TABLE OF CONTENTS Machine tools and cutting tools have advanced in great strides in the past 50 years. What at one time was a difficult operation on a machine tool such as a lathe or milling machine has become commonplace and greatly simplified with the advent of microprocessor controls, advanced positioning and control techniques, and modern cutting tool materials. Chapter 1 described some of the modern equipment that is standard in many companies throughout the nation and the world. This chapter discusses other types of equipment, controls, and cutting tools, together with their applications to machining and metalworking practices.
Over the past 50 years, cutting tools have progressed from high-carbon steel, high-speed steel, cobalt matrix, and solid carbides to cemented or sintered carbides, ceramics, silicon nitride, cubic boron nitride, and special cutting tool coatings such as titanium nitride, titanium carbide, aluminum oxide, and others. The advantages of these new technologies in cutting tools have been increased production rates coupled with cost savings. Cutting tool technology is changing constantly, with new types of cutters, mills, drills, reamers, etc. being introduced to the market at a steady pace.
This chapter will show the latest types of cutting tools, together with the important speeds and feeds recommended for them. Also shown are the typical speeds and feeds for the popular and widely used high-speed-steel (HSS) and cobalt-matrix tools. The speeds and feeds tables for the various materials and machining methods are provided by the manufacturers who produce the cutting tools. Their research and development efforts,...
