Vent: my brand new inserts last 3 months less than the old ones used to

I've been running the same brand of carbide inserts for 8 years now. Around January this year, I noticed I was changing them out every 6 weeks instead of every 3 months like clockwork. My scrap rate on 304 stainless jumped 12% too. I'm wondering if the manufacturer changed their grinding process or switched material sources. Has anyone else noticed their standard inserts wearing out faster than they used to?

3 comments

3 Comments

roberts956d ago

Nope. Try switching brands, that fixed it for me.

taylor.hayden3d ago

My buddy runs the same exact shop as me and he kept telling me his inserts were going faster too. I thought he was just running his lathe harder or buying cheaper stock from a different supplier. But then I tracked my tooling costs for the last 6 months and realized I'm spending almost double on carbide compared to last year for the same jobs. I checked my feeds and speeds logs, nothing changed on my end. I'm with you on this one, something definitely shifted with the manufacturing. My guess is they cheapened the coating or the tungsten source changed.

elliot_patel6d ago

Must be nice having money to replace inserts, some of us just sharpen the same dull ones and cry.