I went against the grain on a tricky 316 stainless job and it saved the day

We had a run of 316 stainless parts with a deep pocket that kept breaking tools. Everyone in the shop, including our lead, said to slow the feed way down and use a high helix end mill. After wrecking three tools in two days, I was fed up. I remembered an old timer at my last shop in Dayton talking about how sometimes you need to push harder, not softer, with gummy stuff. I switched to a four flute, low helix tool from Helical, bumped the SFM up by 15%, and actually increased the feed per tooth by 0.0005. The chip cleared better, the tool stopped loading up, and we finished the run with one tool. The lead was surprised but couldn't argue with the parts on the table. Has anyone else found that the standard advice for a material can sometimes be exactly wrong for a specific cut?

2 comments

2 Comments

hart.parker20d ago

It's wild how much the specific tool geometry matters more than the material rules sometimes. That low helix probably just wasn't letting the chip pack in there.

hunt.taylor20d ago

Actually meant chip flow, not pack.