You know that you need new tooling, but what type is the most economical one to use for the application?  Here is a brief look at some different types of tooling for machining solid and composite wood.

Brazed carbide: These are precision ground at the factory and have a lower initial cost vs. insert and diamond. Brazed carbide tooling is ideal for small production runs or one-time jobs. They also tend to have quicker lead times for new orders or servicing; the tool may be sharpened although the profile could change. With brazed tooling, the tools may be stacked when deep, or small profiles are necessary. Hooks and shears may vary within the stack for maximization of cutting performance. The tools may also be adapted for various tool holders as necessary.

Insert tooling: These tools maintain their profile consistency and dimension control (diameter of the tool and constant cutting circle) which helps during setup. They also allow for the changing of cutter knives in the field. Another advantage is their lower service cost compared to the sharpening and retipping of brazed carbide.

Diamond (PCD) tooling: Although they have a larger initial cost, the longer runs achievable with PCD tooling can result in lower overall production time and costs. They can also maintain extremely tight dimensional control over the life of the tool, along with a high quality of edge finish due to the tool sharpness. PCD tooling tends to operate quieter and can achieve faster-operating feed rates.

PCD can be used for many types of tooling, to machine a wide range of substrates. PCD blanks are produced under conditions of high pressure (1 million PSI) and temperature (1700C), similar to those of diamond synthesis - the randomly orientated synthetic diamond crystals are grown together on a hard metal substrate. This results in a material with the hardness, abrasive resistance, and high thermal conductivity of diamond with the toughness of hard metal. Standard and complex profiles can be achieved for the cutting edge.

Source: H3D Tool Corp.: High Definition Tooling. For information call 888-544-3726 or visit H3DTool.com.