Skiving Remains Relevant

As the title of this section of Inbox Insights suggests, I usually try to cover newer technologies in this space to alert readers of processes or equipment they may not be aware. But sometimes it’s good to take a step back (in this case, way back) and make sure important, long-standing ideas are not overlooked. Skiving is one of the oldest and most efficient methods for producing certain types of parts on screw machines. The operation is suitable for parts that are long and slender, parts with close diameter tolerances and finishes, and parts requiring truly spherical radii.

Because skiving seems to be less science and more of an art form, requiring a certain amount of creativity that often is thought to come only with significant experience, many machinists may do everything they can to avoid it. But with proper understanding of its requirements, this technique can be implemented routinely without issue.

We’ve run two articles in Production Machining that detail skiving and many of its idiosyncrasies. “The Forgotten Art of Skiving” defines skiving, details its advantages, and discusses a tooling solution that is providing noticeable improvements on parts such as ballpoint pen tips, hypodermic needle hubs, ball-type fittings and other parts requiring close tolerances and exceptional finishes. “Artistry with Skive Tools” gives a personal account of one tooling professional who has learned much through the years about maximizing the capabilities of this operation.