Taking a look inside the Kennametal Technology Lab.

With more engineers confined to homeworking, MTD Global is on hand to inform, educate and discuss all the latest industry developments and insights with our engineers.

We recently looked at the technology centre at Kennametal to see how an indexable helical milling cutter, the Harvi Ultra 8X performs on titanium and steel. With the depth of cut range up to 9.3 inches and eight cutting edges per insert, the Harvi Ultra 8X is suitable for shoulder milling, chamfering, profiling, slotting and pocketing. To demonstrate the benefits of this rough machining monster, Kennametal ran the flange mounted cutter with the BTF46 adapter with a KM4X 100 back end that achieves maximum tool stiffness and maximum to life.

The demonstration we watched started by creating a pocket in a titanium block, but before it started milling, Kennametal drilled a hole in the centre of the block with an indexable flat bottom drill. The engineers then indexed the tool to the drilled depth to start the pocketing routine. Running at parameters of 47m/min the tool can achieve a material removal rate of 105 cm³/minute.

The Harvi Ultra 8X has proven time and again to achieve tool life in excess of 90 minutes in titanium materials. Next, Kennametal adopted a shoulder cut on a steel block with a 25mm radial depth of cut and a 75mm axial depth of cut. As this is being machined on a steel block, coolant was not be used, so the cutting tool manufacturer could demonstrate the impressive chip formation. In watching this video, the MTD team were in awe of the impressive roughing characteristics of the Harvi Ultra 8X and its unprecedented material removal rates. For further information, you can watch videos on Kennametal products on the MTDCNC platform.