Breaking Tools

[Wuf Man]

Cutting A2 Tool Steel on HAAS VF2. 1/8" Carbide tool; FD 2.0; SP 7500; Step .010"; Coolant "Flood".

 

Why are we breaking tools?

 

Mcam X, Mill Level 3, MR1

[spade117]

what kind of toolholder?

[spade117]

how stubby do you have the cutter?

[gavetta]

What's your depth of cut? How many flutes? Type of tool path (rough or finish)?

[Wuf Man]

Using a collet tool holder, .875 length, cutting .010" depth, 2 flutes, HSM pocket tool path. Thanks for the quick hits.

[jmfrank]

Has a-2 been heat treated?

 

Right out of the gate i say your feed is waaay to slow. Im thinking at a very minium 15.0 IPM sounds like your rubing the tool dull.

 

might try and cut with air blast not coolant.

[Charlie Pierson]

Could be run-out in the tool holder system.

At that dia. the more true it runs the longer it'll last.

 

In Aluminum we went from 90 pcs/emill to 1200 pcs/emill (.0938 dia) just by using a Nikken Mini-Mini collet setup w/ guarenteed runout of .00015 or less

 

cp

[tpreb6]

Are you using a quality carbide? We mostly only use OSG. And in tough steels we always use either a ball or a bull, never a shap corner.

 

Is it coated? Tialn would work well in making the tool last.

 

Don't use flood. Use some type of Acculube air-oil mist system. Using a flood coolant will shock the carbide and cause it to fracture.

[Chris Rizzo]

Can you tell where the tool is breaking? That's a darn slow feed rate. Sounds like a toolpath issue.

 

Maybe it's getting loaded a corner or a heavy finish pass or something. just a few more ideas.

[heavychevy2155]

try a four flute.

[Keith Graydon]

WufMan,

Charlie is right on about the run-out. I'm looking into buying one of those precision mini-collets that he mentioned.

Also the tool may be failing on a plunge or a to low of a retract and hitting a feature on X,Y rapid. just a thought.

anyway, post your code. and we'll all have a look.

 

-Keith

[Jim at Gentex]

Welcome Wuf Man!

quote:

---

Also the tool may be failing on a plunge or a to low of a retract

---

I ALWAYS use the ramp feature instead of plunging unless I can plunge in air off the part and feed in.

 

Yes, you probably should double check your retract and clearence heights too.

 

Other than that, I agree with those who have said the feed rate is a bit low and the tool could just be rubbing until dull, then it will break every time.

[Keith @ Solid Code Solutions]

WufMan,

 

These are all good suggestions for your problem.

quote:

---

Cutting A2 Tool Steel on HAAS VF2. 1/8" Carbide tool; FD 2.0; SP 7500; Step .010"; Coolant "Flood".

 

Why are we breaking tools?

---

First off, I'm assumming that 7500rpm is all you have at your disposal. Second regardless of your rpm, your chip load is way too fine, 0.00013/flute will just wear the cutter. Is this a ball cutter or..? Is "Step 0.010" refering to step down or step over. It all matters. Thirdly, shank that baby up or use a stub series cutter. Try to decrease your step down and increase you feed rate. 0.00013 chip load is just enough to wear the xxxx out of your cutter regardless how good your collet system is. You should always dial your flutes to ensure it's running true, as your feed rate calculation is really in vain with out it. You still need to be in the ball park with your depth of cut, step over and feed rate.

 

 

quote:

---

Are you using a quality carbide? We mostly only use OSG. And in tough steels we always use either a ball or a bull, never a shap corner.

 

Is it coated? Tialn would work well in making the tool last.

 

Don't use flood. Use some type of Acculube air-oil mist system. Using a flood coolant will shock the carbide and cause it to fracture.

---

Cutter selection is a big deal, as much as the method. OSG or Iscar are both good choices and in this case absolutely no COOLANT. These cutters work best hot. For material that is really hard Aluminum Titanial Nitride coating works really good. Not too much air blast.

 

[Wuf Man]

Thanks everyone for your input. We have changed our cutters to OSG and the problem has gone away. We are now feeding 10 IPM, and have not broke a cutter yet. The quality of the cutter was the problem.

 

Thanks again for all the help.

 

Wuf Man

[Keith @ Solid Code Solutions]

NP. Good Luck!

[Brandon Walker]

ramp plunge zig angle to 0, zag angle to 2-3 degrees

[Brandon Walker]

oops just saw that youve overcome the problem