A new tooling technology has been developed that reduces manufacturing costs by extending tool life and increasing production output. Lineage XLC by FS Tool achieves this by protecting an isolated part of the cutting edge, the back, and controlling the natural erosion of the cutting point. Together these produce what is best described as a “self-sharpening” edge.

Lineage XLC is a unique technological blend of carbide substrate, special tool geometry and innovation in coatings. The reported advantage of this breakthrough technology over existing coated tools is that rather than trying to prevent wear, XLC controls it to maintain a sharp cutting edge as the tool wears. This provides increased longevity in high wear applications such as routing laminates and other hard or abrasive materials.

Controlled Wear Patterns 
When machining melamine, for example, traditional solid carbide tools often demonstrate a classic wear point — a visible notch typically spanning up to 1/8-inch in height and 1/32-inch in depth, with a concave form along the cutting edge. This type of wear pattern requires more cutting pressure to fracture the melamine and produce a clean cut.

The increased pressure also causes more heat to be generated and exponentially increases the rate of wear on the cutting edge. The Lineage XLC ‘s technology eliminates this flare along the back of the cutting edge from occurring and reduces the width and depth of the concave wear pattern by more than 50% for a consistently cleaner, quality cut, FS Tool says.

Performance After Sharpening
According to FS Tool, while a new Lineage XLC spiral router bit provides more than 40% longer runtime, a sharpened tool can increase runtime by at least another 20% and does not require re-coating. The reason for this second increase, the company says, is that the cutting edge is more structurally stable after sharpening.

When asked why this service is not applied to new tools, “It’s similar to the gas mileage on a new car”, says Frank Horvath, product manager at FS Tool.  “A new Lineage XLC is already a huge improvement over today’s tooling and the second increase comes with a small change in diameter.”

Also, because the XLC technology eliminates all wear from occurring on the outside diameter, only the flute has to be serviced. According to FS Tool, 50% less material is removed during each service cycle, or approximately 0.005-0.007 inches of material from the cutting diameter. The benefit of this type of service schedule is that users of XLC are rewarded with 30% more sharpenings, the company adds.