When machining a thin-walled component made of titanium, Mayer Feintechnik faced a significant challenge: The contract manufacturer struggled with poorly breaking chips, short tool life, and high tool costs during roughing. The solution: ISCAR's brand new six-edged LOGIQ6TURN in parallel operation.
Miniature Furniture Mayer, founded in 1951 in Göttingen by Willy Mayer as a manufacturer of miniature furniture for model railways, has developed over the years into a sought-after contract manufacturer through consistent further development and investments. Today, the team of 130 employees machines, turns, assembles, measures, tests, refines, welds, grinds, and hones parts and assemblies for its international clients on a production area of 6,000 square meters. Since 2023, the company has been part of the Andra Tech Group and achieved a turnover of 17 million euros last year.
The customers come from the laser, measurement, and medical technology, the semiconductor industry, general mechanical engineering, the food industry, and the optical industry. They expect the highest quality, delivery reliability, and have very high requirements regarding part cleanliness. As diverse as the mix of industries of the customers is, so are the materials that Mayer Feintechnik processes in its modern machine park. 'Mainly we have stainless steel and aluminum on the machines, but also plastic, brass, bronze, Hastelloy, Inconel, and titanium,' says Sven Aschoff, head of the turning department. 'We implement what the customer wants and have no qualms about it.'
New Customer – New Challenge
At the end of 2023, a new customer from the medical technology sector approached the team led by Sven Aschoff with an order for thin-walled components in three variants with lengths of up to 81 millimeters. These were to be made of titanium grade 5 (3.7165), with which Mayer Feintechnik had little experience – and time was pressing: The customer needed the first prototypes just a few weeks after the order was placed for a trade fair. 'During production, we went through a steep learning curve and recognized many optimization potentials,' says Sven Aschoff. These were particularly evident during the roughing of the contour. 'Titanium is difficult to machine; the tool has to withstand a lot. Additionally, the cutting depth of 2.5 millimeters can negatively affect tool life,' adds Andreas Mielchen, setter at Mayer Feintechnik.
'Chip breakage and evacuation were not as we had imagined.' A better solution had to be found. Therefore, the Mayer team turned to its tool partner ISCAR, with whom the company has been successfully collaborating for almost 30 years.
From Four to Six
Frank Henze, Consulting and Sales, Lucas Sundheim, Technical Consulting and Sales, and Regional Sales Manager Peter Pauliks looked at the task and developed a solution. 'We originally had the idea of optimizing the process with the tool already used by Mayer Feintechnik,' explains Lucas Sundheim. 'That would have worked technically, but the tool costs were too high for this application. The right solution came from our new LOGIQUICK tool campaign with the six-edged LOGIQ6TURN.'
The positive LOGIQ6TURN indexable insert (WSP) has six 55-degree cutting edges for roughing and finishing up to a maximum cutting depth of three millimeters. 'Its special design with optimized chip breakers and stable clamping allows for a smooth cut, reduces the forces involved, ensures very good chip breakage, and provides excellent surface qualities,' lists Frank Henze the advantages. 'Although the surface quality does not play a role here, as numerous other processes follow.' At Mayer, jet cooling is also used at the cutting edge and clearance surface.
It ensures even more efficient heat dissipation and supports chip evacuation. 'This is a very important point,' emphasizes Andreas Mielchen. 'The second spindle can now take over the sleeve process reliably without grabbing chips. This facilitates the subsequent processes.'
ISCAR presented the solution in Göttingen and conducted tests on the machine. 'It worked great from the start,' says Peter Pauliks. 'And because the test runs were convincing, Mayer Feintechnik has been using the tool in series production since spring 2024.' A special advantage of the machine used is its additional turret. This allows two LOGIQ6TURN with cutting depths of 2.5 millimeters to rough in parallel – from above and below – which additionally relieves the individual cutting edges.
'The lower LOGIQ6TURN runs less distance, so we have to turn it much less often than the upper unit,' Andreas Mielchen is pleased.
Economic Process
'While there wasn't much that could be changed regarding the cutting data and tool life, we were able to reduce the tool costs by a third because the LOGIQ6TURN has two more cutting edges than our original solution,' says Andreas Mielchen contentedly. 'Furthermore, we now have a reliable process.' The base material for the components is titanium bar material with a length of three meters and a diameter of 25 millimeters, which is automatically fed to the long-turning machine by a bar loader.
In addition to roughing with the LOGIQ6TURN tools, many other processes are necessary, such as drilling, milling, internal turning, threading, finishing, and parting.
'We handle about 95 percent of that with equipment from ISCAR, such as the SUMOCHAM and LOGIQ3CHAM drills, PICCOJET, ISOTURN, and TANGRIP tools, as well as an ISCARMILL end mill for finishing,' says Sven Aschoff.
"This tool has the necessary 30-degree angle that we need here." About 35 pieces are produced per bar.
Sven Aschoff is more than satisfied with the straightforward collaboration on equal terms with ISCAR. "We appreciate ISCAR not only for the wide range of tools that cover the entire machining process but also as an important source of ideas," says the head of the turning shop. "This project underscores why ISCAR is always our first choice when it comes to getting a new product up and running properly. And the sooner we bring the guys on board for a new order, the better they can support us with it."
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