SGS Tool and Haimer Enter Licensing Agreement

SGS Tool Company (Munroe Falls, OH), a market leader for solid carbide end mills in North America, has begun offering their high quality cutting tools with the Safe-Lock™ system from Haimer USA, LLC (Villa Park, IL). The unique Safe-Lock design in cutting tools and tool holders combines high precision shrink fit clamping with a positive form locking mechanism that prevents round cutting tools from being rotated or completely pulled out from tool holders during heavy machining.

The combination of a symmetrical locking tool design with high concentricity and excellent balance of this system results in a vibration-free machining process that leads to more efficient metal removal rates, superior to that of conventional milling chucks or Weldon side-lock tool holders.

Over the years, SGS has been an industry leader in the development of variable helix end mills. The revolutionary flute design of the SGS Z-Carb™ end mills led to significantly greater potential metal removal rates compared to what had previously been available to the market.  This design, however, could lead to a potential pull-out of the cutting tool during aggressive machining with high precision tool holding systems due to the aggressive high helix, multi-flute design. Consequently, this led the team within the Innovation Center at SGS to look and test various tool holding systems to find an absolutely secure system.

This research, along with customer feedback via their expansive network, led SGS Tool to partner with the technology of the Haimer system. “In our testing we have clearly seen a comprehensive advantage of Safe-Lock in comparison to other systems,” explained David Byrley, the vice president of business development for SGS. Being a U.S.-based company, SGS saw the largely increasing demand in the North American market to provide their cutting tools with the Safe-Lock grooves on the shank. “The Safe-Lock design has been established as the global standard for anti pull-out,” added Byrley.

SGS is headquartered in Munroe Falls, where it has solid carbide end mill and drill manufacturing plants, a coating facility, quality control lab, and its distribution and Innovation Centers. It is due to these capabilities, a full complement of the same capabilities in their facilities in the United Kingdom, and over 250 highly trained and skilled associates globally, that the company is able to ensure the highest level of quality and availability of their tools. Additionally, a global sales and service network enables the demands of local markets and customers to be met in over 60 countries around the world with fast delivery and support.

“We are very pleased to have entered into this agreement with a company the caliber of SGS,” stated Brendt Holden, the president of Haimer USA. “The innovative flute geometries pioneered by them in our industry lend themselves perfectly for our system. I am confident that their loyal customer base will welcome this technology as a resource to be used to greatly increase their productivity on the shop floor.”

Since its launch in 2007, the Safe-Lock System has developed very successfully and excited many international customers. Last year alone, the growth was four times higher compared to previous years. This boom can be attributed to recognizing that the productivity increases resulting from the pull out protection is not restricted to typical aerospace applications, but the cost and time savings can also be used in any typical milling application.

www.sgstool.com, www.haimer-usa.com