Hss Horizontal Milling Tooling.

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Str8jacket

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Hi, i am planning a few jobs and it is my maiden voyage into, well milling in general (none since high school) but main question is in regards to using HSS cutters on the horizontal mill. How hard can the steel be before HSS side and face cutter wont be usable?

Also slitting saws, is there better options than others in regards to thickness / tooth count etc?

I will log onto a computer and give more details if needed. It is hard to post in depth from my phone.

Cheers Ben
 
You can cut a lot of steels with HSS tools. I still use some HSS on 4140HT, which is in the 28-32 RC for hardness. The harder the steel, the slower you will need to run, both rpm and feed rate. Thickness depends on what you need, mill size, etc.
 
I concur. I use primarily 4140 steel, it's half hard, tough, and cuts freely with HSS. Don't be suckered into "I gotta have carbide, it's all the professionals use" You're aren't working under professional (cost conscious) parameters.
 
Very true there, Tom. I use a lot of carbide at work, but home projects get the HSS treatment :) Some times I can salvage a tossed end mill, if it has a chipped corner on a tooth. I can still use it for side milling!
 
HSS works great at home, never found anything I couldn't cut with it...even 17-4 stainless.

Carbide really comes into its own, when it's being cranked through some stainless castings by a 5hp spindle, with flood coolant splashing all the chips out of the way.
 
Thanks for the replies. I have a project where i need to mill a slot 25mm wide 40mm deep and 1400mm long in a an unknown grade of steel. Im guessing it would be 4140? spring steel as it was a big fork lift tine in its former life. I also need to reduce its mas by about 100kg so i was looking at maybe slicing a slab off the side. I have tested its hardness with a tester i bought. Its between rc30 rc35.
 
Going to take a pretty good size OD cutter for that. By the time you figure depth of cut, plus diameter of the arbor, spacers, etc., you will be looking at a 6" (152mm) plus diameter cutter. Unless you have a type of end mill holder that fits the spindle and can use a roughing end mill. What kind of machine is it?
 
Its a Pacific FU-1600. I have horizontal arbors but my inch bar is the only complete set i have with all the spacers and the support bearings.

I just got home to check the specs and it 28mm wide for the slot.

I haven't got any roughing end mills yet. I do have a 4 insert carbide endmill 25mm wide. I had thought not to use it because it left no room for a finish cut but? But if i run it down the middle i can come back and clean up the sides after, now i have 1.5mm either side to play with.

I was keen to give the horizontal set up a go. Would a 1 inch arbor be ok with a large diameter cutter? I can get the support in close.
 
Not sure if you can get one that big, but if you can, yes. Would have to get a 3/8" or so cutting width and make a few passes, but........ If you run the mill, I wouldn't run it in the center, but a little off to allow for the mill to 'climb'. I will 'lift' like trying to climb from the rotation. Does that make sense? Use that .5mm to one side. Your slot will cut a little bigger than the mill. This will give you a pretty even finish pass for each side.
 
OK so if the spindle is rotating clockwise from the top on a side cut full width, bed travelling to the left it will try to pull to one side (towards the column)? So I off centre the cut a touch ( away from column) to counter act this. on the finish cut, granted speeds and feeds are good I dial in exact finish size or off centre a bit? or will this depend on wether I am climb cutting or not?

I can see some testing coming up!

I have found a side and face cutter inch bore, 7in dia 7/8in wide,

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HSS-Mill...IDE-FACE-Cutter-7-x-7-8-x-1-ESC-/321247342732

I am assuming this would be slower to cut one pass but if it can cut full depth in one go I would need only 2 passes to finish each slot? Where as the end mill will need quite a few passes to get final depth?
 
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