Sevaral weeks ago i saw a post on CNCZone.

A HSMadvisor user Peter Neil used it to calculate cutting conditions for cutting a block of pre-hardened stainless steel.
His machine was Tormach.

Here is an exact copy-paste from that forum post:
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Did a test cut on the Tormach today using feeds & speeds from the latest version of the excellent HSM advisor.
To make it interesting, I did the cut using some 1.2085 pre-hard Stainless Steel as I have plenty of stock of it and have a job in mind for this, and wanted to see how it cut on the Tormach.
The material is like a stainless P20, at 16% Chrome/1% Nickel & 0.5% Sulphur (which makes it slightly free-er machining) and is hardened to around 33-35 Rockwell C, so I used the HSM advisor guidelines for machining P20 rather than Stainless. Cutter was a 10mm 4-flute Carbide TiAlN coated EM.

So...... ticking the HSM/Chip thinning option I got a speed of 5120 and feed of 2214mm/minute( 87 IPM). I used a DOC of 10mm and WOC of 0.5mm/0.020" - and turned off the flood cooling to machine it completely dry. The finish pass on the 1st level was 15mm DOC and 0.5mm WOC and slightly lower speeds/feeds.

Loaded up a 40mm x 63mm block , pressed the start button, and it went from this....





...to this!

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Sometimes people ask me: "I tried your calculator, and i liked it, but it seems to me a little too aggressive...do you actually do any testing?"

Well, to those I say that not only i do testing, but i run production jobs 100% calculated with my own HSMAdvisor.

Many machinists say that nothing beats an experienced operator holding his hand on feed hold button and playing with speed and feed override trying to find the "sweet spot" where cutting speed and feed rate are maximized and chatter is eliminated or reduced.

And it is correct, but not any machinist is experienced or actually knows what he is doing.
Many machinists also finish their apprenticeship program and never learn a single thing about new tooling types and materials since. They bag years of experience, but their knowledge is stuck on a level it was when they first got their license.

Also not a single person can possibly know cutting conditions for hundreds of materials and remember all of the jobs he had ever ran.

This is where tool database comes in.

Not only can you save tools to cut down and in many cases eliminate entering parameters for every calculation.
But you can (and should) save cutting data for each particular case.

A single tool entry can contain an unlimited number of cuts attached to it, so machinist never has to remember everything.

Here is a i made video of slotting D2 with variable helix hi-performace endmill.

Material: D-2 Tool Steel 200-250 HB
Tool: 0.500in 4FL Carbide TiAlN coated Solid HP End Mill
Speed: 360.0 SFM/ 2751.6 RPM
Feed: 0.0023 ipt/ 0.0094 ipr/ 25.76 ipm

Engagement:  DOC=0.330 in   WOC=0.500 in

Speeds and Feeds by HSMAdvisor (FSWizard)
Material: A-36 Hot Roll Steel 160-220 HB
Tool: 0.500in 4FL Carbide TiAlN coated Solid HP End Mill (WIDIA Metal Removal Maestro)
1" Stickout, 0.625 Flute Length
Speed: 528.0 SFM/ 4035.7 RPM
Feed: 0.0028 ipt/ 0.0114 ipr/ 46.00 ipm
Chip Thickness: 0.0028 in
Engagement:  DOC=0.250 in   WOC=0.500 in

Tool:0.281 dia 0 helix TIN coated carbide drill

A need arouse to drill and tap lots of blind 1/4-20 holes in 3/4" thick hardox 45-50RC hard plate.

So if you ever need to do this use:

1) DRILL
Tap hole: >0.202" or bigger.  5/8 deep.
Drill used: Tialn coated carbide drill.
S=1418 RPM
F=2.6 IPM
NO Peck, No Coolant

2)TAP
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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

Lately we've been doing alot of anvils out of 3/8 or 1/2" Hardox steel (Rc 45-50)
Aside from having to machine profiles and pockets we also have to drill some mounting holes.

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