(l-r) John Tucker, VP and President of the Industrial Business Segment for Kennametal Inc. and Andreas Haimer, Director and Member of the Executive Board for Haimer GmbH, sign the agreement to supply Kennametal's KM4X spindle connection throughout Haimer's global markets.
Kennametal and Haimer have signed an agreement that grants global toolholding manufacturer Haimer GmBH license to provide Kennametal's new KM4X spindle connection solution throughout Haimer's global markets. (l-r) John R. Tucker, VP and President of the Industrial Business Segment for Kennametal Inc.; Mike Ramsey, VP, Global MTI Sales for Kennametal Inc.; Andreas Haimer, Director and Member of the Executive Board for Haimer GmbH; Oliver Sax, Director of Product Management and Member of the Executive Board for Haimer GmbH; Peter Dragich, VP Integrated Supply Chain and Logistics for Kennametal Inc.; Brendt Holden, President of Haimer USA; Doug Ewald, Director, Global Product Management, Tooling Systems for Kennametal Inc.; John H. Jacko, Jr., VP and Chief Marketing Officer for Kennametal Inc.
(l-r) John Tucker, VP and President of the Industrial Business Segment for Kennametal Inc. and Andreas Haimer Director and Member of the Executive Board for Haimer GmbH.
By combining high clamping force and optimized interference levels, KM4X by Kennametal provides a robust connection, high stiffness and greater bending load capacity for improved performance in machining high-strength alloys and other materials.
SAFE-LOCK by Haimer combines form-fitting grooves in the tool shank with positive locking in the chuck to prevent tool pullout at high cutting forces.
"In an agreement signed July 23, 2013, Kennametal has granted Haimer GmbH (Igenhausen, Germany) license to provide Kennametal's new and advanced KM4X spindle connection solution throughout Haimer's global markets. Haimer, a global leader in toolholding technology and provider of the innovative SAFE-LOCK pullout-prevention technology, together with Kennametal sees significant benefit for manufacturing customers," said a company spokesperson.
"The KM4X spindle connection is the most rigid system in the world today. This design enables manufacturing companies to maximize their capital investments. KM4X enables higher metal removal rates, which facilitates higher machine tool utilization and reduced cost per part, while increasing the manufacturer's available capacity," said John R. Tucker, VP and President of the Industrial Business Segment for Kennametal Inc. "Having an innovative technology partner like Haimer supply the KM4X connection in addition to toolholders like SAFE-LOCK will create a powerful production advantage for manufacturing companies around the world."
"This agreement is a perfect fit because it confirms both Haimer and Kennametal as leaders in high-end innovative technologies for world manufacturing," said Andreas Haimer, Director and Member of the Executive Board of Haimer GmbH. "We are honored and plan to actively support and educate our markets to the benefits of these mutually beneficial technologies."
The spindle connection, the interface between the machine tool's spindle and toolholder, must provide the torque and bending load capacity compatible with machine-tool specifications. Cutting forces, particularly in roughing or machining high-strength materials, generate bending moments that will exceed the interface's limits prior to reaching torque limits. "By combining high clamping force and optimized interference levels, KM4X provides a robust connection, extremely high stiffness and bending load capacity for greatly improved performance in machining high-strength alloys and other materials," said the spokesperson.
"We give a lot of seminars related to toolholding, particularly how to increase rigidity, accuracy, balance and security in metalworking," said Brendt Holden, President of Haimer USA. "One of the most common questions we receive is 'what's the best style of spindle interface?' With a unique high-strength spindle connection that also can accelerate to high RPMs safely, we believe we now have the best answer."
Advanced Materials Require Advanced Manufacturing
The continuing development of high-strength, lightweight materials such as titanium alloys, Inconel and new aluminium alloys are eagerly sought by manufacturers in many industries, including aerospace and defense, energy and transportation. These new materials present significant machining challenges in themselves. Add the competitive pressures in these global industries, and finding advanced manufacturing solutions becomes a top priority.
Machine-tool builders have responded with milling and turning centers that feature improved stiffness and damping on spindles and sizable machine structures and motors, all to provide the significant horsepower, torque and thrust forces required while minimizing undesirable vibrations that deteriorate part quality and tool life.
"In most cases, the tool-spindle connection determines how much material can be removed on a given operation," said Doug Ewald, Director, Global Product Management, Tooling Systems at Kennametal. "This is because this interface must withstand high loads and yet maintain its rigidity. With the ongoing advances in cutting tools and machining centers, a spindle connection that makes the best utilization of available power possible is an important consideration to investigate early in production planning."
Rigid toolholding is critical as well. "From a technical perspective, the KM4X spindle connection makes it possible for us to utilize the full potential of our toolholders," said Oliver Sax, Director of Product Management at Haimer. "Outdated dual-faced steep-taper systems were limiting the potential of modern machine tools. Feedback from Kennametal customers led us to investigate the new KM4X spindle connection more closely. After analyzing the data, we found KM4X to be the leading interface for the high-torque, high-RPM fine balanced toolholders Haimer provides."
"This is a full-system partnership between companies with identical philosophies," said John Jacko, VP and Chief Marketing Officer at Kennametal. "With the KM4X spindle connection and Haimer toolholding technology, there is no reason why companies should hold back investigating high-torque, high-speed machining capabilities for both existing and new equipment."
For more information contact:
Kennametal Inc.
P.O. Box 231
1600 Technology Way
Latrobe, PA 15650
724-539-5000
www.kennametal.com
Haimer USA
134 E. Hill St.
Villa Park, IL 60181-1805
630-833-1500
haimer@haimer-usa.com
www.haimer-usa.com