Personalized medicine starts with custom tooling

Precision is key in any manufacturing application, and the increasingly miniscule components used in current medical devices demand it more than ever, presenting new challenges for the tooling manufacturers supplying the companies making these devices. To make things more complicated, personalized medicine is growing fast, driving a demand for personalized medical devices, which require custom tooling.

Star Cutter is well-equipped to handle these challenges. The tool designer and manufacturer has been in business for nearly 100 years and has built its business model on precision and customization. According to Rick Falgiatano, vice president of sales for Star Cutter’s North American cutting tool group, 95% of the company’s products are custom, not standard.

“They’re dedicated, engineered solution products where we want to make sure we provide the best tool for the application, not just a standard product that’s a broad paintbrush type of solution,” he explains. “Star Cutter is an engineered solutions provider. We take a look at the application, dissect the materials, the machine, the part itself, and then come up with a way to manufacture it or provide a better process.”

This lines up nicely with the medical industry. More and more medical providers are coming to understand the benefits of personalized medical devices over one-size-fits-all, including faster healing, increased comfort, and reduced risk of complications. This means the tools manufacturers use to machine these devices can’t be one-size-fits-all, either, presenting an opportunity for companies such as Star Cutter.

An engineered solution for every challenge

Star Cutter has built a strong reputation in the medical device manufacturing industry by designing and producing application-specific gundrills, pilot drills, carbide drills, milling cutters, and other tools. These applications often require tools with long length-to-diameter ratios, and trying to apply a standard tool is likely to result in tool failure beyond typical wear. A custom tooling approach allows Star Cutter to provide the exact length necessary for the application plus the right geometries, cutting angles, materials, and coatings. The company can also design multiple-diameter tools if necessary, eliminating the need for tool changes and saving time and money.

In addition to the advantages the company offers in terms of customization, it’s also developed specific geometries, edge preparations, and coatings to address the challenges of hard-to-machine materials such as stainless steel and titanium, which happen to be two of the most common metals used in medical manufacturing.

Stainless steel, for example, is gummy and tough with high thermal resistance. Machining it tends to be a slow, error-prone process, which is especially troublesome in applications requiring particular delicacy such as medical devices. Its advantages are many, however, so manufacturers have dedicated much time and effort to designing tooling tailored to its properties. In 2024, Star Cutter unveiled a tool line created specifically for stainless steel – the Louis Bélet drill line.

Portfolio expansion

The partnership between cutting tool manufacturer Louis Bélet and Star SU, Star Cutter’s sales and marketing division, began in 2022 with an understanding of how Louis Bélet’s products could round out Star Cutter’s portfolio with smaller diameter tools.

“Star Cutter manufactures more coarse pitch designs and Louis Bélet offers fine pitch designs in smaller and micro sizes,” explains Rick Rickert, product manager of Star Cutter’s round tool division.

Louis Bélet was founded by a watchmaker and continues to create tools for watchmaking, so its foundation is built on precision, making it a well-suited supplier for industries such as medical and aerospace manufacturing. In 2023, Star SU became the exclusive North American supplier for Louis Bélet’s products, offering the Swiss company direct sales representation in that market. The following year the partners introduced a new drill line optimized for even the most complex stainless steels and alloys.

The drills feature a compression chamber minimizing coolant pressure loss for improved accuracy and efficiency. Focused lubrication channels help wash away chips and prevent clogging, providing longer tool life in difficult machining applications. Louis Bélet also developed a micro-grain carbide specifically for stainless steel, featuring a titanium-silicon coating that reduces friction, decreases heat buildup, and prevents burr formation.

Along with the drill line, Star Cutter offers numerous tools with through-coolant capabilities, beneficial in any manufacturing application due to factors such as longer tool life and smoother finish. In medical applications, however, there’s added importance to direct coolant flow, as it more effectively washes away chips and other contaminants – essential when maintaining biocompatibility.

The shrinking requirements of a growing industry

Star Cutter’s first major customers, upon its founding in 1927, were in the automotive industry – unsurprising considering its Michigan location and the expansion of automobile production during that time. It’s since grown to offer solutions for numerous industries, and Rickert and Falgiatano emphasize the advantages the company offers when designing and manufacturing for the medical device market.

“Because of our specialties and engineering and the fact that our company has been in business for 97 years, there’s a lot of dedicated experience that can be applied and taken advantage of in the medical industry,” Falgiatano says.

In addition, because Star Cutter designs and manufactures customized tools, it’s well-positioned to see new industry trends arising, perhaps earlier than a standard tool producer. As medical devices have continued to shrink in size and grow in complexity, the company has used its years of engineering knowledge and experience to design solutions that meet new machining demands as they develop.

“We’re a solutions company, so we’re always tackling these challenges as they come along,” Rickert says. “For instance, currently the smallest gundrill we manufacture is 0.026" and our smallest twist drill is 0.0354". So we’re always looking at these applications as they come up and finding a way with improved technology and equipment to even get smaller.”

Star Cutter has several individual divisions, but they work together as integrated suppliers to ensure every tool is designed to the customer’s exact specifications and produced with the required precision and repeatability. They’ve also acquired equipment from other manufacturers specializing in small parts, alongside the partnership with Louis Bélet, so it’s apparent Star Cutter understands the necessity of working with others to meet the evolving demands of the medical industry.

Star Cutter
https://starcutter.com

Louis Bélet
https://www.louisbelet.ch

About the author: Clare Scott is associate editor for GIE Media’s manufacturing group of publications. She can be reached at CScott@gie.net.