CREDIT: LOUIS BÉLET
Star Cutter Company’s marketing, sales and service affiliate, Star SU debuted the new Tornado line of expert internal coolant drills from Louis Bélet, designed specifically for stainless steels in at IMTS 2024. The Tornado drill line is suited for application in all fields where stainless steel is used, such as watchmaking, medical, aerospace, automotive, etc.
Machining of stainless grades, such as martensitic and austenitic, is often slow and prone to errors. The Tornado (REF .376-10) achieves depths of up to 10xd and at rates that are 3x – 4x faster than previous drills. It also eliminates the need for pecking, resulting in smoother, more productive operations.
Additionally, there is a Tornado REF .336H designed to produce a pilot hole for the REF .376H-10, eliminating the need to use a centering or deburring device. It can be used with or without a chamfer.
The Tornado drills are designed with a compression chamber that minimizes coolant pressure loss, improving efficiency and accuracy with the drills able to hold concentricity of <0.003mm at the drill tip. Additionally, an increased surface area of the lube holes and their specific shape enable these drills to achieve 3x the throughput compared to previous generations.
To tackle complex stainless steels and even superalloys such as CoCr (Phynox), Louis Bélet developed a micro-grain carbide specifically for stainless steel applications. The TISI (titanium-silicon) coating reduces friction, decreases heat buildup, and prevents burr formation, ensuring longer tool life. The unique cutting-edge preparation also ensures optimal coating adhesion and durability for longer tool life.