Today was quite productive.

All the remaining milling tool types have been finished.

The last one to complete was Chamfering tool type:

Looking at the HSMAdvisor's tool graphic on the right i realize how useful it is to understand where your tool engagement is.
Especially so for tapered, Ballnose and Chamfering tools.

FSWizard does not yet have that functionality, but i will definitely try to add it in one of the updates after the initial release.

I regularly follow practicalmachinist.com forums.
Especially the cnc machining section of it.

I notice when CNC Speeds and Feeds questions come up people often suggest my HSMAdvisor Machinist calculator.
A referral by a satisfied customer is the best referral in my opinion. Thank you to everyone doing this great favor to me and my prospective users!

Other times users of HSMAdvisor question speeds and feeds it generates and instead of going to me, they ask on forums.
Which is always fine, because extremely often "wrong" results mean something wrong in users expectations or the data he feeds the calculator

In the process of discussion it usually turns out that the calculation results were correct, but because user decided to use a depth of cut or tool length, larger than he should have, HSMAdvisor compensates and gives a very conservative feed rate.

Just like in this forum post over here: Engraving with a 1/32 ball mill machinist wanted

I have just uploaded another update to HSMAdvisor.

In this version we have 2 new tool types.
It is Solid Ball Nose and Indexed Ball Nose.

Also 4 more Workpiece materials were added: Soft and Hard Plywood, and two types of HYTAC material.

Aside from new goodies, a lot of old ones were improved upon and fixed.

More details on the downloads page!

We have finally reached version 1.00!

Here is a list of new and improved features:

What's New

• Material Drop-Down list now shows 'X' on the row when the current Library Tool has Custom Surface Speed and Chipload settings.
• Load Tool dialog box now has Tool Type Icon. The same column shows a readable Operation Type Icon for finishing, roughing, etc.
• Drilling Tool Types now allow user to enter a custom Pecking value
• Milling Tool Types now have Editable Plunge RPM and Plunge Feedrate
• Milling Tool Types' updated Circle/Ramp Dialog now allows to specify whether ramp settings apply to Plunge feedrate of Milling feedrate

What's Improved

• Custom Speeds and Feeds tab on Edit Tool Dialog was improved with new buttons to reset custom Surface Speed and Chipload settings
  Glitch with certain diameters in metric mode being missed is fixed
• Load Tool/Cut Dialog box' Search was improved
• Load Tool/Cut Dialog box now features much improved tool and cut list with better readability and usability
• Ballnose Tools have been improved to better show changing effective diameter for different depths of cut.

Now, because a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some screenshots as well.

Updated and Improved Load Tool/Cut Dialog:

Note new Tool Type and Cut type Icons in the third column.

I have recently published an update for both Android and Iphone versions.

Mainly i have fixed radial chip thinning for ballnose endmills.

I also added Axial, Radial and Compound Chip Thinning factors display in both cut depth/width panel, as well as Result panel.

So now you can see how parameters, you are entering, are affecting your thinning factors.

Observe the attached screenshots and download the update it you have not already!

Cheers!

Cut Panel Result Panel

Happy New Year !

First of all i would like to thank everybody for their continuing support and feedback - without you my work would not be this rewarding and fun.
This holiday season sale has been a success and it is only reassuring me that i am moving in the right direction regarding development of this software.

Also 20 days after the very first release of FSWizard for iOS, sales for it and the Android versions have been going very strong. Which means i will be putting even more effort into improving the mobile versions as well.

New things in HSMAdvisor 0.701:

• Cut and Form taps have been added.
• Boring Bar has been added to the tool type list
• Scallop calculator has been added for ballnose type endmills

Updated and fixed things:

• Effective diameter for tapered endmills (like V-Bits) has been fixed
• Deflection model for endmills has been improved
• BallNose endmills are now considered slotting (floor milling) only when their WOC is set equal to the diameter of the tool.
  When WOC is not equal to the tip Dia, it is presumed the cutter is milling the wall rather than the floor
• Some Tool Geometry fields have been moved to a new tab.

Again after this release i will shift my attention back to mobile versions of FSWizard

Tapping Tool Type BallNose Mill Scallop Calc

Since surface milling is more than half of what i do for a living, I decided to share some of my tips on that topic.

Generally you want to create a continuous toolpath that does not change directions too often.

Changing directions slows the machine down and reduction in feedrate affects deflection of the cutter. Different deflection means you get gouge marks on your surfaces.

When you have a long narrow piece its better to go along the long side to save on time and machine wear.
Also going along the longest side reduces the number of direction changes you will have to make

When milling cavities you need to first rough, then semi-finish then finish.

Leave 15 thou after roughing, 3 thou after semi-finishing and finish to zero. All with progressively smaller tools.
5 thou stepover will give you very good finish on most ball mills
3-5 thou chiploads are very common for surface finishing.

Ball mill will always give bad finish on shallow areas- the center is not cutting, but dragging around.
Also straight portion of the flute acts as a wiper and reduces scallop that the ball portion creates.

This is why going from top to bottom is safer and yields better surface finish.

The closer the wall taper angle to the taper of the flutes the better finish you will get.

There is another reason for always trying to go from top to bottom.

When taking material top to bottom you engage stock closer to the tip of the tool.

It makes cut more stable. It is more safe because you are less likely to bury the tool in stock unexpectedly.
Do not go from climb milling to conventional UNLESS you need to save some rapid time.
Pick up only climb milling and you are good to go.
Changing from climb to conventional will cause tool to deflect away from the work on climb and into the work during conventional pass. You will see zebra marks all over your surfaces.

I recently had to machine an aluminum mold cavity.

7 inches deep. With 5 degree wall draft and a 60 thou radius going all the way down. Roughing was not an issue, but for semi-finishing and finishing i had to manufacture these two extension holders.

Both tools have runout of less than 0.001

The one for bigger 3/8 tapered ballnose cutter is shrink fit- i mounted it using torch.

The smaller tool is a 3/32 tapered ballnose cutter from Harvey Tool.
I could not bore to correct size, and had to ream right on.
The tool is mounted with a set-screw from both sides to prevent deflection caused by unequal clamping pressure.

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