Superabrasives specialist, Engis UK, has launched a new development in bore finishing tooling which will enable customers to carry out bore finishing operations on standard vertical and horizontal CNC equipment.

The innovative design of the tooling has overcome the issues previously caused by lack of machining height within many machining centres. It has also removed the need for floating tool holders and adaptors, enabling the bore finishing tools to be held directly in the machining centre tool holders, while still providing the required high accuracy geometry - roundness to within 1 micron, and surface finish - up to 0.2Ra, demanded of bore finishing operations.

Using the new flexible tooling system, the first tool passes through the bore with a single in and out stroke movement and its place is then taken by the following pre-set, single pass tool. The number of tools used in any application varies depending upon the amount of stock to be removed, the surface finish and geometry required and the material make up.

Applications which have been found to be particularly suited to this type of tooling include the manufacture of hydraulic valve, aerospace and F1 components, but the flexibility it offers will open up many more opportunities as companies bring low-volume bore finishing tasks in-house.

Each of the new Engis pre-set single-pass bore finishing tools is coated in a single layer of diamond, which is permanently plated onto the tool. This has the advantage of greater diamond exposure, providing faster cutting/stock removal rates, and also, because the only wear that occurs on the plated tool comes from the diamonds, tool sizes can be held for extremely long periods of time without adjustment.

John Wellings, MD Engis UK comments; “This new bore finishing tooling effectively replaces the expensive and highly skilled “black art” of honing and places the process firmly into the range of standard, repeatable and cost effective machining centre tasks.”