KV Tooling takes first place

KV Tooling has taken the coveted first place in ANCA’s industry first competition ‘ANCA Tool of the Year’.

The cutting tool industry has cultivated and refined its craft over the years to design beautiful tools, applying science to achieve a sub-micron surface finish and superior cutting performance.

Pat Boland, ANCA Co-founder says: “All finalists were of a very high standard and demonstrated a deep understanding for tool geometry as well as taking full use of ANCA’s software to design unique and special cutting tools. We congratulate the winner KV Tooling, runner up Eshed Tools and Zakłady Mechaniczne Kazimieruk who we gave a special creativity award for daring Bat Man design.”

Brian Beland, president at KV Tooling Systems, said on winning the award: “Competing with world class tool grinding shops from around the world with the same grinding machines and winning, regardless of the size of the shop, is something we are particularly proud of.

“Our entry was a very complex tool with many features incorporated into one tool. We designed the cutting tool to satisfy a customer’s problem, where our one tool replaced a machining requirement that previously required six tools. The customer was very happy with the production gains and for us to submit to ANCA Tool of The Year. We believe winning the competition makes our company more marketable and will give us great exposure and hopefully expand our customer base,” he concluded.

As an industry #ANCATooloftheYear celebrates the knowledge and imagination of cutting tool craftsmen, creating tools with the perfect geometry, profile, and finish that shape and build our world every day.

Eshed Tools entered the competition to share its special tool manufacturing skill set with ANCA users. Production Manager Shmulik Arbel, commented that they were proud of their expertise that means they can “produce special geometries that are difficult to achieve and save our clients expensive production time.” Reflecting on coming runner up, he continued, “Taking out this prize creates a great opportunity for global exposure through the Tool of the Year competition. For Eshed tools, as a small and growing tool manufacturer, world-wide recognition is important and will help us expand beyond the local market.”

On winning the ‘Most Creative Tool’, Zakłady Mechaniczne Kazimieruk said: “We thought outside the box and were motivated to inspire the grinding community with our entry. During everyday work our team make a lot of customised tools, so we wanted to make something fresh and unique – even to us. Furthermore, entering was a great test for our grinding skills. We relished the opportunity of seeing others craftmanship and the entries in the tool of the year competition demonstrated to us the range and type of cutting tools that are possible.”

The competition was based on the passion and the craft of tool making and celebrates the highly skilled tool grinding community.

The top five tools were judged on the following criteria:

Best surface finish in Ra (roughness average) value on the flute or gash surface.

The tool the that is closest to the nominal tolerance as stated on the drawing in terms of diameter and profile (i.e. if the tolerance on diameter is +/- 0.010mm and the tool is measured to 0.005 then this will rank favourably).

The tool that has been ground to the tightest tolerance as per the drawing (i.e. the tool with the lowest tolerance will rank favourably).

Level of complexity (i.e. in terms of the number of steps, profiles will rank favourably).

ANCA (UK) Ltd
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