Economical boring tool has inserts with sintered chip breaking geometry

Over the last 35 years, the Supermini universal boring system from Horn has undergone numerous development stages and has solved problems in a variety of turning applications. Another milestone has just been announced for the Supermini type 105, namely a lower cost version of the solid carbide inserts with chip breaking geometry included at the sintering stage, rather than laser cutting or grinding them afterwards. Indeed, the price of the new Supermini is similar to that of the standard insert without geometry.

As with these previous machined chip breakers, the new sintered geometry avoids the drawback of long, stringy swarf coiling around the tool or workpiece and potentially causing damage to both. It assists internal machining of small diameter holes, whether boring, profile turning, internal grooving, threading, chamfering, face grooving or slot broaching.

Horn developed teardrop shaped carbide blanks for the tool, enabling large, precise contact surfaces in the tool holder and resulting in greater rigidity of the overall system. Furthermore, the teardrop profile prevents the insert from twisting, which leads to consistent, precise positioning of the centre height of the tool. When using long tool overhangs, it reduces deflection and minimises vibration during turning.

Horn offers the inserts as standard in three lengths (15.0 mm, 20.0 mm and 25.0 mm) and in carbide grades TH35 and IG35. The tool is suitable for use from a bore diameter of 6 mm. The cutting edge geometry extends far into the 0.2 mm corner radius of the insert, ensuring good chip control even with small infeed settings. Different material groups may be processed and the geometry is suitable for internal, face, copy and back turning.

The new insert is compatible with numerous 105 tool holders, including round shank, square shank, interface and adjustable types. There are four different solutions for clamping the inserts: a classic ball pressure screw, a face clamping element and a lifting element, while for confined spaces, a compact system with clamping via a union nut is available.

Depending on the application and the diameter to be machined, Horn offers Supermini inserts in three sizes (105, 109 and 110) and different blank types. All allow internal coolant supply directly to the cutting zone. The tool portfolio includes around 2,500 different standard variants of the Supermini. In addition, Horn’s applications department solves users’ specific machining problems with customised solutions.