Home / KV Tooling Wins First Place in ANCA’s Tool of the Year Competition

KV Tooling Wins First Place in ANCA’s Tool of the Year Competition

Entries were judged on surface finish, specified nominal tolerance, tightest tolerance, and level of complexity.

Posted: February 19, 2020

KV Tooling President Brian Beland holds the winning cutting tool that solved a customer problem and replaced a previous machining requirement comprising six tools.
A close-up of KV Tooling's award-winning cutting tool.
ANCA's second annual Tool of the Year winners were announced at EMO 2019 in Hannover, Germany.

KV Tooling has won first place in ANCA’s industry-first competition, ‘ANCA Tool of the Year.’ The contest recognizes how the cutting tool industry has cultivated and refined its craft over the years to design beautiful tools, applying science to achieve a sub-micron surface finish and superior cutting performance.

“All finalists were of a very high standard and demonstrated a deep understanding for tool geometry as well as taking full use of ANCA’s software to design unique and special cutting tools,” said Pat Boland, ANCA co-founder. “We congratulate the winner KV Tooling, runner up Eshed Tools and Zakłady Mechaniczne Kazimieruk, to whom we gave a special creativity award for a daring Bat Man design.”

KV Tooling Systems’ president, Brian Beland, stated, “Competing with world-class tool grinding shops from around the world with same grinding machines and winning – regardless of the size of the shop – is something we are particularly proud of.

“Our entry was a very complex tool with many features incorporated into one tool,” Beland added. “We designed the cutting tool to satisfy a customer’s problem, where our one tool replaced a machining requirement that previously required six tools. The customer was very happy with the production gains and for us to submit to ANCA Tool of The Year. We believe winning the competition makes our company more marketable and will give us great exposure and hopefully expand our customer base.”

https://www.facebook.com/kaylaheveytv/videos/526854394553103/

The competition was based on the passion and the craft of tool making and celebrating the highly skilled tool grinding community.

The judging panel included:

  • Pat Boland, co-founder and managing director at ANCA
  • Ralph Van Hoorn, owner at Van Hoorn Carbide
  • Thomson Mathew, product manager at ANCA

Measurement of surface finish determined by Alicona.

Measurement of profile and diameter determined by Zoller.

The top five tools were judged on the following criteria:

  • Best surface finish in Ra (roughness average) value on the flute or gash surface
  • The tool the that is closest to the nominal tolerance as stated on the drawing in terms of diameter and profile (tolerance on diameter is +/- 0.010mm and the tool is measured to 0.005)
  • Tool that has been ground to the tightest tolerance as per the drawing (lowest tolerance)
  • Level of complexity (tool with greatest number of steps)

Subscribe to learn the latest in manufacturing.

Calendar & Events
Southeast Design – 2-Part Show
September 11 - 12, 2013
Greenville, SC
Mid-Atlantic Design – 2-Part Show
September 25 - 26, 2013
Phoenixville, PA
CMTS of Canada
September 30 - October 3, 2013
Mississauga, Canada
Wisconsin Manufacturing and Technology Show
October 8 - 10, 2013
Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center Halls B&C
DISCOVER 2013
October 8 - 16, 2013
Florence, KY
WESTEC 2013
October 15 - 17, 2013
Los Angeles, CA
SOUTH-TEC
October 29 - 31, 2013
Greenville, SC
New England Design-2-Part Show
October 30 - 31, 2013
Marlborough, MA
DMG / Mori Seiki Manufacturing Days
November 12 - 15, 2013
Mori Seiki Manufacturing – Davis, CA
FABTECH
November 18 - 21, 2013
McCormick Place – Chicago, IL
Midwest Design-2-Part Show
November 20 - 21, 2013
Northern Kentucky Convention Center – Covington, KY
PCD Tool Manufacturing
November 20, 2013
United Grinding North America – Fredricksburg, VA