304L Stainless

[SLJ]

Has anyone had much luck with this stuff? The L is for low carbon (.03%) not lead. We have a part, 1/4 plate, that needs a profiling (2-d) cut through. Part of it will be full slot. The Iscar reps just pulled out after 3 days of trying without success. Tried their 1" 2fl. inserted mill and several end mill types. All had trouble getting rid of chips, and balling up. None lasted more than 3 or 4 parts. About 12" total cut length. Any Suggestions?

Thanks

Steve

[cadcam]

I was cutting this stuff last week.

I used plain Carbide but really slow feds like 3"min 1000 rpm for 1/4Em but was able to get like 20 or so parts before bad break down.

[chris m]

quote:

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Any Suggestions?

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Yeah; make it out of 303!

 

Just kidding, well... not really

 

Is it made out of 304L because it needs to be? Do you have any say or input into material selection?

 

Many design guys use 304 without thinking about it because it is one of those "buzzword" materials (like 6061-T6) that people love to spec without knowing how tough 304 is to machine.

 

If you are actually stuck with 304L I have had some success with solid carbide endmills with LOW surface footages and very wimpy axial DOC. You should probably plan on wasting the roughing endmill, just let it chatter; if it chips the tool, oh well, just keep running the chipped endmill for a rougher and hope that your finish endmill doesn't get notched by all the junk that the rough tool leaves behind.

 

Sorry

[SLJ]

Thanks for the quick reply! Because of clamping araingment, the overhang would preclude such a small tool. I'll check if we have any 5/8 or 3/4 carbide cutters in stock. May have to give the part up to someone with a lazer.

[maestro]

We machine quite a bite of this stuff. If we have a lot of material to remove, sometimes we just use a good grade cobalt corncib style roughing endmill, then come back with a carbide to finish with at around 200-300 sfm and .003-.005 fpt. We have also had some success with Dataflute carbide endmills in their SS series 3 flute with what they call a C11 coating. In some cases these have worked well for roughing operations running around 300 sfm and .0025 fpt. Hope this helps.

[chris m]

Depending on your tolerances, if you have to shop it out I would suggest a waterjet over a laser if you need to do any machining afterward, I think that stuff would be rock-hard in the laser's heat affected zone after cutting.

[SLJ]

The tolerances are really fractional, just structural members. The real problem seems to be in taking a full width slot cut and the full 1/4" depth. It has trouble getting rid of chips, plus the scale is notching the tool at the top surface. The tool reps tried solid carbide while I was gone Thurs. and Fri, but at high speeds. We've tried the Iscar Heli mill with full line pressure air blast, but that didn't work either. The boss say's he's lost enough, get rid of it. I guess that will be it then. Thanks for trying guys

Steve

[Trevor Bailey]

Try looking at Hanita cutters. They are great. I have had great success running them in Stainless Steel's. I tried solutions my California rep suggested. That did not last long. I could tell the cutters could be pushed really hard, so I went at finding speeds/feeds on my own.

 

As I said, they are great cutters. Check out their web page .

[Finecut]

Waterjet !!!!

 

 

Finecut

[chris m]

Let me guess; a waterjet guy...?

 

Cutting steel with water is cool (I know there's abrasives in there, but still very cool)

[Dan Tangen]

We have a waterjet cutter and cut a lot of stainless and aluminum. The stainless material cuts very nice using the waterjet.

 

You could use a laser but the edge of the part will be very hard because of the heat.

 

Dan Tangen

Tangen Industries, Inc

[ben]

use three flue basset carbide em with .015 or .031 radius. speed 2500 feed 20. plugging 5. i cut every week for over 5 years nerver break a tool. and this kind of carbide last very long and make part very fast.

[Jack Mitchell]

Hey there.

Have a look at Ben's reply.

I believe he has something here.

 

Regards, Jack

[cadcam]

Ben what size endmill are we talking? It sounds good.

[pactec]

Would a trochoidal approach help in this situation. A work-around could be to edit a pocket routine that does full cut trochoidal. It seems to me( by absolutely no means an expert on materials) that the problem could be lessened with this added chip evacuation type of path.

 

Take care...

[jspangler]

Hi

Searched the forum for tips on cutting 304, and came up with this topic. Anyone have any more suggestions as to Chip load, pocketing stepover, or type of inserts. I will probably be using my 1" Iscar 2 flute for pocketing and my 1.25" Iscar 3 flute for the outer contour. Both with IC328 inserts. The parts are simple exhaust flanges 4" x 4" square .375 thick. I'm self taught so if possible use laymans terms.

 

Thanks

 

John

[YNTO]

Most all are work is with L type stainless.

Do you have a SGS Rep? SGS has a Z-Carb that works better for us than Hanita cutters. Your parts way to thin for an insert cutter.

 

Jim.

[CNCme]

Good evenin,

 

DATA FLUTE is the endmill to use...they

have a full line of coated carbibe

that works very good in any 300

stainless, and very long life.

 

HTH

 

Tony G

Unemployed Programmer

N.E Massachusetts - Sothern New Hamshire

[TheePres]

If you must cut 304...try Robb/Jack carbide endmills. As someone else suggested, on many ocassions I have convinced engineers to substitute to 303 or 316<?> wich have similar or superior characteristics, but much easier to work with.

[U.K. PRECISION INC.]

hss coren cobb style rougher slow rpms and feed will eat it up better than carbide evan hanita endmills finish with a 2 flute carbide,also have no "dwell" keep it feeding with a good flow of coolant