Out Company used to have somebody else plasmacut cutting anvils for us.
This was expensive, plus heat generated by plasma caused already unstable anvils to warp like crazy making them very hard to grind flat.

So when foreman told me to machine one on CNC i immidately asked him to buy one of those nifty Hanita TiALN coated Varimill cutters.
Too bad they are too expensive. So the company bought same style of cutters made by Niagara. 0.5" end mill there is x3 cheaper than hanita's. Plus i believe cutting tools made to the same specs, out of the same materials are performing identical.

The machine we ve been using for this is really shaky and busted, so dont laugh at speeds and feeds that we came up with.

So basically, Specs Are:

• Material: Hardox pre-hardened steel Rc 45-50
• Cutter: 4 Flute, Stagger Flute TiALN coted 0.5" Micrograin Carbide End Mill, 2.5" Overall, 0.625" Flute Length, 1" overhang
• Operation: Slotting
• Speed: 1200 RPM
• Feed: 4.8 IPM
• Depth OF Cut: 0.125"
• Plunge method: 2.5 Deg Ramp/Helix, Or Plunge into 0.281Dia pilot hole at 3 IPM
• Coolant: Airblast + Oil

Here is a list of Okuma G and M codes i got from the manual

Note Some codes may not be supported by your machine, all information is given as is and i dont give a ... if you break something.

Information given here is correct to the best of my knowlege

If you are finishing a pocket with wall corners' radius close to the radius of a cutter. The tool tends to chatter, especially with longer tools and harder materials.

To avoid this you can do one of the following:

• When programming. After roughing the pocket and before finishing. Create a simple drill cycle with finishing tool to remove extra material from the corner. This way when finisher goes to the tight corner, the chatter will virtually disappear.
• Do the same with a drillbit. Before Roughing.