How Should You Maintain Your Cutting Tools?

Maintaining your cutting tools is the first step to ensuring the production of quality equipment. You are assured of quality cutting tools that can develop geometrically accurate equipment when you care for your cutting devices.

This article teaches you how to maintain your cutting tools and prevent possible losses that might otherwise follow.

Table of Contents

Understand the American Gear Manufacturers Association Quality Standards

You first need to understand the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) quality standards to know how to maintain cutting tools. AGMA is a body that determines the quality of tools using A, AA, and AAA rankings.

A gear with quality level A is considered good quality, while one with AA is regarded as premium quality. Ultra premium quality gear has an AAA designation. So, if you have a tool with A quality, you know it is impossible to pass its original quality during maintenance.

Handling Tools With Care

The second step is handling your tools with care. In other words, you must understand how to care for each cutting tool. For example, if you are using grease, clean your gear before storing it.

You might need to clean your tools after every use; otherwise, accumulated dust, grease, and other impurities might affect the final product the tool is supposed to create during the next use.

While at it, store your gear properly. Avoid mixing your tools, as contact between them and other surfaces might lower the quality of the tools. Handling your gear with care ensures longevity and preserves good quality before subsequent use.

Proper Mounting and Clamping

It is also crucial to maintain your cutting tools during the process of use. One of the best ways to do this is by using the ideal mounting or clamping solution.

For instance, when you mount the cutting tools, there should be less than 0.0003” radial at the hubs, and axial runout at the hub faces. Meanwhile, the clamping solution should be enough to prevent vibrations during the cutting process.

Improper mounting or incorrect rigidity of the clamping solution amplifies wearing. This means you will have to schedule more maintenance routines and resharpening.

Resharpen Cutting Tools

Lastly, you will need to resharpen your tools. Sometimes, all the above maintenance tips might not work alone. You will need to incorporate sharpening once in a while to correct worn tools.

Resharpening your tools is like reversing their current quality to their original quality. However, you need the right skills to resharpen cutting tools.

Get Quality Cutting Tools

What could go wrong when you maintain your cutting tools? The answer is nothing. When you understand the quality level of your cutting tools, know how to handle them, mount them correctly, use the right clamping solution and resharpen them, you can never go wrong with your gear.

Meanwhile, you can always get quality cutting tools from Suncoast Precision Tools. If you are in Largo, Florida and surrounding regions. We have numerous cutting tools including Drill Blanks, End Mills and others. Visit our website to find these and many other industrial supplies you might need.