Stepdown To Leave For Finish

[randommachinist]

Hey guys, I'm currently cutting out basically a 4 inch cavity. First i'm going in with a 1.000 indexable end mill and hogging out a bunch of material. Then coming in  with a .500 endmill to clean up some fillets and corners. Lastly, i'll finish it up with a 1/2 ball endmill. My question is what kind of stepdowns should i use when i come in with the .500 endmill? I'm planning on leaving .015 stock. I'm just worried if i leave too big of stepdowns from the previous toolpath, it'll be too much stock to finish with. So does anybody have some good recommendations or a general rule of thumb to follow?

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

It'll help if your .500 endmill is a bull with a decent radius on it.  In similar situations I've often done a .030" stepdown.

[randommachinist]

Alright. thanks! i'll give that a shot.