What is successful parting and grooving?

In parting and grooving, process security and productivity are two important aspects. With the correct set up and choice of tools there are many difficulties that can be avoided when parting off. Difficulties such as pips and burrs, tool breakage, chip jamming, poor surface finish on components with complex grooves, incorrect coolant pressure, long overhangs and high levels of vibration, which ultimately may cause expensive components to be scrapped. To help you avoid these specific difficulties and successfully perform parting and grooving, we have provided the following recommendations and tips.

Initial considerations for parting and grooving

These initial considerations will affect the choice of parting and grooving tools and how they are applied.

The groove or surface

Consider the following quality demands of the groove or surface to be machined:

• Type of application (e.g. parting off or internal grooving)
• Cutting depth
• Cutting width
• Corner radius
• Quality demand (tolerance, surface finish etc.). Do we need a Wiper design insert to reach acceptable surface finish? A Wiper insert will offer better surface finish at maintained cutting data

The component

After considering the quality demands, look at the component:

• Does the material have good chip-breaking qualities?
• Is chip evacuation/control a critical issue?
• Batch size – a single groove or mass production of grooves? Mass production justifies an optimized Tailor Made tool to maximize productivity
• Can the component be fixed securely?

The machine

Machine considerations include:

• Stability, power and torque, especially for larger components
• Cutting fluid and coolant supply
• Is high pressure coolant for chip-breaking in long chipping materials necessary?
• Tool changing times/number of tools in turret
• Limitations in rpm, especially for bar feed magazine and small diameters
• Sub-spindle, or tail stock available?