Are Wiper Flats Key to Better Finishes?

Do you need to up your surface finish game or reduce your cycle time? If so, wiper inserts might be just the ticket for you. My name is Justin Wilks. I’m a field service engineer with KYOCERA Precision Tools. Today we’re going to talk about wipers.

So, what are wiper inserts and how do they benefit you in a machining operation? Wiper inserts are similar to standard inserts in a milling cutter or a turning tool, except for the fact that they have a wider area behind the primary nose radius or the primary edge, which smooths out the bumps left behind by that primary edge and gives you a smoother finish, allowing you to feed faster and get a smoother finish at the same time.

Three key advantages to using wipers in your machining operations are: one, the ability to increase feed rates, which causes a reduction in cycle time; two, an increase in surface finish; and three, the ability to reduce the number of operations. In some cases, feed rates can be close to doubled while still retaining or maintaining your existing surface finish, or maintained and cutting your surface finish in half, roughly speaking.

While wipers have a lot of advantages for both turning and milling operations, they are not the end-all solution. Because of the natural increased contact that that wiper insert, whether it be a turning or a milling insert, has with the workpiece, they can induce extra cutting pressure, which does not always work out well for long overhangs in milling and turning operations. They can induce chatter and a little bit of extra heat. They don’t really offer a lot of benefit for roughing operations, and they can cause smearing in softer materials and work hardening in materials like stainless steels and superalloys.

In some cases, because a wiper allows you to feed an insert through the workpiece faster, it spends less time in contact with material, which in theory can increase your tool life, and it has in some cases. But at the same time, because of the natural amount of increased contact that each wiper insert has with the material and the extra heat generated from that increased contact—we all know that heat is the enemy of cutting tools—it can also pull cutting tool life away from your operation as well.

Now let’s take a look at wiper inserts and what they can do for your turning operations, helping you achieve quality and consistent finishes at increased feed rates. In this turning operation, both of these sections of this workpiece are run with a standard insert and then a wiper insert at the same input feed rate. You’ll notice that the section of the workpiece run with the standard roughing insert at twelve thousandths of an inch per revolution is much rougher than the section of this workpiece run with the wiper insert. You’ll notice that we shot this video without any coolant. While the surface finish was great, running coolant will further improve your surface finish.

Wiper inserts can also be incredibly effective for the same reasons in turning, but in milling operations. Let’s take a look at this next demo, where one side of this block was run with a standard face mill insert and the other side of this block was run with a special wiper insert. Notice the improved surface finish given by that special wiper insert.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to reach out to your local KYOCERA sales representative using this link. Like, comment, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more chips and tips. Again, my name is Justin Wilks with KYOCERA Precision Tools. Let’s keep the chips flying.