Mr. Zecha, your customers include companies from the tool and mould making industry: What requirements does this sector place on cutting tools?

Stefan Zecha: "We manufacture precision tools with micrometer accuracy, where the tool and mold making industry not only values high repeatability, but also punctual and fast delivery of the products.

How do you prove the quality of your drills, milling cutters, thread whirling tools and reamers to this notoriously quality-conscious industry?

Zecha: For over ten years, we have been using lasers to affix a number to each tool that allows us to trace who manufactured it from which carbide blank, when and under which conditions, and where the corresponding log of the manufacturing process and measurements is stored. Using the so-called life number, a tool can therefore be clearly assigned even years after a customer order. We mark the end of the shank and not the shank like others.

Why don't you put the identification number on the shaft?

"I am delighted that Metav is taking up tool and mold making with the Moulding Area as a separate topic area," explains Stefan Zecha, Managing Director and Managing Partner of Zecha Hartmetall-Werkzeugfabrikation GmbH. (Photo: Zecha)

Zecha: Tool and mold making rely on optimal concentricity properties for tools, which a laser-cut shank cannot meet because the surface is then no longer completely smooth. Incidentally, we also manufacture all of our shanks ourselves due to the high demands, because precision starts with the shank.

What is your recipe for success?

Zecha: Our consistent purchasing policy ensures high quality. We always buy our carbide from the same suppliers. This means that we never order carbide from anywhere in the world for cost reasons. In the same way, when it comes to coating, we only rely on long-term partners with whose development departments we work closely. However, apart from the coating, production is otherwise carried out in-house with a high level of vertical integration. We therefore also grind our own tools. A tool with a diameter of one millimeter or less does not forgive errors in the range of thousandths of a millimeter (µm).

One of your specialties is edge preparation, the precision of which determines the subsequent machining success: How precisely can you bring the cutting edges into the desired shape?

Zecha: "We can prepare them precisely to 0.5 to 0.8 µm and only in this way can we guarantee consistent quality.

Why do you work together with a diamond coater, a machine manufacturer and an electrode producer when it comes to graphite processing?

Zecha: Today, we increasingly have to not only supply the tool, but also keep an eye on the entire process. This includes, for example, determining the cutting data. The three companies are very close to the entire process chain in different ways. Cooperation with other companies is particularly important for us when it comes to coatings, as new coatings are introduced every year and we have to adapt to them. We therefore test all possible coatings very carefully before we use them on our tools for around three to five years.

What role do Metav and the Moulding Area play for you?

Zecha: I regret that there is a trend towards the south at trade fairs, especially in this area. I am therefore pleased that Metav is taking up tool and mold making with the Moulding Area as a separate theme area.

What innovations for tool and mold making and other industries will you be presenting in Düsseldorf?

Zecha: We will be presenting ball nose, torus and end milling cutters that - thanks to targeted processing of the cutting edges with laser technology (R=1μm) and the special cutting edge geometry - significantly reduce cutting forces and heat development. In Düsseldorf, we will be presenting a special development for copper electrodes.