Hello Eldar,

I was demoing the software and I purchased a license earlier this week since my demo lapsed to continue working with it...

I have built out a bunch of parts in Fusion and am working my way through building CAM for each and machining them out of 6061-T6 but am not having the success that I had hoped. I fully understand that this machine is going to be limited in it's capabilities but I am having trouble reconciling why with this software to help me calculate feeds/speeds that I can't come up with some recipes that work without the spindle bogging down despite HSMAdvisor indicating that they _should_ work and they don't exceed the machine's capabilities.

I will fully admit that I am not a seasoned/experienced machinist but I learn quickly and am familiar with this sort of variable optimization process from other activities and feel like I've reached a plateau where I'm not making any constructive progress with my various experiements with the tools and knowledge that I'm applying.

As the subject says, the mill is a low horsepower machine (Tormach PCNC 440) that I'm working with and I use Fusion360 for both CAD and CAM. I am utilizing the Tormach Aluminum endmill kit (I have charts which list RPMS and feeds in inches for side and slotting for these endmills). I enter those numbers in HSMAdvisor as starting values to get the chipload. The first modifications to the manufacturer's F&S that I make is to raise the RPMS to a higher range (7-9.5k) from 5.6k, where it should be in the power-band of the spindle on the high belt, at least according to HSMAdvisor's curve for this machine. I re-work the numbers to maintain the same chipload from the original numbers. I will adjust WOC and DOC (and then readjust speed and feed) to maintain that same chipload and evaluate that the power/torque is within acceptable limits.

1) Tormach doesn't publish a power or torque curve (only the peak power of the spindle motor) for this machine, however, you (admin) appear to have constructed the one that HSMAdvisor makes available. I was wondering how you came up with those curves / what assumptions are behind them. Did you locate the curves from another source or are these best guesses based upon...?

2) The main issue I'm scratching my head is that I get cuts that are "green" but still bog the machine down, hence wondering if the curves are not accurate...the idea being that within some calculated spindle load percentage, I should be able to model a cut ahead of time and have it run successfully without bogging the spindle down. That is what I would undertand the purpose of this software is...to not have to do significant experimentation with actual materials or to at least limit the experimentation to slight feed/speed adjustments while running...

3) I've watched several of the various tutorial videos you've recorded over the years (wish they would be updated since the interface has changed over the years) and read through what I thought were some relevant threads on this forum but overall, #2 is still where I am at in terms of success of using the software to maximize feed/speed/MRR...far from what I imagine is the ideal use case...or am I being very optimistic about that?

One thing I have tried in the past day was to take some stock and do just a straight pass with manual G-code at the specified feed/speed/DOC/WOC. Some of the calculated feeds and speeds seem to work but I have run across some that bogged down. The major hurdle is trying to use recipes in Fusion360 to clear out a pocket or do anything adaptive. For instance, the helix entry into an adaptive 2D pocket will machine without bogging down but then as soon as it starts to to clear the slot...that's where it bogs down...reducing the feed to 1/4 or 1/10th of the original programmed feed in the operator console is how far I have to go for the spindle to not bog down in some case...

Any tips/hints on what my proocess should be? Feel free to start this process with a list of relevant links/videos that I should absorbed 100% before we dive into further troubleshooting...

Thanks!