Carbide burrs are a very crucial tool for a range of industries. Their usage consists of cutting, molding, grinding, and shaping. Moreover, they also come in very handy for eliminating excess material from metals. The process is known as deburring.
The burrs have extensive use in automotive, aerospace, dentistry, jewelry, and every other industry where precision engineering has a role to play. These industries are very critical, where the margin of error is very minimal.
The reason why choose the right burr is a cumbersome decision. The decision that you can’t make in haste, irrespective of the need you have. Or demand you are witnessing.
Here, we are comparing two highly used burrs: the carbide burrs and high-speed steel burrs.
What Are Carbide Burrs?
The Carbide burrs mainly consist of Tungsten Carbide, a chemical compound known for its hardness and tolerance. The burrs made from Tungsten Carbide can endure very high temperatures. They are the best in their class when it comes to tolerance to heat. The ability to withstand extreme temperatures makes these burrs perfect to use with almost all metals. You can even use them with aluminum and stainless steel.
The carbide burrs give you more control and precision, especially when you are using them for metalworks. When you say metal, it’s not just hard metal. They are as helpful for soft metal like high karat gold. You can do precision designing without any flaking or breakage of the metal.
What Are HSS (High-Speed Steel) Burrs?
Tungsten also dominates the composition of High-Speed Steel. But it’s not as high as it is in carbide.
HSS has about 18 percent tungsten and four percent chromium. And below one percent carbon and Vanadium.
The burrs made from the above composition are good enough to sustain high friction. And of course, the heat generated by the same. It has good cutting speed with excellent edge retention. High-speed steel can successfully limit abrasion.
The most significant upside of HSS is its cost. The HSS tools are very affordable, but they have their set of limitations like other budget solutions.
The Major Differences Between Carbide Burrs and HSS Burrs
Many variables differentiate the two. But both the burrs have their usage and application in the industry. Let’s discuss all those significant variables in slightly greater detail and determine what makes one different from the other.
1. Applications
Both the burrs have a place in all significant precision engineering processes like drilling, tapping, and milling. Let’s see how they fare in each of these processes.
Drilling:
Carbide burrs are almost three times stronger than high steel burrs. So, they make up for a majority of high-volume hole production. The carbide burrs are expensive, but when you extrapolate the data to cost-per-part. They do complete justice to their cost.
While High steel drills also have their niche. They are perfect for handheld applications. Suppose you are running relatively short batches. They are good. Also, you can use them in CNC machining.
Tapping:
When it comes to tapping applications, traditionally, carbide burrs are not the usual choice. The perception around them is that they are brittle, and they might chip off metals. But it’s more of a perceptional thing. Gradually, the industry players did understand the fact that these burrs can do a phenomenal tapping job as well.
High-speed steel has a slightly upper hand over carbides when it comes to tapping. They are traditionally a top choice for thread production. And over the years, they produced excellent results. Now, HSS tools are also contributing to Maintenance and repair operations. It could be in the form of hand tapping or flute tapping.
Milling:
In milling operations, the carbide burrs have a proven record of excellence. They have a pervasive use in metal removal applications. Their Metal removal rate (MMR) is by far the best among its peers. Ever since the helix design came to the scene, the horizon of the carbide endmills expanded substantially.
High-speed endmills have minimal use. They are suitable for manual operations catering to smaller volumes. HSS does not find much relevance in rigid industrial set-ups.
2. Hardness
Carbide burrs have unquestionably upper-hand over High-speed steel when it comes to hardness. Carbide burrs are ideal for dependable jobs, where the margin of error is almost negligible.
HSS tends to wear out in more intense operations. But they offer good value if you operate them through handheld devices for moderate operations.
3. Heat Resistance
If you compare tolerance to the heat of the two burrs in the discussion, the HSS does not offer much value. It starts to soften as the temperature increases.
At the same time, Carbide burrs show remarkable resilience under higher temperatures. They do not soften even after long hours of usage.
4. Corrosion Resistance
As high-speed steel has chromium, but usually, it’s one percent or lesser than that. So, it does offer resistance to rust. But it’s constrained.
Carbide burrs have a significant amount of chromium content—the reason they indisputably offer the best rust resistance.
5. Wear Resistance
HSS has a lower cutting speed than Carbide burrs. But when it comes to wear-resistance and retaining edges, it gives neck to neck competition to carbide burrs.
As far as the resistance of cutting forces, both offer more or less similar value.
6. Strength
Due to high tungsten and vanadium composition, the carbide burrs have no match in terms of strength. They can easily resist the force applied by most CNC machines.
HSS also has a good amount of tungsten composition, and it offers low to moderate strength. Good enough for handheld rotary devices.
Which Type of Burr Should You Choose?
Both the Carbide burrs and HSS have their set of upside and downsides. In precision engineering, taking small decisions like choosing a burr can have a butterfly effect.
When you choose between these options, you have to consider all the variables of your business needs. If you want to keep a check at the cost, durability and high maintenance are not a big issue. You can go with HSS.
When it comes to carbide burrs, they might be costlier than HSS. But if you are looking for a long-term and high-performance solution. Tungsten-based Carbide burr is the answer.
Carbide burrs offer value on two fronts, first is their ability to withstand extremes, which gives you durability. And second, they save you the recurring cost. Even if your business does not demand high-intensity operations, still the frequency factor plays a role. In the long run, going with carbide burrs is a win-win for everyone.
Why Do We Suggest Using Carbide Burrs?
We discussed the scenarios of how carbide burrs can offer more excellent value than HSS. Apart from those, let’s look at some apparent factors which make carbide a better choice.
1. Provide High stock removal
With a high MMR rate, you can boost productivity.
2. Excellent Multipurpose Tool
The finish is something that makes two identical products stand apart from each other. So, carbide burrs can be a great value addition for your brand.
3. Long-lasting performance
Durability not only decreases cost but also gives impetus to operations.
4. Work at high temperatures
You get the flexibility to execute tasks without worrying about the sensitivity of burrs.
5. Perfect for all metals
Works on both soft and hard metals.
Final Thoughts!
After considering all the possible factors, we did manage to narrow down an option for you. The one, which is Carbide burr, certainly has the upper hand over the other(HSS). But in businesses like precision engineering, there might be a situation where you need both.
Ultimately, you cannot discard the importance of one over the other. But analysis like this can be beneficial when you don’t have enough information at your disposal. And you have to choose one burr between the two. After all, it’s business, where you don’t play a negative-sum game.
So, get your hands on the top-quality carbide burrs available at FitCarbide. All our burrs offer great value and exceptional performance.