The Q-Tool, a simple fluid damper fitted over a standard machining tool, doubles material removal rates while maintaining surface finish for manufactured metal parts.
The device acts as a shock absorber to eliminate chatter-an unstable tool vibration that causes large variations in the surface quality of manufactured goods. To do this, a thin sleeve is fitted over the shank of the cutting tool. Then the gap between the sleeve and tool is filled with fluid that dampens machining-induced vibration, allowing more aggressive cuts. Machining spindles equipped with the tool can now run at a full speed of 8,000 rpm, four times faster than before.
Developed by Kevin Wasson of Aesop Inc., Bedford, N.H., and Alexander Slocum of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, the tool provides an order of magnitude greater damping than other methods.
Wasson says he and Slocum were so confident in the Q-Tool's potential that they didn't even finish early-stage testing before building a prototype. "We did a simple software analysis that gave us a rough approximation, and then we just went ahead and built without even waiting for the final results," he says. The tool is so simple that development only took three or four months.