"Advantages of Carbide"

Why would I consider using carbide for my application(s)? For a lot of individuals who have been around the tooling and manufacturing industry, it is quite obvious that many transitions and paradigms have undergone extensive changes in the past 20 or 30 year. Those that have adapted to the need for change, in most cases have weathered many storms well. These storms are usually, if not always competition and the cost of production. Between the 1980's and 1990's, we experienced the demand for low inventories and the need for lean manufacturing which leads to quicker product turnaround. Quicker product turnaround leads to an increased workforce, additional hours, increased capacities, and a serious need for less and shorter down-times. Those that have been around for many years may say, “We tried carbide years ago and it broke”. Just as you have experienced many changes over these years, carbide’s application knowledge has changed much for the better. Another mental barrier to using carbide in applications beyond the cutting tip tooling is the material cost itself. Compared to most steel products by volume, the raw material itself can be significantly more of an initial investment. Carbide is used in most every industry today. We are all affected by products that use carbide to do their work, or have been built with the use of carbide parts. Why is carbide such an effective and widely used material in every major industry such as Automotive, Canning, Electronics, Oil field, Rotary tooling - (drills, end mills, slot cutting, etc.), Laminations (motor building), textiles, medical field, heavy earth construction, tobacco, paper & plastics processing, wood cutting and shaping, minting coins, and so much more? The answer: Each of these industries has been forced to become more competitive. Competitiveness means quicker turnaround, longer tool life, significantly less down-time and higher production. It’s a fact that many of these industries do not make their own tooling, so if you have held out on trying carbide because you can't machine or grind it, hopefully you won't hesitate to contact us for your design needs. We at Johnston's Quality Carbide have many years of grinding and application knowledge collectively. Let us help you in your next attempt to create longer lasting tools.

"How much less down-time, how much longer tool life can I expect, by switching to carbide?"

We are currently working with a company that has a very abusive application for carbide or steel. When we approached them, they felt that we may have a tough time competing as we would be trying to compete with several rather large companies and Chinese suppliers. Our approach was to attempt to deliver longer tool life. After a quick analysis of a used sample, it was immediately determined that this company has been using the wrong material matrix and has been for many years. It appears that they’d presumed it was always a design issue. With the results of the first round of testing completed, we successfully doubled the tool life. Testing to date has not been completed, but our goal is to achieve four times the tool life over another carbide choice. The success of the proper carbide over a steel tool may be twice that. Furthermore, the damage to the original tooling was so severe that there was no option designed in for regrind. If we can keep that damage to a minimum, through the use of an extra set of reusable tool holders and regrind, that life can be doubled once more. The question can become an expensive one to avoid asking. We have experienced other examples of serious cost reductions with other industries as well; a minting plant that had a poor original design that utilized excessive carbide to the point that it was detrimental to the proper function of the tool. They found immediate savings on their blanks as well as a significant design improvement. There is also a case of a heavy earth construction company that needed to move cement around a small corner. Agreeably, they ended up paying about 20% more for their costly product, but their order volume was cut in half with some design manipulation and testing. In conclusion, trying to find the most competitive pricing is a great concept, but it may fall short of the ultimate goal. It may even bring the opposite result. Please do not hesitate to contact us for design improvement.