Miniature Endmill Inspection

[Cp5010]

Guys,

Need suggestions on checking the wear on miniature endmills. We use some endmills smaller than 1mm on harden steel. Just wanted to know quick and cost effective way to check wear on them as it is not possible to check with bare eyes.  Thanks in advance. 

[Jobnt]

Gage pin in a slot is the fastest way I can think of. Or a comparator. 

[crazy^millman]

3 hours ago, Cp5010 said:

Guys,

Need suggestions on checking the wear on miniature endmills. We use some endmills smaller than 1mm on harden steel. Just wanted to know quick and cost effective way to check wear on them as it is not possible to check with bare eyes.  Thanks in advance. 

[sarcasm on\]

You mean they wear out and need to be checked or replaced. I can hear 1000's of shop owners now screaming in horror cringing they will not get their frosted flakes tomorrow for breakfast.

[sarcasm off\]

[AHarrison1]

3 minutes ago, crazy^millman said:

shop owners now creaming in horror

... At least the hard of hearing have been considered...

[crazy^millman]

2 minutes ago, AHarrison1 said:

... At least the hard of hearing have been considered...

Good catch that s makes all the difference in the world.

I did go back and correct it, but yes that was funny.

[AHarrison1]

6 minutes ago, crazy^millman said:

Good catch that s makes all the difference in the world.

I did go back and correct it, but yes that was funny.

That it was, it only jumped out at me because, for some bizarre reason, I've been seeing innuendos like a pimply school boy all week.

Hopefully next week i'll will be back to adulting.

ok thread, you may now return to the topic at hand.

[Leon82]

Our yasda had a dynavision. You can see the flutes on the TV screen.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

A cheap digital microscope works well, if you have to make a visual call, but the time to pull it out an look at it has a similar dollar cost to just swapping it for a fresh one and being sure.  For smaller jobs I usually run them until they break, and use automatic breakage detection.  For the longer runs I'm starting to get, I'm collecting tool life data.

[jpatry]

On 8/17/2023 at 3:43 PM, crazy^millman said:

[sarcasm on\]

You mean they wear out and need to be checked or replaced. I can hear 1000's of shop owners now screaming in horror cringing they will not get their frosted flakes tomorrow for breakfast.

[sarcasm off\]

Was told several times that the most efficient use of a tool was to run it until it exploded, by the company general manager, his technical background is as an accountant.

He shut up about it once I showed him the parts and toolholders that were being wrecked from such methods, and explained to him that tool life and load monitoring could reliably predict that these "still good endmills", he had rummaged out of the carbide bin to show me, were in fact most likely going to fail halfway through the next pocket.

 

On 8/17/2023 at 12:15 PM, Cp5010 said:

Guys,

Need suggestions on checking the wear on miniature endmills. We use some endmills smaller than 1mm on harden steel. Just wanted to know quick and cost effective way to check wear on them as it is not possible to check with bare eyes.  Thanks in advance. 

Expensive option is buy a presetter with a good camera, I believe they use infrared to make tool wear easily seen.

Cheap option is one of those electronic "microscopes" off of ebay.

[Murdock]

I know this is probably too simple, but if most of what you need is just magnification, snap a pic with your phone, and zoom in. This obviously doesn't work for everything, but I saw someone do this once, and it kinda blew my mind. And there is nothing more economical than something you already have in your pocket

[Jobnt]

17 minutes ago, Murdock said:

And there is nothing more economical than something you already have in your pocket

Especially now that you can write that phone off on your taxes (you're using it for work)

[crazy^millman]

22 hours ago, Murdock said:

I know this is probably too simple, but if most of what you need is just magnification, snap a pic with your phone, and zoom in. This obviously doesn't work for everything, but I saw someone do this once, and it kinda blew my mind. And there is nothing more economical than something you already have in your pocket

This old guys uses that method for seeing small object any more. No Aharrion not what your thinking.

[AHarrison1]

5 minutes ago, crazy^millman said:

This old guys uses that method for seeing small object any more. No Aharrion not what your thinking.

Not today at least..yet..