Color-Coded Inserts conform to ISO specifications.

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Original Press Release:

Color Select System Cuts Insert Selection Challenges to Size

WAUKESHA, WI, June 17, 2002 - Simplifying shop practices has become one of the most important priorities in manufacturing today. The new Color Select system from WALTER's cutting tools division is taking an industry recognized standard of tool selection to a whole new level of ease and convenience. Over the years, all major carbide manufacturers have acknowledged the need for a system to reduce the confusion encountered when selecting carbide grades and grade geometry combinations. The most crucial part of educating carbide users in proper grade selection is, first, to establish criteria where materials are classified by their composition and characteristics. Fortunately, the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) has already assigned a combination letter and color code designation. Steel materials are assigned the letter "P" and color coded blue, Austenitic Stainless Steels are assigned the letter "M" and the yellow color code, Cast Iron materials are identified by a "K" and the color red, Non-ferrous materials are indicated with the letter "N" and the color green, High Temperature/Nickel Alloys with "S" and brown, and Hard Materials with "H" and white. It is the responsibility of carbide manufacturers to explain this system to users, and combine the marketing of their products with adequate technical training to allow carbide users to efficiently and properly select carbide cutting tools. Various manufacturers have adopted systems paralleling the ISO guidelines which simply show the selection of grades they offer. The systems are designed to follow the "80/20" rule where 80% of the situations encountered can be properly tooled with approximately 20% of the total insert Grade/Geometry choices they offer. Sandvik has the familiar "Coro-Key" system in which they define their P, M, and K lines of inserts. Seco-Carboloy has its "Secolor" system, which also categorizes their products. Valenite offers the "Spectra" system, and Kennametal has the "Kenna Perfect" system. While all of these programs are reasonably effective, WALTER has taken its system a step further and made insert selection essentially foolproof. First, WALTER utilizes the same ISO system of categorization with the P, M, K, N, and H designations and color codes to match industry standards. Insert selection is further simplified by the identification of chip breaking geometries in product names. Negative insert geometries begin with "N", positive insert geometries with "P". Following the geometry indication letter is a letter identifying insert use: roughing with "R", medium machining with "M", semi-finishing with "S", and finishing with "F". The last character of the chip breaker designation is a number from one through nine with nine having the strongest relative edge strength, and the capability of withstanding high cutting forces. Decreasing number values result as the insert geometry design progresses to light finishing cuts. "NR-7", for example, is a Negative insert for roughing with strong edge design. The "PS-4" is a positive insert for semi-finishing with edge design more suited to delicate cuts. What really distinguishes WALTER's revolutionary Color Select System is that insert coating colors are now related to applications. ADD TWO/COLOR SELECT The WALTER Color Select color-coded coatings system initially started with Steel (P) inserts featuring multi-coated grades in the familiar gold TiN outer coating, Stainless Steel (M) inserts with geometries and edge preparations are designed for stainless steel machining in champagne color, and Iron (K) inserts in black and gold employing the new Tiger.tec coating. The only bi-color insert available, Tiger.tec is an innovation in itself. The top surface is coated in an extremely wear-resistant A1203 coating, effective in cast and ductile iron applications. The coating on top is black and the periphery of the insert is TiN coated gold to assist in wear recognition. These features eliminate premature changing of the insert due to uncertain wear identification, and avoid catastrophic failure due to lack of wear recognition. Machinists like the convenience. Accountants like the prevention of waste. Over the years, every cutting tool manufacturer has admired the versatility and performance of Kennametal's old KC850. It performed well in almost all materials and a variety of conditions. WALTER's Tiger.tec is the KC850 of the 21St Century. WALTER recently incorporated Non-ferrous (N) inserts in rose color and Hard Material (H) inserts in an anthracite or purplish-black color. This makes matching inserts and applications effortless when ordering as well as on the shop floor. In addition to the colors of the two new coatings, WALTER also incorporated performance enhancements. The rose colored inserts for Non-ferrous materials now outperform the previous TiN coating by more than 25%. Hard Material inserts in anthracite are designed to surpass all previous performance achievements. Building on the success of its predecessors and adding unique new features, WALTER's new Color Select system makes life easier for the machinist, manufacturing engineer, the crib technician, and all other support functions struggling to simplify shop practices.