Precision Diamond Tooling for Drilling Composite Materials
Partner: Nowadays Technology
Industry: Composite Pressure Vessel Manufacturing
Precision Diamond Tooling for Drilling Composite Materials
The Task
At JEC World 2022 in Paris, one of our Lithuanian partners approached us for a bespoke diamond tooling solution for manufacturing composite pressure vessels. Using traditional filament winding, glass fibre roving and epoxy resin, the customer required a tool to drill through their high-thickness material (80-85 shore D) with ease.
The Current Method
The company had tried a variety of standard and carbide tooling to drill and mill their material. However, these tools were wearing extremely quickly due to the hardness of their product, and they were unsatisfied with the frayed finish left on the material after drilling.
Diamond Electroplated Multi-Tool
The Challenge
Our technical team was asked to design a bespoke electroplated diamond tool that would both improve production efficiency and prevent fraying of the material. We were tasked with finding a tool that could cut holes in a set amount of time with the best results.
The Process
After the initial discussions in Paris, our technical engineers followed up with a video call with the customer to discuss the exact requirements of the tool. The customer then sent a sample piece of material to test with our diamond tools in our state-of-the-art R&D department.
Once our technical team was satisfied that they had found the optimum solution in our Bespoke Electroplated Diamond Holesaw, our findings were documented and presented to the customer. The holesaw design featured a diamond-plated serrated edge, dust slots and extra depth, tailor-made to the customer’s requirements.
The Outcome
We were glad to receive feedback from the customer that our Electroplated Diamond Holesaw had “come to the rescue” in their manufacturing process. The extra depth and diamond-plated teeth allowed the holesaw to drill through the high thickness and hardness material with ease and prevented the material from fraying.
With the success of the holesaw, the customer requested us to also design and manufacture a custom Diamond Electroplated Multi-Tool which could plane a surface, size a hole and cut a counterbore at the same time. This tool helped to streamline the customer’s production process, reducing manual intervention by the production team, and proved to be a cost-effective addition to their tooling arsenal.
With the customer now using our electroplated diamond tools, they also had access to our Strip and Replate service, dedicated to reversing signs of wear and tear and giving a new life to our customers’ tools. This could reduce their future tooling costs by up to 40% as well as minimising their environmental impact due to less wastage
If you are looking for a bespoke Diamond Tooling solution to improve your process, our technical team is on hand to help: info@dk-holdings.co.uk
