Ballmills for cutting 17-4 SS

[Michael Sullivan]

I need to do some surfacing in 17-4. Multisurfacing, not hogging a lot of material but some. Not sure which cutter will hold up best.

Any suggestions?

2,3 or 4 flute

straight or 30 degree helix?

Thanks,

 

-Mike

[TKDBB]

We cut some 17-4 mold cavities a while back. 3 flute 30 degree worked pretty well. We did have them coated though

[within a thou]

Di jet has nice semifinishing ballnose indexable cutters but only go down to .625 if I remeber correctly and iscar has the same style down to 1/2

[dolphin1]

you might want to try SGS z-carb or if you want a insert MILLSTAR is pretty good.

[ReDEyZZ]

I agree di-jet makes a nice indexable , available down to 1/2" now i believe, but id you need smaller go with "hanita" ball end mill.

[mold100]

I like the Garr Balinit X.CEED coated in the VRX series, They are designed for it, and u can not compare the costs, Garr has REALLLLLLLY come along away, and I tends to be my prefered choice of tooling for 95% of what I do.

[Michael Sullivan]

We use mostly Garr tools also. I will look into that series. I will also look into Hanita since I've had good luck with their tooling also. For this job I need 3/8 and 1/4 ball mills so I guess the indexable tooling is out but I will keep that in mind if we keep getting this kind of work.

 

Thanks,

 

-Mike

[htm01]

try this place http://www.cetdirect.com/ had good luck just as good as garr

[doyleg]

garr tools are very good and i don't think anyone out there can match the price for the quality that they give. if anyone does alot of aluminum check out their 242 e.m.'s. can't be beat. for hard to machine steels the vrx is excellent.

[within a thou]

quote:

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I agree di-jet makes a nice indexable , available down to 1/2" now i believe, but id you need smaller go with "hanita" ball end mill.

---

Jarrett if you like "hanita" cutters you need to try out True Broach Machine and Tool here down in Toronto line of carbide endmills they beat hanita by far and the price difference is very little. I had sales guys from both companies and ran the tools at there specs hanita went first then true broach almost doubled the feed rate with same depth of cut hanita said run theres the same they can match it and the hanita is now in pieces the thing just exsploded.

[ReDEyZZ]

WOW ..i'll have to try true broach , cause hanita blew my mind with their depth of cut and speeds and feed with their carbide endmill(not ball) vari-mill..I was cutting hardened 17-4 stainless with a 3/4" vari-mill at .750" depth of cut at 300 sfm and .014" per rev, if true broach can exceed that feed i'll try them out. I've never heard of them? wonder who in edmonton would sell them?

[Mr. Dayshift]

We cut 17-4 all the time. We dropped the Garr TiAl coated line. You get what you pay for, Garr is inexpensive.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Sumitomo, Kobelco, OSG, Robb Jack and Hanita are my favorites for cutting Stainless.

 

Cost is a secondary issue for me. I need THE best tool that is going to last the longest and give me the best results and performance, because "...good enough..." just isn't IMHO.

 

BTW, I have a 19mm Sumitomo e/m, that has about 85-ish 17-4 cutting minutes on it and it still cuts like new... Worth EVERY dollar and then some. Granted it was doing light duty finishing, but still.. that's a lot of time on a cutter.