Roughing Cutters

[G Caputo]

Hey all,

 

WIth the tooling manufacturers always coming up with new tooling to use, I was just wondering who is using what when it comes to roughing cutters and how well they do. I was at IMTS and grabbed a few brochures from Dapra which wasn't a tool name I have ever heard of or used before. Started looking into there brochures and gave the sales guy a call. He gave me some recommendations and this thing cuts good. We knocked off about 4 hours a piece on a 3 part job. We cut 4140 PH ht/dcf material 90% of the time.

 

Material - 4140

Cutter - 2" Dapra toroid cutter

Speed - 1719 rpm (900sfpm)

Feed - 95 IPM (.009" fpt)

DOC - .060"

 

Just really starting to get time to try different things to improve here and was really happy with this cutter. After 15 years as a machinist, I still have tons of things to learn. Just wanted to share, and was hoping some of you would chime in and share what works well for you, so all of us can get different ideas on cutters that would suit all of our different applications.

 

Thanks

[Jimmy Wakeford from Barefoot CNC]

G,

The best thing to do is to get the local tool salesmen into your shop and take a look at what your doing. (I suggest having a couple of them come in.) Tooling has grown into a science all its own, and these guys keep up with it on a daily daily basis.

[Fig sign]

Impressive !

With Seco and good Machine you will get good results too (may be better ) ,aand life time of inserts is great !

Go with round inserts

Iscar is slower a bit but less noisy .

[Hardmill]

quote:

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Material - 4140

Cutter - 2" Dapra toroid cutter

Speed - 1719 rpm (900sfpm)

Feed - 95 IPM (.009" fpt)

DOC - .060"

---

Those numbers look pretty good

 

+1 to the Owl

 

I would also check out Sandvik, lots of choices.

 

 

PEACE

[G Caputo]

Ok, another shameless Dapra plug here, but I am really starting to dig this manufacturer's tools. In the right application they are working well for us.

 

Material - 1045

Cutter - 4" Square shoulder

Speed - 629 RPM - 660 SFPM - machine shifts gears at 630 RPM and horsepower is lost, so this is where the machine makes maximum hosepower

Feed - 65 IPM (.0128" fpt - 8 inserts)

DOC - .166"

 

1" x 4" x 20 foot long had to have a 1/2" x 3-1/2" notch cut in them. The pictures don't do it justice, but the machine was removing 420 cubic inches of material in 13 minutes. I was impressed and just wanted to share.

[jeff]

Dapra cutters are pretty good,but kinda pricey.

On a sour note,all the Dapra tools that I have used to date,the insert screws have seized up on me.

That's even after I drowned the whole screw in anti-seize!

(edit: all the Dapra single insert ballnose tools)

Their 1" 90deg facemills are very good,but the wrench that they supply is a chincy peice of tin!!!!

I'm done with Dapra.

Jeff teh sticking with Sandvik.

lol.

[robk]

As always I'm pushing Mitsubishi cutters. You break the body and they give you a new one for free. The insers are only about $8.50 each. The tool is very predictable (running lights out production) The life on them is unbelievable.Mits AJX

Here are samples of how we run them;

 

Material - 420ss

Cutter - 2.5" Mitsubish AJX

Speed - 856 rpm (560sfm)

Feed - 154 IPM (.060" fpt)

DOC - .040"

 

 

Material - 420ss

Cutter - 1.5" Mitsubish AJX

Speed - 1426 rpm (560sfm)

Feed - 256 IPM (.060" fpt)

DOC - .040"

[mrainey]

I sat through a Fette demo at IMTS that opened my eyes. They were milling a pocket in a block of tool steel hardened to Rc60. Didn't write down the data, but maybe a 1" cutter, .030 doc, 300 SFM, and just flying through the material.

[Chris Rizzo]

quote:

---

The best thing to do is to get the local tool salesmen into your shop and take a look at what your doing. (I suggest having a couple of them come in.) Tooling has grown into a science all its own, and these guys keep up with it on a daily basis.

---

Ain't that the truth. The tooling mfg's have tons of science into their product, and it's impossible for the average machinist to be able to keep up with what's new and ever-evolving. Getting that knowledege out to us is what's important. That said, make the tool salesmen earn their money. bring stuff in, try it out, make them call THEIR factory reps and tech guys to solve YOUR issues.

 

I've had great luck with the Misubishi tools. In particular the AQX endmills. The warranty on the tool is great. It lets you really push the tool to the edge (or crash),without worry of losing it. Also, their tech support and knowledge base has been pretty good to our little operation here.

M2C