Safe as well as efficient
The HAIMER Safe-Lock pull out protection system ensures safe cutting tool clamping. Special drive keys in the tool holder perfectly match the spiral shaped grooves on the cutting tool shank, thus creating frictional clamping forces and a positive locking form-fit. This effectively prevents the cutting tool from pulling out of the tool holder. Furthermore, it increases the productivity through faster permissible speeds and increased tool life.
By now Safe-Lock has become a de-facto standard in the area of tool holding for milling operations. Within the last ten years, since the introduction of the Safe-Lock system, it has been confirmed over and over that this method of clamping the tool is often clearly superior to conventional Milling Chucks and Weldon shanked tool holders. This is proven by a large number of license partners, some of which rank amongst the world´s leading cutting tool and tool holder manufactures – for example Walter, Widia, Sandvik Coromant, Seco Tools, Sumitomo, Kennametal, Helical, Emuge Franken, Data Flute, Niagara, OSG and Mapal. In 2017, Iscar and Ingersoll also decided to offer tools with the Safe-Lock shank.
Furthermore, the shrink, collet and hydraulic chuck Safe-Lock tool holder portfolio has become much larger within the last few years. In addition to the Safe-Lock hydraulic chucks from Kennametal, Mapal is already working to introduce its hydraulic chuck offering with Safe-Lock to the market.
Andreas Haimer, Managing Director of HAIMER GmbH, explains: “We are proud that our Safe-Lock pull out protection system has established itself as the new standard in the heavy duty and rough milling industry and is also becoming more and more important in other areas such as trochoidal milling. We are also very happy about our new license partners, who help expand the Safe-Lock portfolio and also make it available for more end-users.”
Successful in the Aerospace Industry
Safe-Lock has emerged from the requirements of heavy-duty machining, which is a daily challenge in the aerospace and energy producing industries. Innovative materials such as various titanium alloys are not only light, but also very rigid, corrosion resistant and difficult to machine. This doesn´t only affect the machine concepts and processes, but also the cutting tools and tool holders that are being used.
Many workpieces are made from a solid block – during this milling process up to 90% of the material is being removed. In order to optimize the process economically as well as qualitatively and in order to achieve a high metal removal rate, high torques and feed rates with low RPMs are chosen. But during this High Performance Cutting operation (HPC), high pulling forces occur. In combination with high cutting forces and aggressive feed rates, a flexing movement of the tool in the tool holder is created which in the end increases the risk of tool pull out. This especially affects all the tool holder designs which provide accurate clamping and a high run-out accuracy, like for example shrink, hydraulic or milling chucks.
As a consequence Safe-Lock is now widespread within the aerospace industry. Alexander Steurer, Senior Manager NC – Programming Stator Components at MTU Aero Engines in Munich, explains the decision to use the HAIMER system: “Through the introduction of Safe-Lock and the shrinking technology from HAIMER, we can guarantee process reliability even with milling challenging high temperature materials. This is a prerequisite to guaranteeing smooth processing during manufacturing of frames and castings, given our high degree of automation.” The combination of pull-out protection and highest concentricity of the Safe-Lock system leads to low vibration and as a result, a very stable machining process. Due to the increased cutting depths and feeds, the metal removal rate can be increased significantly. And thanks to the improved run-out accuracy of HAIMER shrink fit chucks, tool life is improved by up to 50%.
The benefits of less than 3 µm runout, that the symmetrical Safe-Lock design provides, coupled with optimum balance and the possibility for easy length presetting were substantial reasons for MTU to switch to the HAIMER system instead of continuing to use Whistle Notch or Weldon tooling systems. While these other systems do in fact prevent tool pull out, both are unsymmetrical by design, hence providing insufficient runout and balance accuracy.
Higher Productivity with Safe-Lock
However, Safe-Lock has not only found enthusiastic followers in the aerospace industry. Working at Glätzer, Daniel Rautenbach knows how fiercely competitive and thorough the automotive industry can be. The Managing Director of the CNC-Machining Specialists located in Solingen explains: “Perfect quality and delivery reliability are the basic requirements in order to quote in our industry. Pricing is highly competitive.” Therefore, in his business, the difference between profit and loss comes down to process efficiency. Hence quality without compromise is a must.
