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In the past decade, there have been significant strides in the area of high-speed machining (HSM). Typically associated with applications on machining centers, high-speed machining has been driven by improvements in machine technology alongside cutting tool advancements. As RPMs have increased, so has the focus on the necessity of implementing balanced tooling assemblies. It is easy to understand how balanced tools can reduce machine maintenance requirements, improve tool life and surface finish, and produce more accurate components dimensionally with improved surface finishes.
In order to gain an understanding of tool balancing requirements, it is important to fully understand how unbalance is quantified. Tool unbalance is the result of multiplying a tool's weight (mass) by its eccentricity (how much a tool's weight is off-center). Eccentricity can also be described as the distance between the tool's center of rotation and the true center of the tool's mass. It is much easier to use the metric system when working with balance calculations. That means using micron for eccentricity and kilograms (kilos) for tool weight, which yield a measurement of unbalance in gram-millimeters (g-mm).
The...