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Had to choose between HSS and carbide for a deep pocket job
Got a rush job last week milling out some 6061 aluminum pockets about 2 inches deep. I usually grab carbide for anything aluminum but my tooling guy suggested a HSS rougher with chipbreakers instead. Tried the HSS first and man it just plowed through with no chatter at half the price of carbide. Saved me about 40 bucks on that single tool and finished the whole batch of 50 parts without a break. Anybody else ever switch back to HSS for certain aluminum jobs?
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laura_white9911d ago
Hang on, are we really pretending a 40 dollar savings is some kind of game changer? Carbide's still gonna outlast that HSS tool if you push it right.
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evac7210d ago
Pull Laura up on that a little. Carbide doesn't always outlast HSS on aluminum, especially if you're running a rougher with those chipbreakers. The HSS tools are way tougher against tiny vibrations that'll chip carbide edges on deep cuts. And for the price difference, you can burn through three or four HSS tools before you break even on one carbide. It's not about whether one is better, it's about matching the tool to the actual job.
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