Rotary Broaching???

[Rob B]

I have never done rotary broaching. We have a qty 64 parts that has a hex that needs to be machined. This seems to be the way to machine the hex. 3/8 ID Hex .5 Deep. We are running Haas VF2SS machines. We don't won't the kill the bearings in this machine. So first question is will the machine handle rotary broaching. We don't abuse our machines.

Second question is name brand of Broach. I have been looking at Slater and Polygon solutions. We want to go with the company that offers the most tooling for the holder we buy, then quality of the tooling , then price.

Can anyone recommend what brand you are using and how and why you like it.

Thanks

[JParis]

I have used Slater Rotary broaches for years..

No, it's just a spinning tool.....it cuts as it wobbles...

Slater has ground many tools to my required spec's as well as off the shelf offerings

[volitan71]

Is there a way to orient a rotary broach?

[JParis]

1 minute ago, volitan71 said:

Is there a way to orient a rotary broach?

If you've seen a Tapmatic head on a drill press, with the rotating arm, same with a rotary broach....I've designed pins in plates to capture it at the desired orientation..on a VMC, you could use a magbase on the head...or something of that sort..

[neurosis]

1 hour ago, JParis said:

I have used Slater Rotary broaches for years..

No, it's just a spinning tool.....it cuts as it wobbles...

Slater has ground many tools to my required spec's as well as off the shelf offerings

Have you tried any of their square broaches?  If so, have you had any luck with them? 

Our lathe guys have had a rough time rotary broaching square holes.

[JParis]

6 minutes ago, neurosis said:

Have you tried any of their square broaches?  If so, have you had any luck with them? 

Our lathe guys have had a rough time rotary broaching square holes.

With the square broaches I have spec'd them several times to do the Charging Handle areas on AR upper receivers...have worked without issue

 

Edit: Although I am programming those with a straight plunge cuts..not rotary

[neurosis]

6 minutes ago, JParis said:

With the square broaches I have spec'd them several times to do the Charging Handle areas on AR upper receivers...have worked without issue

 

Edit: Although I am programming those with a straight plunge cuts..not rotary

We usually end up doing the square broached holes on the mills and in the same way.  We plunge out the corners. 

We're looking at a job that has a 1/4" square and it would be nice to be able to rotary broach that thing. 

 

[JParis]

Just now, neurosis said:

We usually end up doing the square broached holes on the mills and in the same way.  We plunge out the corners. 

We're looking at a job that has a 1/4" square and it would be nice to be able to rotary broach that thing. 

 

The big thing about rotary broaching, if you need to hold a fairly tight angular location tolerance, it can be difficult to achieve..

That's why it's best uses fall into the form category that doesn't require an angular tolerance.. 

[Rob B]

1 minute ago, JParis said:

The big thing about rotary broaching, if you need to hold a fairly tight angular location tolerance, it can be difficult to achieve..

That's why it's best uses fall into the form category that doesn't require an angular tolerance.. 

I will be broaching a part that runs on a hex shaft it need to be probably within .002-.005 of perpendicular of the face of the part. Will the broach cut the straight or will it lead off slightly?

[JParis]

10 minutes ago, Rob B said:

I will be broaching a part that runs on a hex shaft it need to be probably within .002-.005 of perpendicular of the face of the part. Will the broach cut the straight or will it lead off slightly?

Once setup and dialed in properly, yeah, it'll cut straight...

I have a hex broach cutting a channel for a laser carrier in an optical bench...it cut straight and we maintained less then a ±1/4° rotation variance

 

Edit: and it was 1.312" deep