Feed Mill toolpath suggestions...

[?Mark]

Need a little help from seasoned feed mill users.

What would be the best way to use 2"(or 1.25") feed mill on this particular part.

Up loaded it to ftp as o.mcx in mcx folder.

Need to get rid of as much material as possible but boss must stay intact on the top plane.

Currently using 2" plunger, but searching for better ways...

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Regards, Mark

[robk]

Mark,

Please send me the file... No ftp access...

Not sure I'll have time today though.

[?Mark]

Thanks very much.

Check your inbox.

 

Mark

[Tim Simmermon]

Mark,

 

I don't have access to the ftp either but we've been using feed mills for about a year now. Just a couple of pointers I've found:

 

Ramping works really well with these cutters. Cutter works better if it's kept engaged.

 

I always start my feed kind of low, and ramp it up as I become comfortable that the setup is rigid enough.

 

Roll around cutters as much as possible.

 

If you're milling on a vertical, use air to evacuate chips.

 

Probably stuff you already know, but I thought I'd toss in my two cents. These cutters are awesome, but they can do a lot of damage. One of our vendors bought one, and his Rep had him start with the feed too high and he almost destroyed his fixture.

[?Mark]

Tim,

Thats what I figured.

Problem I'm having is, I can't seem to avoid a boss in the middle.

I'm quite limited here with only level 2, but if toolpath Rob will do looks nice and can be done with level 3 only I'm gonna jump the owner to upgrade

Material is 17-4ph (daily bread here) but setup very rigid (on 50 taper mori).

 

Mark

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I'm thinking Surface Rough Pocket with a 1.250 You'll need mill level 3 though. You can plunge outside the boundary and close in on the boss.

 

JM2C

[?Mark]

Surface Rough Pocket is there and working but can't get check surface (boss) to select...

 

Mark

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

You'll have to use a boundary for the boss. You can't use check surfaces with that toolpath.

[?Mark]

My bad, I did just that.

Tried many diff. ways.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

Mark

[?Mark]

Rob,

Thanks very much for your help.

Good to know how pros are doing this sort of toolpath.

 

Got to try AJX 2.0" 3 flute feed mill this week and I'm a bit dissapointed at it's performance.

That thing was banging the machine like there is no tomorrow. Noise and vibrations were much worse than that of a plungers which I hoped to replace with feedmills.

The setup was very rigid on a cat 50 mori.

SFM we tried was 350 to 600 with .050"/tooth and .050" axial cut.

Now material is annealed 17-4 ph so this could be a problem here.

Not sure if I should give it another shot at 4130 or similar material..

 

Any thoughts?

 

Regards, Mark

[jctjct]

From my experience if you get the feed, speed and other parameters close they will run smooth, without "banging the machine". We use them on 400 series SS, and they seem to like about a .050 depth of cut, .0325/tooth at 425 sfm. I've noticed that they like the cut to be as wide as possible - at least 60% of the cutter diameter. What grade of insert are you using?

[?Mark]

Thats what Rob sugested and it is very much in line with sales guy's suggestions.

 

Tried both grades vp15tf and vp30rt.

 

Mitsubishi rep was disapointed also. I couldn't get more then 2 parts out of those inserts (small parts 5x7)

I'm thinking it's the material here...

 

Mark