Caught myself using the wrong feed rate on aluminum for a month

I was running 6061 at 80 IPM with a 3 flute end mill and getting terrible tool life. Turned out I was 40% too slow based on the chip load calculation. Anyone else have a simple setup mistake that took forever to notice?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakotal162d ago

Buddy of mine ran a whole production batch of titanium at stainless speeds. Wondered why his inserts were dying every 10 parts.

olivia_wilson2d ago

Wow, titanium at stainless speeds? That's brutal. @dakotal16's buddy must have been burning through money faster than chips flying off the tool. I mean, stainless and titanium are totally different animals when it comes to heat and feed. You can't just swap speeds and expect inserts to survive more than a few passes, let alone 10 parts. That's the kind of mistake that makes you want to double check every single number before you hit go. I bet his shop floor was wondering why the machines were screaming like that.