Edge honing - polishing cutting tools to a mirror finish

Rounding the cutting edge and preparing the edges is currently the hottest topic amongst manufacturers of machining and cutting tools. It is now well known that a defined rounding of the cutting edge considerably increases the life of chip-removing tools (by up to a factor of 3.5 in the case of carbide drills).  What is more, rounded edges also make it possible to attain much higher cutting and feed speeds. 

In the field of mass finishing, OTEC is the market leader when it comes to the use of drag finishing machines for the rounding of cutting edges. OTEC has worked tirelessly on this technology for the last six years and has developed machines and processes specially designed for this application. The result is a series of machines which are easy to operate and which provide accurate, reliable edge rounding. The OTEC process not only rounds the cutting edges but also considerably reduces jaggedness at the cutting edge and reliably deburs workpieces such as HSS thread taps.

For tools which have to be polished to a mirror finish, e.g. tools intended for machining aluminium or titanium, OTEC has developed a special process which basically only smoothes the cutting edge and polishes the whole tool to a high lustre finish that improves chip removal rates and avoids built-up edges. In this process, it does not matter whether the tool is made of HSS, HSS-E or carbide.

The vast range of machines in the DF Tools product family makes it possible to finish 6 – 60 tools in a single batch, depending on the size of the machine. The machines can be supplied with a manual or an automatic workpiece loading system.

Tools which are typically processed in the DF Tools machines include:

Burs, carbide drills, taps, inserts, step drills, reamers, PCD tools, gun drills.