Blog – Star Cutter Company

Troubleshooting Gun drilling Operations

January 8, 2026adminBlog0

Hole making in all its many forms can be challenging. Difficulties with chip evacuation, coolant starvation, drill walk and poor surface finish—these are just a few of the headaches that can turn one of the most common of all metalworking operations into an awful day. Unfortunately, the list of potential problems tends to grow as...

Coolant Hole Configurations

December 9, 2025adminBlog0

Star offers three unique coolant hole configurations: Single Hole, Dual Hole, and Kidney Shaped Hole...

Gundrill Wear Characteristics

December 9, 2025adminBlog0

As a rule, gundrills wear in three distinct areas: at the point, the face, and the outer diameter. After regrinding, each of these should be returned to their original factory specifications. The area most missed is the outer diameter, which is often left in less than pristine condition and should not be used as-is.

Options for Improving the Machining of Upper Rail Systems

January 31, 2024adminBlog0

The rifle upper rail system allows the attachment of various accessories such as scopes, sights, and flashlights. Mounted on the top of the rifle, it needs to provide a stable platform for the accessories to be attached to, yet not add more weight than needed to the rifle. As such, many firearm manufacturers look to...

Tooling for Rifle Barrel Manufacturing

January 31, 2024adminBlog0

A rifle barrel typically begins life as a cylindrical steel bar. The transition from steel bar to a full-fledged rifle barrel begins with a deep-hole drilling process as the initial step, where a long drill with a hollow stem and tungsten-carbide bit is used to drill the trued and stress-relieved bar.

Achieving perfect concentricity with the SRT Reamer

April 12, 2022adminBlogcarbide reamer, carbide round tools, carbide tools, Cutting Tools, reamer0

The SRT, or Super Round Tool, is a patented reamer designed by the Northern Tool division of Star Cutter Company to create the best quality reamed hole across a spectrum of applications. The SRT combines two tools into one – it offers multiple straight flutes for consistent location and multiple helical flutes that ensure roundness...

Improving Machining With 3D Printed Tools

April 8, 2022NetCrafters AdminBlog0

The machining of powertrain components and aluminum prismatic parts, such as stator housings for the growing electric vehicle market, often require large and heavy tools. When used on traditional machining equipment, the weight of these tools can cause excessive spindle vibration and chatter, poor tool life and, potentially, scrapped components. Lightweight Solution: Additive manufactured tools...

The benefits of re-tipping and re-cutting PCD tooling – Updated

February 9, 2022adminBlog0

Fixed Pocket PCD milling and interpolating tools are designed and built as a complete one piece product, combining a steel body and a holding interface. Additionally, PCD segments are brazed into the tool body. The PCD segments then go through the manufacturing process to meet the requirements of the finish tool geometries. This type of product is known in...

How using Near Net Shape Carbide Blanks can save you time!

March 27, 2019adminBlog0

One goal of the H.B. Advantage is to save our customers time when machining our blanks. By providing near net shape blanks, we can reduce the overall grinding time required to finish the blanks. We do this by adding features such as diameters, flutes, pockets, flats, coolant holes, etc. All machining is done in the...

Improving the Upper Machining Process with the SRT Reamer

January 17, 2019adminBlog0

Star SU is currently involved in process improvement for machining the Upper Rail system for AR-15’s, AR-10’s and M-4 carbines with several independently owned contractors. Process improvement includes: Concentricity improvement (TIR) critical to non-critical bore Cycle Time Reduction Surface finishes of Ra ≤ 0.8 Typical current process: Rough Drill Ream non-critical bore End mill critical...

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