VIDEO: TOOLING UP – Faster Cuts, Longer Blade Life, and Increased Productivity with Lenox

Narrator: Welcome to Tooling Up, a series by MSC Industrial Supply Company that provides real-world insights brought to you by leading industry experts and aimed at improving the efficiency and productivity of your operations.

Eddie: Hey everybody, this is Eddie with MSC and welcome to this episode of MSC's Tooling Up featuring Lenox. On today's episode we're going to be featuring some tools that can help keep you and your business sharp and here to tell us everything that we need to know about all the wonderful tools we're covering today is our good friend from the team at Lenox, Kevin. Let's bring him on in. Hey Kevin, thank you so much for joining us on today's episode of MSC's Tooling Up. Now before we get started, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do for the team at Lenox?

Kevin: Sure Eddie thanks. I want to thank our friends at MSC for bringing the Lenox bandsaw team back to Tooling Up. I'm the senior engineering manager for Carbide R&D here at Lenox and I've been engineering bandsaw blades for 26 years.

Eddie: Wonderful, hey well thank you for joining us on today's episode, so now let's jump right in. The first tool we're going to be discussing today is the Armor® Versa Pro™. So as we get things kicked off Kevin, what do we need to know?

Kevin: So Armor® Versa Pro™ is a coated carbide bandsaw blade that's manufactured and designed for very high speed cutting and high productivity.

Eddie: No this is wonderful and then as we think about saws and their capability, a lot of individuals think of strictly cutting but these are tools for many things such as increased productivity. Kevin, how would you say that the Armor® Versa Pro™ does just that?

Kevin: Well Lenox was the first to introduce a corded carbide bandsaw blade to our industry 20 years ago and it really shook the industry. We're now on our third generation of coating and this means faster cutting, more pieces per hour, longer blade life, fewer blade changes, less down time, and more productivity.

Eddie: And all these things sound wonderful but let's dive a little bit deeper into one thing you mentioned and that is blade life. What do we need to know about that?

Kevin: So tungsten carbide has a much higher hot hardness than a bi-metal high-speed steel blade, so cutting temperatures are going to get up to about 800 degrees Fahrenheit. And what happens to a high-speed steel, bi-metal blade is it goes from about an HRC 68 down to an HRC 45 when it gets to that cutting temperature. Our carbide tip blade starts at an HRC 80 and softens slightly down to HRC 70 so that's the difference. HRC 70 down to HRC 45 and then on top of that we put our aluminum titanium nitride coating which is actually twice as hard as the underlying tungsten carbide and we pre-honed that cutting edge and it's our fourth generation tougher tungsten carbide to give a longer blade life.

Eddie: So this is great news and when it comes to the Armor® Versa Pro™ what range of materials can we work with?

Kevin: So it'll cut anything from carbon steels to tool steels to nickel steels to titanium. In fact, we have an aerospace cutter who cuts nothing but titanium at very crazy rates. This is the only blade they'll use.

Eddie: There you go. Very impressive indeed. So as we shift away from the Armor® Versa Pro™, let's talk about the GEN-TECH™. Kevin, what do we need to know?

Kevin: So GEN-TECH™ is a set style carbide tip bandsaw blade, not coated, but so it's designed for cutting general purpose at higher rates than by bi-metal but not quite as high as Armor® Versa Pro™.

Eddie: Well what can you tell us Kevin about the specific price point?

Kevin: So it's designed to be in a very affordable price point. Faster cutting than bi-metal but not as high a price point obviously as the Armor® Versa Pro™.

Eddie: Understandable and then with that how would you say that the GEN-TECH™ is considered to be versatile?

Kevin: So it is a very versatile, easy to use product. There are some saw requirements for running things that are very high speed like Armor® Versa Pro™ and maybe a user saw isn't as good as could be to run the Armor® Versa Pro. This product will run well on that saw.

Eddie: And with all this versatility Kevin how would you say that directly affects the blade life?

Kevin: So it makes a longer blade life. It also helps reduce blade pinching because it's an extra heavy set product where the teeth are set to the side an extra amount to make sure that it clears the cut on billets that have high internal stresses. It has the same fourth generation tough tungsten carbide honed pre-honed edge all to minimize edge chippage and give longer blade life.

Eddie: Very impressive indeed. So even though we all know that Lenox is well known for your blades, you are so much more and we're going to highlight just one of those points today being AeroMax™. Won't you frame this up for us Kevin?

Kevin: Sure. So you know having this is absolutely great but you do have to have a cutting fluid in your saw and it should be a good cutting fluid and we have a great one in AeroMax™. It's a semi-synthetic cutting fluid with high lubricity and high cooling.

Eddie: Very good. Let's jump back into that key term lubricity. What more do we need to know about that?

Kevin: So it is a semi-synthetic and semi-synthetics are known for their high cooling rate but this has a little extra lubricity with it which is very useful.

Eddie: And then what would you say about the general sump life of AeroMax™?

Kevin: So it's designed to have great bacterial resistance to give longer sump life but it's also chlorine free and sulfur free which means it doesn't stay in the work piece.

Eddie: Very convenient and then also you and I both know when it comes to these specific types of solutions, there are plenty of requirements that surround them so does this meet your standard or even high level requirements?

Kevin: So we call it AeroMax™ partially for a reason. This is really meant in large part to the aerospace industry. It is a Boeing-certified cutting fluid that meets their requirements which is very important in the aerospace industry.

Eddie: Very important for sure Kevin. So hey, on today's episode you've guided us through the Armor® Versa Pro™, took us through the GEN-TECH™ blade and then we wrapped everything up with AeroMax™. So for those watching today, could you give us a quick run back on each of those general segments just for reference?

Kevin: Sure. Armor® Versa Pro™–coated carbide bandsaw blade meant for very high speeds, very high productivity. GEN-TECH™–set style uncoated carbide bandsaw blade, affordable price point but higher productivity than bi-metal. And then finally AeroMax™ semi-synthetic cutting fluid to make sure that you protect your blade in your workpiece and it's a Boeing-certified fluid.

Eddie: Very good. So for those who are interested in getting more information on not only the wonderful tools that we've covered today but all the other amazing offerings that you're bringing to the market Kevin, where can we get more information?

Kevin: Eddie, you can find that on mscdirect.com\lenox.

Eddie: Well thanks again so much Kevin for bringing your enthusiasm and expertise to today's episode of MSC's Tooling Up featuring Lenox.

Narrator: Want more insights and ideas to improve the efficiency and productivity of your operations? Check out the Tooling Up video playlist to see how we can help improve your operations and subscribe to our channel so you never miss out.