ROUND TOOLS
FOR AUTOMOTIVE
APPLICATIONS

Solid Carbide For Aluminum2

Quality powertrain components are vital to the performance of any vehicle. With the increasing variety of powertrain technologies, there is no one-size-fits-all tooling to address the variety of materials and processes applied to bring quality engines, motors and transmissions to market.

Star Cutter is recognized for developing custom-engineered tooling solutions for the automotive industry that solve unique challenges, helping to reduce machining time, improve quality while driving overall cost savings. We analyze your process, materials, equipment and requirements to provide a solution that optimizes your particular application challenge.

Solutions for powertrain components including transmission cases, housings, valve bodies, converters, cylinder heads, blocks, pump covers, and shafts. Star Cutter’s automotive solutions are available within traditional internal combustion engines or emerging electric vehicle components.

Carbide Drills & Reamers

Solid Carbide Drills for Aluminum Components are made from selective wear-resistant carbide grades that include special cutting geometries, bolthole circles and coolant hole sizes for application optimization. Advanced coatings are also available. Designed specifically for prismatic aluminum components such as valve bodies, housings, transmission cases and more, these drills have proven to achieve ≥ 2x compared to other offerings.

Our Solid Carbide Core Drills with 2, 3 or 4 flutes are suited for cast aluminum and iron components such as cylinder heads, cylinder blocks, valve bodies, fluid power components and more. They are designed for both enlarging or finishing holes from castings or correcting cast core pin conditions. These custom-designed tools are engineered per application based upon casting conditions and can be reground multiple times to extend the total tool life cycle, resulting in overall lower tool costs.

Our line of tight tolerance specialized carbide reamers are used in difficult-to-machine applications such as tappet bores and powdered metal valve guides. Star’s offering includes the patented Super Round Tool (SRT) product, a two-in-one tool that combines multiple straight flutes for consistent hole location with multiple helical flutes to ensure roundness and finish. The precision of the roundness/straightness of these SRT reamers is within 2 – 4 microns, which is up to 5x greater than a typical tool for these applications.

Read our SRT Blog post.

Case Studies

Component Transmission Housing Valve Body Component Engine Head Valve Guide
Material 380 Cast aluminum Material Powdered Metal
Original Tool Competitor Carbide Drill Original Tool Traditional Reamer
Issue Poor tool life Issue Hole concentricity
Action

Replaced current drill with custom designed carbide drill

  • Special carbide grade
  • Optimized coolant hole configuration
  • Tight tolerance geometries
Action Designed tool with select carbide grade
and coating
Results Improved tool life by 266% Results Improved concentricity
Savings $23,100    

Deep Hole Drilling Solutions

Star Cutter carries a full line of deep hole drilling solutions including a variety of Gundrills and Deep Hole Twist Drills, which are specifically designed for each application. These deep hole drilling products are available in a variety of carbide grades and advanced coatings to help optimize tool life, chip formation and chip evacuation. In some customer applications, these deep hole drills have been shown to provide overall reduced CPU as compared to competitor products. This improvement is possible given the attention to detail during Star’s design phase when we marry our product to your application’s specific needs and challenges.

Like most of Star’s custom cutting tool solutions, our solid carbide Gundrills and Deep Hole Twist Drills can be reground many times, helping to lower your CPU.

Visit Gundrills - Star-SU for more information on these products.

Deep Hole Drilling
Neher Tools

PCD Tooling

Our high-performance PCD tools, like other Star Cutter solutions, are engineered to customer requirements. PCD products include, but are not limited to, circular milling tools, face milling tools, combination tools, counterbore tools, precision reamers, multi-step reamers and PCD drills. Our PCD grade selection enables us to provide solutions for machining a variety of non-ferrous material, including composites.

In developing our PCD solutions, we review the application’s part requirements to engineer our design for the optimal tool that enhances part quality while providing the lowest CPU.

For more on our variety of PCD tools, visit PCD Tooling - Star-SU.

Case Studies

Material Cast Aluminum Material Cast Aluminum
Original Tool Competitor PCD Interpolating Mill Original Tool Competitor PCD Pocket Mill
Issue Tool cost and process issues Issue Tool cost and process issues
Action
  • Retipped tool with different PCD grade to improve the process
  • Updated the print so PCD could be recut between retips
Action
  • Changed tool design from three rows of 7 PCDs (21) to two rows of 7 PCDs (14)
  • Changed grade of PCD
  • Designed tool so PCD could be recut between retips
Results
  • Lowered tool repair cost
  • Improved process
Results
Savings $20,200 Savings $326,450

Combination Tooling Cost Advantage

Combination Tooling Cost Advantage2

3D Printed Tools

Star Cutter Company, in alliance with its strategic partner Neher Group, offers 3D printed PCD monoblock tool bodies and chip deflectors. Tools produced using additive manufacturing can achieve more complex designs, better chip evacuation and optimized coolant hole and cooling channel locations, helping achieve MQL goals.

There can be a 30% reduction in tool weight with 3D printed tools, yet they maintain the equivalent torsional stiffness of a steel ground body tool. The 3D printer technology is typically applied to large reamers, interpolating and milling cutters. As with all Star Cutter tools, the engineering team works with the customer to provide the optimal tool design for each application.

For more information on our 3D printed tools, read our blog.

3dtooling
Automotive Round Tool Reconditioning Services 2

Round Tool Reconditioning Services

Control your tool costs and keep your tools running efficiently with individualized round tool reconditioning and resharpening support services. We use state-of-the-art technology to restore all manufacturers’ tools and types including deep hole drills, special carbide drills and reamers - including cavity port tooling; and fixed pocket PCD tooling to their original sharpened quality, condition, and performance. Advanced recoating services are also available to improve tool performance after sharpening.

Comprehensive Machine Tool Supply & Services

Contact Star SU today to learn more about our comprehensive gear machine tool supply and services from industry experts. You can also browse our online catalog of Gear Manufacturing and Tool Grinding machines, our extensive line of Cutting Tools, or learn about our Complete Tool Services.

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