Making sure I'm in the ballpark

[Guest]

I either need a slap or a bit of reassurance here

 

I have a .042 carbide ballmill, I'm cutting a channel with it in 304 stainless, the channel total length is

 

Total length = 40.8659

 

At 131 SFM ,I am maxed out at 12k RPM I have a .0002 CPT I'm taking an .008 DOC with a finish pass of .003

 

I'm getting a 25 minute cycle time on this path alone

 

Am I in the ballpark on this puppy?

[left coast lefty]

Speed and feed look good. I like to take a deeper cuts at the top and a smaller ones near bottom, due to the different amounts of contact.

[Sticky]

I either need a slap or a bit of reassurance here

 

I have a .042 carbide ballmill, I'm cutting a channel with it in 304 stainless, the channel total length is

 

Total length = 40.8659

 

At 131 SFM ,I am maxed out at 12k RPM I have a .0002 CPT I'm taking an .008 DOC with a finish pass of .003

 

I'm getting a 25 minute cycle time on this path alone

 

Am I in the ballpark on this puppy?

 

How deep is the gland? Anything you can do eliminate the use of the ballnose until you get to the bottom can be a huge help.

 

Using the Sandvik chip thinning calculator I figured you are actually at 103SFM (11,928rpm) for a .042" em with 2 flutes, feed per tooth of .0002" and ADOC of .008" and the recommended feed rate is 4.8ipm. Its a ballnose specific calculator and I've found it particularly useful for stuff like this. You have to keep in mind with ballnose cutters that your effective diameter varies a lot when you are cutting less then the full diameter of the tool.

[Guest]

Oh I know, this is a groove that is .042 wide and .039 deep.

 

Even sticking a .04 wide endmill in first isn't going to save anything, I am at the mercy of SFM and the CPT at that rate

 

The ball mill is 4FL

 

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't off the reservation but seeing other numbers, I'm not, it is what it is

[EX-wccprogrammer]

Might I suggest this for roughing:

 

http://www.jic-tools...id=039&inpage=8

 

We use these for engraving, they cut very well in stainless.

[Sticky]

Oh I know, this is a groove that is .042 wide and .039 deep.

 

Even sticking a .04 wide endmill in first isn't going to save anything, I am at the mercy of SFM and the CPT at that rate

 

The ball mill is 4FL

 

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't off the reservation but seeing other numbers, I'm not, it is what it is

 

4fl= 9.5ipm

 

Too bad you don't have more rpm. For the first few passes I'd be around .0003-.0004 per tooth, getting you up to 14ipm.

[djstedman]

Im pretty sure you would have already thought of this.. but if its possible to get to it with a saw cutter getting a 1mm full radius saw would probably save a ton of time on this..

[Guest]

Im pretty sure you would have already thought of this.. but if its possible to get to it with a saw cutter getting a 1mm full radius saw would probably save a ton of time on this..

 

No, it's basically like the "yellow brick road" no saw possible, thx though