Precision Carbide Cutting for Abrasive and High-Wear Materials
Wisconsin Metal Parts provides precision carbide cutting services designed for materials that are difficult to process using conventional tooling. Our carbide-based cutting solutions are ideal for abrasive, hard, and high-wear materials, where tool longevity and edge integrity are critical.
Our WEDM department supports both standalone carbide components and full tooling builds. All processes are configured to maintain consistency, minimize tool wear, and deliver clean, accurate cuts. Carbide cutting can be leveraged as a stand-alone operation or integrated into a broader manufacturing workflow.
Carbide Cutting Capabilities
Our carbide cutting operations are built to handle demanding materials and geometries while maintaining accuracy and repeatability.
Key capabilities include:
- Surface finishes up to 4Ra” in carbide and 8Ra” in tool steels
- Tolerances held to +/-.00005”
- Full-service toolroom to support prep and/or finishing
We focus on maintaining tight dimensional control while maximizing tool performance in high-wear applications.
Process Advantages
Carbide cutting offers several advantages when compared to traditional cutting methods, particularly in high-wear environments:
- Increased tool life when working with abrasive materials
- Improved edge quality and dimensional consistency
- Reduced tool change frequency and process interruptions
- Greater efficiency in repeat production environments
These benefits make carbide cutting a strong fit for tooling applications requiring durability, precision, and repeatability. When properly processed, carbide can add to your bottom line.
Below are two images showing two outcomes of carbide cutting. Figure 1 shows binder degradation that would be prone to chipping and premature failure due to improper WEDM methods. Figure 2 shows a much more solid grain structure that should result in a superior high-volume stamping punch with the binders still intact. Processing for Figure 2 employed our best practices, including the purity of our WEDM water, limiting contaminants in the machines and other post WEDM processes required to prevent damage to the material binders.
Quality Assurance & Inspection
We inspect carbide-cut components in-house to verify compliance with your specifications and performance requirements. Our team regularly performs First Article Inspection Reports (FAIR), in-process inspections, PPAP, and provides material and process certifications. Our inspection capabilities include CMM, laser scanning, and handheld measurement tools, ensuring accurate validation of both simple and complex part geometries. Wisconsin Metal Parts is ISO 9001:2015 certified and ITAR registered, with cybersecurity compliant to NIST SP800-171, ensuring all project data and export controlled files remain secure.
Lead times for carbide will depend on the type of carbide needed and if there needs to be any tapped holes in the material. Typically, a standard carbide component without tapped holes can be processed in a matter of a few days. With tapped holes might take 2-4 weeks due to the raw material lead time.
We have 4 Agie wire EDM machines that are specifically designed to cut carbide. Carbide does not cut much differently than tool steel in the wire machine but there are specific processes that need to be followed to insure the integrity of the carbide material remains intact.
We have found that properly processed carbide punches and die inserts can increase progressive stamping die runs by 2-3x what tool steel components can produce between sharpening’s. In most cases carbide has a great ROI for high volume metal stamping and is worth the investment. The next question is if your tooling and press equipment is robust enough to support carbide tooling.
We can hold finishes as fine as 4 Ra” in carbide and 8 Ra” in tool steel.
Typically we can hold tolerances as tight as +/-.00005” in our climate controlled atmosphere for machining and inspection.
We do not supply round or catalog style carbide components. We provide custom punch and die insert shapes using Wire EDM or surface/form grinding.