HORN USA Inc.

This summary of a technical presentation from the Technology Days event at Paul Horn Gmbh in Tübingen, Germany, discusses process analysis for broaching on CNC machines.

This article looks at the current processes available for coating carbide tooling.

Horn USA Inc. is the United States representative of Hartmetall-Werkzeugfabrik Paul Horn GmbH, which was founded in Germany in 1969.

Horn’s mini system is improved with sintered chip breaking geometries for grooving and boring in internal diameters from 8 mm (0.315”). Additionally, the Mini System range is extended to include the 18P inserts allowing for groove depths of as much as 8 mm (0.315”) in bores from 20 mm (0.787”).Together with the existing ground carbide inserts, the mini tool system now offers two insert versions to satisfy a wider range of applications.

The machining of straight side keyways sometimes requires an additional off-line production step like milling or EDM machining and the associated costly “side-effects” such as transportation, programming and deadline follow up, the company says.An economical, flexible and efficient alternative, according to the company, is the machining of these longitudinal grooves on standard CNC machines.

The application of a Horn Type 636 slot milling cutter has set new standards of accuracy, tool life, process reliability and costs for milling recesses on planetary gears at Sitec Aerospace in Bad Tölz, Bavaria, Germany.

In the shop, we are often told how to use a cutting tool, but not necessary the mechanics behind the tool itself or how the tool is manufactured. A few articles Production Machining has published in the past discuss this topic.

The Horn System H274 / S274 tools have been developed specifically for grooving and parting off, longitudinal turning and threading on Swiss-type/sliding headstock machines. The H274 toolholders with shank dimensions ½”, 5/8” and 10-, 12-, 14- and 16-mm square are standard and feature a precision machined insert pocket. The parallelogram format of the S274 inserts provides for two repeatable indexable cutting edges (± 0.

• Catalog features Horn's grooving (internal and external) and turning tooling with specifications and diagrams  • Clamping units are also featured, as well as information on the torque screw driver component   .

• Catalog includes diagrams and specifications for Horn's tools for applications such as grooving and boring, threading, boring and profiling, hard boring, face grooving and theading • Contains information on spare parts available in some tools   .

Horn USA believes in being involved in the manufacturing community. Membership in the PMPA as a technical member and in the ISMA has afforded us the opportunity to learn about the difficulties others in the manufacturing community have faced during the economic slowdown and what is being done about it.

- Read about Horn's history as well as its current grooving tool technology- Photos illustrate its grooving tool options including Superminis, mini front screw clamped inserts, standard and special milling inserts and OD and ID tools- The company's keyway broaching tools for lathes and mills are also highlighted.

The Mini Product Range has been expanded to include the 10P and 11P series. These series are mainly for grooving and allow for greater radial depth of cut (Tmax) in relation to bore diameter than the existing product range. The 10P has a bore as small as 9.

Machine tools become faster and more stable while cutting tools get tougher, longer lasting and geometrically more complex. I visited a premier German cutting tool manufacturer to look at the state of the art of making carbide cutting tools that complement today’s machine tool technology.

A new line of inserted broaching tools for lathes and mills is based on the concept of reciprocating broaching. These tools allow keyway broaching on existing machine tools, which eliminates second operation setup on a separate machine and allows for greater positioning accuracy when alignment is an issue.  Available in standard widths from 2 to 12 mm and depths from 1 to 8.

Producing a keyway, spline or similar longitudinal feature on a turned part usually necessitates an additional, time-consuming, secondary operation on a broaching or slotting machine. That means moving the part to and from a secondary operation, an extra setup, additional labor and hourly machine costs and all of the other headaches that go with secondary operations.

The catalog covers grooving, boring, parting off and side turning. The company makes toolholders for multi-spindle, automatic and Swiss-type machines. Charts cover specifications for each of the toolholders.