Speed/Feed tool library question

[JVizzi]

Now that I have some parts under my belt, and I'm understanding alot of the different toolpaths and how they work, I want to make a tool library for myself. My question, is it better to tweak the speeds/feeds by material settings or speeds/feeds by the tool settings. It seems to me, that the material speed/feed settings don't give you much flexability. For instance, for drilling, it wants to set % of base SFM at 60%. Well, if I set the base for 6061 alum. to 1000SFM then it would recomend a drill run at 600sfm? seems high, and I don't see how I can change that percentage

 

I don't want to get halfway thru my library and have to go back and change it all again.

[JayM]

"Better" is a difficult thing to answer.  I generally recommend creating a tool library per material rather than driving by the material.  Reason being it is possible to get much more specific about the speeds and feeds for your tools if they are defined in the tool library.  Driving a tool by material will give general speeds and feeds for each tool.  For example, a given 1/2" carbide endmill.  The speeds and feeds can easily be calculated based on the number of flutes and desired SFM and feed/tooth, but it does not take into account the cutting length.  If you have a short cutting length, 1/2" that could be driven much harder than a long cutter length 2".

[JVizzi]

That is the same thing I was thinking, to make a library for each material. I don't see the point of basing it off the material, because how can you set a base chipload for all tools used on any given material? every tool needs a specific chip load based on its diameter.

[JayM]

Exactly.  The material calculations for tools work well for some people, generally those doing very basic machining or operations.

 

Good luck.

[JVizzi]

A follow-up question:

 

If I have a tool setup for, let's say, 10k rpm and 50ipm, but I want to use it in another machine, which has a max spindle of 3500rpm set in the Machine Def. will it automatically update the feedrate when I select that tool for an operation?

[JayM]

The spindle speed will be set to max RPM but it will not adjust the feed rate.

[Tim Johnson]

A follow-up question:

 

If I have a tool setup for, let's say, 10k rpm and 50ipm, but I want to use it in another machine, which has a max spindle of 3500rpm set in the Machine Def. will it automatically update the feedrate when I select that tool for an operation?

That's a post edit.

[JVizzi]

The spindle speed will be set to max RPM but it will not adjust the feed rate.

So then I probably should make a copy of my tool library with speed/feeds for the slower RPM machine