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Getting near the limits?

DPittman said:
After misunderstanding some of the advice here and the online calculators I am a bit gun-shy of repeating mistakes and having a wreck.

I have this little railroad anvil I made and have never worried about resurfacing the top surface of it as it really didn't matter much to what I typically hammer on about. But now I see an opportunity to try out a face mill I got with my machine but have hardly used.

I've tried a few online calculators and I know that they are a good starting point IF one understands them correctly. I did not understand things correctly last attempt so I am going to run my plan by the folks here first this time.

The face mill is 50mm diameter with 4 apkt1604 inserts. The railroad anvil is likey 1084 medium carbon steel.

My calculations say about 200 rpm and 3.25 ft/min feed rate. I'm not 100% sure I have all info entered right?

The depth of cut says .375" and width of cut says 1.867". Does that mean I attempt to remove .375" of material across nearly the entire width of the tool???

I will squirt wd40 as a lubricant as needed?
View attachment 31157View attachment 31156
Click to expand...
Whoops I had hss as the tool material, I changed that to carbide and now the app says 700 rpm. I just can't believe I'm understanding the depth of cut right.
Screenshot_20230223-160353.jpg
 
Nice railroad track anvil. WAAAAY nicer than mine. Nice JD Green too.

I'm not familiar with that program and I'm no milling expert.

But I think that 3/8 DOC is just the maximum. You don't have to do that and I wouldnt. Why take any more material off than you need to.

You specified HSS but that's not HSS.

I don't like WD-40 for steel. It isn't that its horrible, it's just not very good. It is horrible for stainless. And it's great for aluminium.

You might be particularly interested to know that WD40 makes a specialist cutting oil for titanium since you have a lot of it.

We all have our favorites, but I prefer a good sticky sulphur oil. Lots of good choices out there. For steel, I don't think WD-40 is one of them.

Edit - I see you already caught the hss issue.
 
You also specified a 3/8 flute length. I'd guess that's where the maximum 3/8 depth of cut comes from.
 
Susquatch said:
You also specified a 3/8 flute length. I'd guess that's where the maximum 3/8 depth of cut comes from.
Click to expand...
Yes I believe the program inserted that figure and I'm not sure why.

I know wd40 isn't so great for steel and I have it in a squirt bottle just for aluminum but I thought it might be better than nothing. However I do have some thick goopy sulfur based stuff I could use.
 
DPittman said:
After misunderstanding some of the advice here and the online calculators I am a bit gun-shy of repeating mistakes and having a wreck.

I have this little railroad anvil I made and have never worried about resurfacing the top surface of it as it really didn't matter much to what I typically hammer on about. But now I see an opportunity to try out a face mill I got with my machine but have hardly used.

I've tried a few online calculators and I know that they are a good starting point IF one understands them correctly. I did not understand things correctly last attempt so I am going to run my plan by the folks here first this time.

The face mill is 50mm diameter with 4 apkt1604 inserts. The railroad anvil is likey 1084 medium carbon steel.

My calculations say about 200 rpm and 3.25 ft/min feed rate. I'm not 100% sure I have all info entered right?

The depth of cut says .375" and width of cut says 1.867". Does that mean I attempt to remove .375" of material across nearly the entire width of the tool???

I will squirt wd40 as a lubricant as needed?
Click to expand...
You used structural steel low to medium carbon (100-300HB) in the calculations?

And is the anvil of that hardness?

Then yes. The speeds and feeds are fine. And again yes, its telling you to take a DOC of .375", and if you do the power requirement is 1.56hp. Is your milling machine motor at least that? If not, alter the feed or depth of cut in the calculator so as the required power is about 80% of your motors power.

Also depending how robust your mill is, a 0.375" DOC might be too much for your mill to handle.

Also check what the insert manufacturer suggests for parameters. Depending on the size of your insert, you might only be able to take 0.100" DOC. Small inserts = small DOC.
 
thestelster said:
Also depending how robust your mill is, a 0.375" DOC might be too much for your mill to handle.
Click to expand...

Hey Stel, @DPittman is just cleaning up the surface. Surely he doesn't HAVE TO take a big deep cut. Isn't that just the maximum the program is calculating for his parameters?
 
thestelster said:
Well, with carbide, at that speed and feed, and DOC= 6.1HP.
Click to expand...
Oh ya those parameters changed and are now WAY beyond my machines capabilities. I have 1.5hp.

So if I ran 700 rpm, took .100" depth of cut and used about 3/4 with of the tool in one swipe and ran about 5 inches per minute table feed...would that be a reasonable starting point?
20230223_163710.jpg
 
DPittman said:
So if I ran 700 rpm, took .100" depth of cut and used about 3/4 with of the tool in one swipe and ran about 5 inches per minute table feed...would that be a reasonable starting point?
Click to expand...

Sounds reasonable to me. You will know real fast if your feed rate is too high. I don't use a motorized feed. It's above my pay grade. I just feed manually and crank at whatever rate makes my machine happy. Since I edge into the work I always know if I am too fast or too slow. You could start slower and then speed up if it needs it.
 
DPittman said:
Oh ya those parameters changed and are now WAY beyond my machines capabilities. I have 1.5hp.

So if I ran 700 rpm, took .100" depth of cut and used about 3/4 with of the tool in one swipe and ran about 5 inches per minute table feed...would that be a reasonable starting point?
View attachment 31162
Click to expand...
With those parameters, it indicates you're using 1/2hp. So it all looks reasonable. Do those anvils get work hardened from hammering on them?

For your peace of mind, reduce your DOC to 0.025". If it sounds and feels good, take another pass at 0.050". And then another at 0.075", and if everything still feels good go 0.100".
 
Personally for a first pass touch off, do a light pass 0.010 or 0.020 max, it will very quickly give you feel if you are on the money. After that you can bump it up as required.

The second advantage is you need only remove as much material as is required to get the face you want. Remember its a lot harder to put on than take off.
 
SMOKE SHOW!
I used a thick sulfur based thread cutting fluid:rolleyes:?

I started off at .025" doc and then went to .050" doc. The .050" cut started about at 10 seconds in the video. I didn't notice alot of difference in machine noise or shake.
I upped the table feed to about 10"/min and things seemed about the same but more smoke, sparks and noise but nothing much worse???

I am surprised at the great finish it is doing.

Should the sparks be alarming or a sign I need to SLOW down?

Would it be a mistake to use no lubricant?

I'm afraid to try .100" doc.

The cutterr was never making full surface contact because of the rounded surface of the rail. Next passes will be different.


20230223_170420.jpg
 
thestelster said:
Yes, that's the max stated by the app. But the insert might not be big enough to handle a 3/8" DOC.
Click to expand...

I was only asking if he HAS TO go that big. I'm suggesting less would be a good thing if it's allowed.

I always prefer light cuts. But I'm never in a hurry.
 
DPittman said:
The cutterr was never making full surface contact because of the rounded surface of the rail. Next passes will be different.
Click to expand...

Ya, that oil usually smokes a bit. No biggie. I try not to breathe it.

If I got sparks like that, I'd be slowing things down. I don't mind hot chips but I don't like them to be glowing.

Ya, mine like that leaves a nice finish too.
 
Degen said:
This is one of the reason I love synthetic ionic flood cooling vs oils or cutting fluids, no smoke, no smell, just mess.
Click to expand...

I'll take the smell and smoke over the mess any day of the week. But you run continuously. I'd prolly be in your camp too if I did that.

In my case, my mill might run an hour or so per week. The clean up with flood cooling would take 10x as long as the machining!
 
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