WNT tooling range for composites

The range covers all aspects of composite machining and includes, for example, right hand tools with left as well as right hand helix flutes. These will overcome the inherent problems found when machining honeycomb-style composites, where the tool needs to push and pull at the same time to avoid damaging the upper and lower layers of the composite material. The solid carbide tools from WNT (UK) have the advantage of being able to be formed/ground to create the extremely high helix, high top rake, and sharp cutting edge that is required to prevent this localised cracking on composite materials. Not only that, but with the ability to 'fine tune' carbide grades to best meet the cutting conditions for specific composite materials, WNT (UK) offers the optimum tool to deliver the highest productivity. The highly abrasive nature of many composite also requires the use of Poly-Crystalline Diamond (PCD) tools to be used. Due to their superior wear resistance WNT's PCD tools can be used to remove larger amounts of composite material without suffering the same wear issues that carbide would. WNT business development manager, Adrian Fitts, commented: "While composite development work is undertaken by OEMs and tier one suppliers, mainstream production will be the domain of the thousands of subcontractors across the world. At WNT (UK) we have first-hand experience of the UK subcontract market and we are seeing that many of these companies have moved away from high-volume, low-cost part production and have invaluable experience machining 'exotic' materials for high added value components. However, the move to machining composites may need the extra support that WNT (UK) is able to provide both with its composite materials knowledge and the experience of our technical sales engineers."