Carbide Inserts - Face Mill Cutter

Hogging is kinda a relative term and subject to many variables that can drastically reduce material removal rate.
Most of the smaller bench top you are not going to be doing any hogging and increased material rates are increased mostly by attention to set up, feed and speeds, cutter and cutter quality.

Every single machine out there has it's limits, we just have to work around/with them efficiently.

Seems my 2.5 face mill has a max DOC of .200in which I never use.
My normal course for if large amounts of material are needing removed is first, find material that is dimensionally closer :)
Next is a carbide rougher to less then finish depth by about .015 then face mill that.
That is using CNC, for a manual machine I likely would just face mill and repeat as needed to depth.
Some of these high end face mills can absolutely fly through material, I have to rely on something of less quality.

Franko,
Work towards getting a 3 Fl variable helix coated for aluminum cutting rougher, don't let the word rougher fool you, they can leave a very nice finish, you'll love it, after 1/2" they get scary pricey though.
This is where my last one came from after snapping my other one :(
http://www.lakeshorecarbide.com/standardlengthcornerradiusroughfinishgeometry.aspx
 
You are correct, I forgot about the size of the milling machine. I have used them on BP's but they were smaller in diameter used to bring material down to the correct dimensions. Thanks for pointing this out.
 
Bill C. said:
You are correct, I forgot about the size of the milling machine. I have used them on BP's but they were smaller in diameter used to bring material down to the correct dimensions. Thanks for pointing this out.
Click to expand...

Said by the man with a horizontal mill. Like Crocodile Dundee...."That's not a mill THIS IS A MILL!":grin big::grin big::grin big::grin big:
 
18w said:
Said by the man with a horizontal mill. Like Crocodile Dundee...."That's not a mill THIS IS A MILL!":grin big::grin big::grin big::grin big:
Click to expand...


She was a beast for sure. It was shame they closed my apprenticeship program before graduation. That was the last time I set up and used one. None of the repair departments had one. We made some much production tooling for manufacturing in the training shop. About all I did in the repair area was tear down dies and repair die sections or replace punches. Those were good times before the shut down. (1972-1982)
 
Bill C. said:
She was a beast for sure. It was shame they closed my apprenticeship program before graduation. That was the last time I set up and used one. None of the repair departments had one. We made some much production tooling for manufacturing in the training shop. About all I did in the repair area was tear down dies and repair die sections or replace punches. Those were good times before the shut down. (1979-1982)
Click to expand...
(1979 - 1982)
 
Specs on my mill say it's max spindle speed is 1750 rpm. When I turn it up all the way the tach reads 2000.

Don't be afraid of insulting my knowledge about machining. I'm eager to learn. I'm totally self-taught and have never seen anyone's but my mill and lathe operate, except on tv's How it's Made, but those machines are automated, huge, powerful and very fast. My tendency has been to proceed cautiously.

A whole new world has opened up. I tried the higher speed and by golly, it works and the world is once again spinning on greased gears!

I feel like the guy who purchased a chain saw that the salesman promised would cut 3 cords a day.
The next day he limped back to the store and said the best he could cut after the hardest day's work in his life was half a rick.
The salesman checked the chain saw to see if it was working properly,
primed it,
pulled the starter cord
varoom! it roared to life.

The guy jumped back and cried, "What's that noise?!!"
 
I made a part today running a .75" end mill at 1800 rpm (fast as it would go today). I milled a half inch off the edges of a section of 2" x 2" x .5" aluminum bar to 1.5" in two passes per side, taking .20" and finishing with .05 cuts. It felt like I could have taken more. Then then I cut a .3' x .5" rabbit in all four sides in one pass to make a cap for a section of 1.5" aluminum tube.

My mill has never run that smoothly. I've never taken cuts that deep before and it whizzed through the aluminum like it was wax. My mills have always drug on the back side from deflection at the slower spindle speeds I was running.

Again many thanks to you guys for the advise and help.

I ordered a insert facing mill from CDCO this weekend. It is a two inch three insert mill with a .75 straight shank and uses fairly inexpensive TPG32 inserts. I ordered some TiN coated inserts on eBay for it, as it comes with regular carbide.

127.jpg
 
Last edited:
That's real good news Franko, RPM is a big friend for aluminum.
You will get a lot of use from your new face mill.
 
Ken_Shea said:
Work towards getting a 3 Fl variable helix coated for aluminum cutting rougher, don't let the word rougher fool you, they can leave a very nice finish, you'll love it, after 1/2" they get scary pricey though.
This is where my last one came from after snapping my other one :(
http://www.lakeshorecarbide.com/standardlengthcornerradiusroughfinishgeometry.aspx
Click to expand...

Ken, I'm not sure I see what distinguishes a variable helix (flute) end mill. What's different with a variable helix and a regular end mill? They appear very similar to the end mills I've been using, with maybe a tighter spiral. I searched the Googles but found no description or education on them.

David convinced me I should try some spiral taps so I ordered a basic assortment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top