The skill of tapping and threading
may not be the most glamourous operation in metalworking but it’s undoubtedly
one of the most important to get right.
It’s easy to imagine the
number of complex components, such as a cylinder head or turbine assembly,
possibly made from expensive alloys, that might have to be scrapped because a
thread has been machined inaccurately or without the required surface finish.
This scenario is even more irritating as tapping is often one of the final
operations to be carried out on a workpiece.
This is one reason why
Yamawa has evolved down the years to become a cutting tool manufacturer solely
dedicated to producing threading solutions for industry. The Japanese company
is actually one of the biggest manufacturers of taps, dies and centring tools
in the world.
Founded in 1923 by Jokichi
Watanabe in Tokyo, the company was the first Japanese tap manufacturer to
become ISO 9001 accredited. It now produces approximately 1.6 million tools
from four manufacturing plants in Japan per month – used in aerospace,
telecommunications, automotive, oil and gas, wind generation, ship building,
machine tools, electronic appliances, IT and other manufacturing sectors.
However, it would be fair to say that in the UK the brand is relatively
unknown.
The company has made significant
inroads into Europe. Yamawa has around 1,000 regular customers in the region
and in 2016 it set up a new division, Yamawa Europe in Italy where it has a 12%
slice of the market.
Antonio Policek, marketing
manager at Yamawa Europe explains: “We had existing established distribution
channels in Europe but were getting to a critical mass of end users,
particularly in the automotive and aerospace industries, where we needed closer
proximity to leverage our technical expertise.”
This new set up,
headquartered in Venice, means Yamawa has kept all its existing European
support and logistic channels but can also more easily provide direct technical
support from Japan, including visiting experts to help its customer implement
new projects and processes.
Both big and small
Yamawa makes taps and dies
for a very broad range of industries and applications. It produces products in
sizes ranging from tiny micro roll taps starting at 0.5mm used for electronics
products such as smartphones, to massive M80 shell taps, designed for large
offshore oil and gas applications.
Taps and dies are produced
for all different kinds of materials, from advanced alloys to plastics, meaning
many different geometries and coatings are available. It offers both thread
cutting and roll tapping tools where the thread is formed by deformation of the
surface rather than cutting.
Making such a broad range
of products means Yamawa’s manufacturing methods need to be highly customised
and its quality control second to none. In fact, the company has its own
manufacturing plant dedicated to producing grinding machines in-house to
support its specialist area of toolmaking.
“When it came to making products such
as our micro taps it was impossible to find grinding machines that could work
accurately on something so small,” Mr Policek comments. “This meant we had to
design and build our own. We now have more than 1,000 grinding machines at our
facilities, 90% made by ourselves. We also have more than 1,200 measuring
devices and some of these are also designed and manufactured in-house. This is
because every tool has to undergo at least three different quality checks
before it leaves the factory.”
The company has more than
20,000 products in its catalogue offered in DIN, ANSI and JIS certification
standards. In Europe 90% of its orders can be processed for next day delivery.
UK distribution
Recently the company has
signed an exclusive distribution deal in the UK with fellow cutting tool
manufacturer Kyocera Unimerco to sell its tools: “We always like to create
partnerships with other high-level companies,” Mr Policek says. “Our agreement
with Kyocera Unimerco is an ideal fit as they have good market penetration in
the UK but do not have any threading solutions in their own product portfolio.”
At this year’s EMO
Exhibition in Hannover, Yamawa showcased several new tapping and threading tool
solutions.
Its MHSP series of taps
are purpose-designed to improve productivity when tapping blind holes in
medium-hardness steel components. The taps are primarily aimed at those working
in automotive engineering as they offer significantly improved throughput
levels when tapping workpieces such as hub bearings, connecting rods,
crankshafts, tie rod ends, differential ring gears and swing bearings.
The taps also produce
exceptionally high thread finish quality, supported by a medium-high cutting
speed capability up to 30m/minute, depending on the type of steel to be
machined.
“This family of taps is a
significant addition to a range that is already gaining popularity at several
important automotive manufacturing hubs across Asia and Europe,” says
Alessandro Sorgato, CEO of Yamawa Europe. “Customers enjoy the increase in
productivity and repeatability enabled by our unique products.”
MHSP taps will be
initially available in sizes from M8 to M16, and will enhance Yamawa’s existing
portfolio of solutions for automotive manufacturers. These include its MHSL
tools for high productivity through-hole tapping of medium hardness steel and
its MHRZ series of long-life forming taps for medium-hardness carbon steel.
Other tool series on display at EMO
included its AXE-HT range for high-performance tapping of aluminium alloy
castings and MC-AD-CT micro-grain carbide taps with internal coolant holes for
blind-hole tapping of aluminium and aluminium alloy castings.
Further innovations on
display included the ACHSP family of taps, designed to reduce cycle times when
threading cored holes in aluminium workpieces by direct tapping.
“These new ultrafine
carbide taps with through coolant can give huge savings in cycle time with much
greater reduction in breakages and less vibration,” Mr Policek states.
There was also the newly
developed HVSP series of taps for threading large forged parts. Specifically
designed to meet the requirements of the heavy engineering and power generation
sectors, HVSP taps avoid the chipping issues prevalent in large-scale tapping
applications through a new special cutting-edge geometry and an innovative
flute design for smooth chip ejection.
Finer threading
Yamawa’s thread-milling,
advances were also highlighted with the launch of its PRML ultra-fine,
micrograin-carbide premium thread mills. These tools are purpose-designed to
enable higher productivity in applications where the use of conventional taps
may result in reduced efficiency, or when workpiece design means the risk of
tap breakage or component damage is unacceptably high.
The novel design of PRML,
with only three threads, allows improved internal thread accuracy and longer
tool life. Initial availability will be from tool diameter 3.5 to 9mm, enabling
the creation of internal threads from M5 to M12.
“These thread mills are left handed
so they operate counter-clockwise to reduce cutting torque. They can create the
thread in just one pass with outstanding quality. It means you can save cycle
time but still maintain a superb surface finish,” Mr Policek states.
So although it may not be
a familiar name in the UK, the Yamawa slogan of ‘Greater prosperity, more
united’ is definitely aimed not only towards the company itself but also its
customers.
Mr Policek concludes:
“From customer surveys we are always ranked as one of the top three tool
brands. We can’t always promise to offer the cheapest threading tool but we do
aim – based on the application and our analysis – to offer the best
specification to enable our customers to save cycle time and ensure consistent
quality. This is the most comprehensive and effective way we can help them save
costs on their threading tools.”
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