Suck it and See with Lollipop Tools

Lollipop tools are one of those products considered as a special that many manufacturers struggle to grasp what the most suitable application use can be. Here, MTDCNC’s Joe speaks with Quickgrind’s Mike Stobart about how Quickgrind has applied a lollipop tool to a tube component to achieve huge savings.

Speaking about the tube part, Mike says: “On this part, the cycle time saving was 80%. This was a combination of the machining strategy from OPEN MIND Technologies hyperMILL CAM software and the lollipop tool. We actually used a program devised by 5X Technologies Ltd and we drilled both sides of the part, roughed out and then used the lollipop tool to go into the part as far as we could with circular interpolation.”

“We then approached the job from the other side and circular interpolated the bore from the other side of the part. The overall cycle time was just 38 minutes from start to finish in a single set-up. We had to design an aluminium geometry lollipop tool and create the right length for the specific aluminium port component. Of course, we can do all manner of tool lengths and diameters with geometries to suit aluminium, steel and exotic materials. This is a big step for us and lollipop tools are coming into the forefront of customers’ strategies more and more. The tools are of particular interest to the motorsport industry as they have a unique set of characteristics for the machining of bores and port-holes,” concludes Mike

More from Quickgrind