1 &#; 5μm.
You want to &#;finish&#; strong. These seven simple questions can help you navigate your way to the best tools for a particular job. If you&#;re machining a more complex part or struggling with any holemaking application, find local field support here.
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