HSS or Carbide?

[Salahuddin]

Hello all

I am making molds from Steel and Aluminum

I am using most of my work roughing, finishing using HSS tools

I used Carbide tools for finishing works, I find it nice.

Does any one using Carbide tools for Roughing works in steel or AL?

As I know, HSS is better for roughing in Steel.

What do you think???

Salah

[cadcam]

for steel i perfer HSS-M42 rougher type endmills.

In some case coated they will last longer.

I use this for Stanless or say A2.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I prefer Carbide in most cases because I can generally remove material faster. Though when machining the high nickel alloys, I prefer Cobalt.

For Aluminum, NOTHING BUT, carbide, or PCD will do.

JM2C

[bryan.davis]

My take on this usually boils down to which will give me the best metal removal rate, normally this points to carbide, but in order to achieve this you need higher spindle speeds, and unless you have a high spindle speed machine you probably would not be able to achieve the reccomended feed/speed rates of small diameter cutters.

For larger diameters I always use carbide tipped cutters, unless its aluminium then I prefer HSSCO because inserted cutters can tend to bludgeon the metal rather than cut it and this can be bad news with aluminium, so I prefer a nice rasor sharp HSSCO.

Carbide cutters have a tendency to be more brittle than HSS, so if your setup is less than ideal HSS is often a preferable choice.

IMHO HSS cutters are an expensive way of cutting steel, unless that is, you are dealing with particularly tough heat resistant steels. Inserted cutters are by far the quickest way of cutting steel, which more than makes up for their higher cost, in fact many of the cutters I use have a tendency to pay for themselves within a single DAY when compared to their HSS equivalents!

[jspangler]

Hi

Any preferences as to which brands and grades of inserts for different steels?

Thanks

John

Hotshot Performance, Inc.

[Toby]

We mostly use carbide for materials ranging from alum to sst. Exotic materials, though, are a different story.

[Ryeker]

For good results on machining Aluminium 6061T6 try using International Mini Mill HSS Endmills... These things rock, We regularly use these endmills (1/2" diameter or 3/4" diameter ) at over 5000 RPM and in excess of 60+ IPM with a min 1/4" DOC. All this on a 13 year old 40 International CNC Mill...! For machining the "exotic" material the new Sandvik 1005 Indexable inserts are great... Oh before it's asked no I am not a salesman for either Company I am just a humble Tool & Die guy who has to machine these materials in the Aerospace Industry...!

[gary dunn]

HSS ..... EWWWWWWWWWWW

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

quote:

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HSS ..... EWWWWWWWWWWW

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ROFL!!!!!!

[Superfly]

it's tough to beat my new sandvik 1.5 dia facemill that i can bury down in 1045 mat'l .350-.400 and run at 3000 rpm and feed at 150ipm.

aint nuttin like a little hoggin to brighten the day a little bit.

[McRae]

What is the Geometry and Grade of Insert that you are using? Sure like those Sweedes!