By spumco
Milling cutters
I'm continuing to populate my tool table and came across a couple of issues I wasn't able to resolve with the online help pages. First - I'm not sure how to enter various milling cutters with reduced necks. For example, I have some woodruff (key-slot) cutters with 3/8 shanks and 1/4" necks. Does HSMA take in to account the weaker geometry of the neck automatically, or should I enter the smaller neck dimension as the shank so the predicted deflection is appropriate? Second - I don't see dovetail cutters as an available tool. I can sort-of set up a chamfer mill, but since HSMA doesn't accept angles greater than 90, the flues appear upside-down in the display and the cutter diameter is wrong since the 'tip' size and angle drive the cutter OD calculation. Any ideas on how to set up a reduced neck dovetail or something with similar features (threadmill, maybe?) Thanks, Spumco
Eldar Gerfanov (Admin)
Hi, I have been successfully setting woodruff neck diameter as shank diameter. Yes, it will show higher deflection than it should, so you can increase the deflection limit if that becomes an issue. Same thing can be done with dovetail cutters as well. But I know what you mean. I will try to address those issues in the next update. Thanks!
spumco
I'll give it a shot, and thanks again for the new user help. -S