If you work in a machine shop or any other engineering or machining related business, you’re probably familiar with the different types of tooling that go into your process. You’re probably also familiar with a cutting tool. If not, a cutting tool removes excess material from an item allowing shape, accuracy, and size to be obtained.
There are two different types of cutting tools. The first type is a single point tool and the other is a multi-point cutting tool. While they ultimately do nearly the same job, there are actually many differences between them. Here’s what you should know about the differences and similarities between single point tools and multi-point tools.
SINGLE-POINT TOOLS
If you are using a single point tool to cut something, only one edge is going to engage with the material that you are trying to alter.
With single point cutting tools, since one cutting edge is doing all of the work, chances are material will not be removed very fast, and the chance of the cutting edge breaking increases. If one of the cutting edges breaks while using it, you have to stop the entire tool and replace it before it can be used again.
For instance, single point tools, such as a single blade reamer only have one cutting edge removing material. Single blade reamers often take longer to run because there is only one cutting edge doing the work.
MULTI-POINT TOOL
Unlike a single point tool, a multi-point cutting tool will allow the use of more than one cutting edges at the same time.
Ultimately, the multi-point tool will allow multiple edges of the tool to remove material at once. This allows for multi point tools or “multi-blade” tools to run faster than single point cutting tools.
Since the amount of heat generated to the cutting edges is spread throughout each cutting blade the tool can often run longer and be more resistant to wear.
A Diatool high performance reamer is a great example of a multi-point tool. When compared to alternative methods, a multi-blade reamer can reduce cycle time & increase quality.
