During the Paul Horn GmbH ‘Technology Days’ event at its world headquarters in Tubingen, Germany, MTDCNC’s Swarf Guru Joe Reynolds spoke with HORN UK’s Steve Smith. Here, Joe asks Steve if the company’s reputation as purely a ‘grooving’ company is gone…
Steve tells MTDCNC: “I think those days are gone Joe. We are adding to the range all the time and all the new products you see at this event are a demonstration of movement away from the traditional product groups. The new product lines are ingenious in their designs and we are making a real impact.”
Looking at a few products, Steve says: “We have a tangential milling system with a range of cutters that take the same inserts. We have one that has an adjustment system that allows the cartridges to both move together, simultaneously. So, this makes setting really easy. This is proving really successful in the market, especially with the interchange ability of the inserts into different cutter bodies.”
“We also have a high-feed system that keeps expanding. We have also TiN coated the tool bodies to reduce friction in the pocket. When running at high machining parameters, the swarf can be excessive, so this helps the chip evacuation. “
“Solid carbide is another range we are adding to all the time. We have two ranges. There is a premium range and a more general purpose range. We have some of the latest coatings for machining up to 62HRc, so this is once again proving to be a popular product that you wouldn’t normally associate with HORN.”
Looking at a product that Joe didn’t recognise, Steve continued: “This is a speed forming tool. This is for producing narrow slots and deep slots where it isn’t always possible to get in with an end mill. By using the machine axes, we can produce deep narrow slots very effectively with minimum cycle times. Traditionally this is very small cuts with very high feed rates. This is an ingenious product and if you have the right capabilities on the machine tool, you can program in curves and other features. This is something we are really excited about.”
“With this year being an EMO year, it will be an exciting year with the launch of new products. We’re all excited to see what will be on offer that we can provide to our UK customer base.”
