[Reporter Huang Shihua] The innovative application of high-speed cutting tools has been upgraded from substrates and coatings to tools that focus on “cutting mechanics”. It is no longer limited to traditional molds and machining processes to improve efficiency by 3% or 5%. , but from the manufacturing process, introducing the manufacturing concept of “small quantity and variety”, and re-planning the manufacturing method with more speed and flexibility.
Tim Chang, head of Nine9 cutting tools, said that in the past, the molds were first rough-milled, then subjected to heat treatment, electrical discharge machining, polishing and finishing procedures. In addition, the mold slits and deep holes after heat treatment had to rely on electrical discharge. Therefore, it takes a long time to complete a pair of molds, which is too slow for communication equipment, 3C electronics, digital cameras or a small number of various personalized products.
Therefore, in the production process of some small and diverse products, the stage of mold making is skipped, and high-speed CNC machining centers and high-precision special tools are used to directly cut, mill, and engrave the required workpieces, which not only saves the production of molds Cost and production time can improve the speed of product delivery and meet the rapid and immediate requirements of the market.
Li Hongwu, manager of Zhenhu Precision Technology, said that the cutting ability of high-precision tungsten steel tools can most likely complete the machining of molds or precision parts at one time. Milling, electrolysis, finishing and other steps greatly save the time and processing costs of mold manufacturing.
Li Hongwu said that the milling and manufacturing efficiency of high-speed super-hard tungsten steel tools for mold production is twice as high as before. At the same time, due to the improved accuracy of tungsten steel tools, it saves the manual work of secondary finishing and electrolytic machining of molds. Tim Chang pointed out that in addition to the ultra-fine tungsten steel substrate and titanium coating, various international cutting tool factories have also developed various discarded inserts and tungsten steel tools from the perspective of “cutting mechanics” to improve the processing efficiency. Precision and speed.
But Taiwan’s cutting tool industry, like many other industries, is mostly only engaged in foundry and lacks its own brand. If you still only do the part of the OEM, the final result is to go to the place with the lowest salary, and you will always seek to reduce the cost and cannot increase the price of the product. Therefore, you should not stick to the past model of price competition any more with your own brand and research and development of knives. Only the knives industry, the mold industry, and the machinery industry have room for common growth.
(For details, please refer to the 2005.07.22 Economic Daily “Connexion Industry Exhibition Special Issue” 4th edition)