Cutting tools

Cutting tools:

Machine tools, is a loose description of a wide gamut of machinery employed today in industry for performing various Machine tools task, e.g., turning, drilling, boring, milling, finishing, etc. Even a proper definition and a few comments here would exhaust the word limit for this article, hence we shall jump to the next part, i.e., Cutting Tools.

Cutting tools are various metallic or non-metallic tools that are usually fitted to the machine tools, are easily replaceable and at the end of the day, these hard-working tools do all the dirty work involved in each machining operation. The rest of the machine tool simply powers this tool, or the work-piece because one of them has to be moved while the other remains stationary or fixed.

Now, the entire field of cutting tools today has become so complex, that in a brief introduction like this we may end up skimming the topics alone, without any substance…since the classification and nomenclature of cutting tools has widened very considerably in the recent few decades. The introduction of high speed machining, more and more elaborate with CNC and computerised controls, has literally blown the roof off this particular area -and the uninitiated would find cutting tools a topic simply a science by itself.

Since India has shown an amazing flexibility and versatility in the magical transformation of small lathe machine manufacturing shops going global with retrofitted CNC controls, or even designing and manufacturing such complex machine tools, the stress on automation and its effect on cutting tools looks like an attractive topic for this article.

In comparison with the highly simplified lathe machine above, the complex multi-tool holding, multi-function programmable CNC machining centre today looks like pure science fiction image