Luke
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- 1,929
- Location
- Whitchurch, Shropshire
Hi all,
I got my Bridgeport up and running again over the weekend, and tackled a project that has been outstanding for a while. My indexable tip tool holders are too tall, so my plan has been to machine approx. 0.3mm off from the back of the holders, to drop the tip height.
I tried using a 16mm HSS end mill at approx 50m/min (so approx 1000RPM). Feed rate was approx 60 mm/min. I'm feeding by hand.
What I found was that very quickly, the outside tips of the end of the tool went blunt. They didn't get overly hot, as there was no colouring of the metal, it was just missing!
I tried lubrication (light oil applied manually) and also a constant air blast to clear the swarf.
In the end, having taken the tips off two cutters (16mm and 20mm) I resorted to my 2" face cutter, which has done the job ok.
What am I doing wrong?
- Too fast?
- Too slow?
- Wrong use of the tool? (I've read that facing may or may not be right for an end mill?)
- Tool holder too hard?
Thanks,
Luke
I got my Bridgeport up and running again over the weekend, and tackled a project that has been outstanding for a while. My indexable tip tool holders are too tall, so my plan has been to machine approx. 0.3mm off from the back of the holders, to drop the tip height.
I tried using a 16mm HSS end mill at approx 50m/min (so approx 1000RPM). Feed rate was approx 60 mm/min. I'm feeding by hand.
What I found was that very quickly, the outside tips of the end of the tool went blunt. They didn't get overly hot, as there was no colouring of the metal, it was just missing!
I tried lubrication (light oil applied manually) and also a constant air blast to clear the swarf.
In the end, having taken the tips off two cutters (16mm and 20mm) I resorted to my 2" face cutter, which has done the job ok.
What am I doing wrong?
- Too fast?
- Too slow?
- Wrong use of the tool? (I've read that facing may or may not be right for an end mill?)
- Tool holder too hard?
Thanks,
Luke