While pondering a topic for this month’s column, the term “wiper inserts” caught my attention as I was browsing PM’s Web site. I wondered why the word “wiper” is used to describe this certain type of insert.

After doing some research and talking to my editor, Chris Koepfer, I learned that the explanation is really quite simple. A wiper insert has an edge behind the cutting tool nose radius that “wipes” or smoothes the scalloped tops that would otherwise have been created. According to Sandvik Coromant, “On a conventional insert, the nose of the edge is only one radius. The wiper edge, however, is made up of a large, main radius complemented by several smaller radii.”

Not only do wiper inserts accomplish smooth surfaces—and if the material allows, they will eliminate a grinding operation—but these additional radii are also designed to double the feed rates of roughing and semi-finishing operations while achieving the specified surface finishes.

Other benefits of this insert include chatter reduction, or vibration dampening, as a result of widely distributed cutting forces at the cutting edge. Sandvik also claims a wiper insert can last as much as 20 percent longer than a non-wiper type, depending on the material being cut.

For more information about wiper inserts, read “Time to Wipe Off Some Machining Costs” and “Best of Both Worlds.”

If you would like to know more about a certain technical metalworking topic, please let me know. Maybe I can do some research for you for my next column.