Design an indexable insert
Set out an indexable insert from its designation values and see the designation written, the insert checked and the price worked out.
Updated 11 November 2026
On this page
- Why
- An insert is ordered by its designation, so the shape, the size, the corner and the cutting material have to agree before it is priced.
- How
- Choose the insert family, then set the values the designation is written from.
It opens in the workbench at /app/design/indexable-inserts.
Families
| Family | What it is |
|---|---|
| Turning insert | An ISO 1832 turning insert. |
| Milling insert | A milling insert with a corner radius or a wiper facet. |
| CBN or PCD insert | A CBN or PCD insert, tipped or solid. Each brazed tip is drawn and counted as its own body. |
| Threading insert | A laydown threading insert: full profile, V profile or multi point. |
| Grooving and parting insert | A grooving, parting or copying insert. |
What you set
| Group | What it holds | Values you set |
|---|---|---|
| Insert | The family. Each family shows only its own values. | Insert family; Maker's series |
| Shape and size | The first symbols of the designation. | Shape; Normal clearance; Tolerance class; Inscribed circle; Thickness |
| Tip | The CBN or PCD and how it is carried. | Tip material; CBN content; ISO 513 cutting material symbol; Construction; Number of tipped corners; 2 more |
| Thread | The insert size and the thread it cuts. | Insert size; External or internal; Profile type; Thread form; Pitch; 7 more |
| Groove | The cutting width, the corners and the hand. | Operation; Cutting width; Corner radius; Cutting edges; Hand; 5 more |
| Corner and edge | The corner radius or wiper facet, the edge condition and the hand. | Corner radius; Wiper edge; Cutting edge condition; Cutting direction; Corner; 5 more |
| Fixing and chip breaker | The hole, its countersink and the chip breaker sides. | Fixing and chip breaker; Chip breaker working area; Fixing; Fixing hole diameter |
| Cutting material and coating | The substrate, your own grade and the coating process. | Cutting material; Workpiece group; Grade; Coating; Post treatment |
| Application check | Optional. What the request says about the cut, so the advisory rules can run. | Feed; Depth of cut; Target surface roughness; Radial infeed; Component diameter; 1 more |
| Quantity | Quantity |
- The family comes first. Each family shows only its own values.
- The designation is never typed. It is written from the values and comes back on the cutting list, with the tolerances of the class.
- A value no published table gives opens at nothing. Left at 0, the feature is drawn at a modelled proportion and the cutting list says so.
What is checked
The checks read ISO 1832, the insert identification tables Mitsubishi Materials publishes and Sandvik Coromant's published selection guidance. A block stops the price and every export. A warning changes nothing.
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| A shape and inscribed circle with no published size code | Blocks |
| A chip breaker on both sides of a positive insert | Blocks |
| A fixing hole that leaves no seat round it | Blocks |
| A wiper facet that does not fit the corner of the shape | Blocks |
| PCD on a ferrous workpiece group | Blocks |
| More tipped corners than the shape carries or a brazed tip on a round insert | Blocks |
| Thread teeth that do not fit the insert size at the pitch | Blocks |
| Chip breaking threading geometry with radial infeed | Blocks |
| A holder seat size that differs from the insert's | Blocks |
| A grooving insert too short for its cutting heads | Blocks |
| A size code worked out by rule | Warns |
| A wiper tolerance class on an insert with no wiper | Warns |
| A corner radius that does not suit the depth of cut or the feed | Warns |
| A theoretical roughness above the target | Warns |
| A wiper on a shape that needs a particular holder angle | Warns |
| CBN on steel, cermet and ceramic cutting materials | Warns |
| A cutting width above the parting guide for the component | Warns |
| A cutting width not published on its seat | Warns |
| A round milling insert cutting deep for its diameter | Warns |
How it is priced
| Price line | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Material | A stocked sintered blank at its own cost, or the pressed blank by its volume, with the CBN or PCD in the tips and a new press tool where you charge one. |
| Complexity | The counted steps on the cutting list: pressing, grinding, edge preparation, hole, tips, teeth and heads, plus the set up of the order. |
| Quality | Inspection to the tolerance class, with the corner, edge preparation, profile and coating checks that apply. |
| Coating | By the piece against the coater's lot minimum, so a small batch pays the minimum. |
The rates this design module ships with are examples, not your prices. Set your own at /app/design/indexable-inserts/settings before you quote from it.
What it produces
- Customer drawing
- Rake face DXF
- Cutting list with the designation
- Spec sheet
- STEP, STL and GLB
Exports offers a customer drawing, a specification and quote PDF, a cutting list CSV, a DXF, an STL, a GLB and a STEP file.
What it does not make yet
The workbench and the specification sheet state its scope in these words: "This module draws and prices the insert from its designation values: the outline from the shape and inscribed circle, the clearance, the corner radius or wiper facet, the hole and countersink form of the fixing letter, a brazed tip as its own body, the thread tooth and the groove head. It does not hold the dimensions no published table gives: the fixing hole diameter, the chip breaker form, the hone and chamfer sizes, the tip pocket, the coating layers and the body of a threading or grooving insert are drawn at modelled proportions or carried as notes, and the cutting list says which. Symbols 10 to 12 of a CBN or PCD designation are not written. It states no cutting data, tool life or grade equivalent. Every rate is a modelled starting value until it is calibrated on your own prices. Special form inserts, holders, boring bars, cartridges and cutter bodies are not built."
- Shapes whose length and width are the maker's own.
- Any size, thickness or radius outside the standard tables: that is a special to a drawing.
- Threading forms other than ISO metric, UN and Whitworth, left hand threading inserts and the three edge parting insert.
- The maker's chip breaker form and the wiper form of a turning insert: they are carried as notes.