#Fastcut tool feeds and speeds skin#

S Sometimes it seems to take forever to mill out a pocket by traversing with an end mill, especially on a low-power mill.

#Fastcut tool feeds and speeds skin#

This is especially helpful in this type of skin milling operation using Hi Feed cutters.вЂќ вЂњHere the 4-inch tangential cutter takes five inserts while the previous radial cutter could fit only four. вЂњMoreover, size for size, a tangential cutter can accommodate more inserts in its pitch circle, thereby increasing overall feedrates,вЂќ says Cross.

In the recent past, Ingersoll built on this principle to offer tangential cutters with positive rakes and helical edges, to reduce cutting forces as well. This allows for increased feedrates in an ultra stable insert pocket. In cutter designs with tangentially mounted inserts, the carbide bits present their strongest cross-section to the main cutting force vector. вЂњWe knew we were cutting more smoothly because the operation ran so much more quietly,вЂќ said Cross. That was double the previous removal rate. Because of the CNCвЂ™s lightweight design, he ramped up the settings very gradually, finally settling at 80 0.080 DOC. IngersollвЂ™s Steve Cross assisted in putting the new cutter to work. вЂњMore important, we delivered the part a week sooner and freed up nearly a weekвЂ™s worth of machine time,вЂќ Perusse said. With a positive-rake Ingersoll S-Max Hi Feed mill, with tangentially mounted inserts, cycle time to skin off 800 pounds of stock dropped from 56 hours to 30 вЂ“ yet the load meter read 55% lower and edge life doubled. So Perusse came at it from a different direction: A tangential hybrid Hi Feed milling cutter rather than radial face milling. вЂњIt was taking 56 hours to skin one 20-foot steel forging.вЂќ вЂњCapacity was our main problem, вЂ¦ cost secondary,вЂќ said engineer Luke Perusse at the Denver job shop. The spindle load meter always read 100% yet a key customer wanted the parts yesterday: that was BVM CorporationвЂ™s problem on a big skin-milling operation running on a low-power Hamai vertical CNC. This reduces drill inventory requirements since you donвЂ™t need a drill for every hole size.

Also, hole size depends on the program, not cutter size. In corkscrew milling, a cutter orbits into the work as it rotates, opening the hole in solid metal much faster than drilling. Now itвЂ™s standard practice for all guide pin hole sets and other large holes at his Georgia shop. Steve Deering was so skeptical that he tried it out on wood scraps first. Friction and cutting forces are so low that low-HP vertical mills can avoid applying multiple drill sizes to reach the final finished hole, and thereby can open big holes quicker than drilling them. Accuracy and finish are sufficient to eliminate secondary boring or reaming. The Ingersoll Hi Pos+ end mill, in orbiting program, plunges in to solid steel.

The start of a corkscrew milling operation, to open large holes faster than drilling. Ingersoll Power-Feed+ mill also improved removal rate 10% and still lowered the spindle power gage readings by 15%. SPXвЂ™s retooling of this face milling operation on hardened die stock reduced cutting forces to protect the frame, spindle and ceramic bearings on a light-duty VMC. An Ingersoll DHU plunge cutter (shown in a cutaway) delivers pure axial cutting forces for faster machining with no lateral forces that can cause tool failure or uneven results due to tool deflection.

Switching to plunge milling sped up cavity roughing work on a low-power mill at Associated Technologies and Manufacturing Inc. A switch to IngersollвЂ™s S-Max High Feed milling cutter doubled throughput while tripling edge life and halving spindle load. Preparing another heavy milling job at BVM in Denver.