Alicona system offers automatic measuring of cutting tools
September 3, 2014
Alicona, headquartered in Graz, Austria, is a global supplier of optical 3D surface measurement solutions for quality assurance in the lab and in production. The company’s IF-EdgeMaster system is targeted at the cutting tool industry and can automatically measure cutting tools regardless of type, size, material or surface finish.
The optical 3D measurement device allows users to measure edge radii > 2µm as well as wedge and clearance angle of cutting edges and surface finish on all types of inserts and shaft tools. An optional 360° rotation allows complete form measurement of drills, milling cutters and other tap tools.
Alicona recently announced that Technicut, one of the UK’s market leaders in rotary cutting tools based in Sheffield, has become the latest user of their Edgemaster system for R&D applications. Technicut provides innovative and high performance tooling solutions to the aerospace & allied industries for the optimised processing of all application needs.
As part of this they need to understand fully the effect of edge geometry, edge prepping and surface finish on the standard and custom tools they manufacture. “We’ve used optical 3D measurement to verify edge rounding for a number of years but the Alicona system offers some significant advantages particularly for R&D and analysis of wear mechanisms,” stated Warwick Spearing, Manufacturing Director.
“The resolution which now goes down to 20nm allows the extreme detail of the cutting edge to be checked including direct surface roughness measurement even of polished surfaces. The software options are also very impressive and the Difference module allows us to overlay new and used cutting edges for detailed analysis of wear. We are always working to improve tool performance in order to offer our customers the best possible value and the Alicona system in now an essential part of that process,” added Spearing.
Alicona stated that Technicut has become the latest tool manufacturer to use Alicona systems for R&D and quality assurance, joining companies such as Sandvik Coromant, Sutton Tools and Ceratizit.