The current "15% Off HSMAdvisor" sale will run until August 4th.

Which here in Ontario is a statutory holiday.

I am not really sure what we are celebrating, but hey, as long as i get paid for staying at home, i don't care.

Just wanted to thank everyone for great support, for investing into YOUR software and for telling your friends and colleagues about it.

I strongly believe our pricing and conditions are VERY competitive and more and more of you agree with me on that every day. I am not even talking about the part that should You need anything improved, fixed or questions answered, i am always available.

I also wanted to let you in in what is coming regarding HSMAdvisor Speed and Feed software.

• The next course of action for me will be adding surface finish calculators to the FSWizard page.
  I have received a few requests for that, and about to start rolling those out.
• I will revisit myCut DB page.
  Tool database will have filters, that would allow users to only see the tools they need.
  You will be able to choose what tool table columns you want to see.
  I will add tool manager window that will allow to quickly show which tools need to be ordered. And create a purchase order right on the spot. Which you would be able to either export to excel, Word or just print out right away.
• I am still bearing the idea of a so-called group knowledge.
  I am not going to discuss what exactly i am thinking about. But this, if implemented would radically improve decision-making when it comes to machining.
  This last part is going to be the hardest one and involve great deal of plain hard work, so i am going to put it on a back-burner for now.

As you see we have lots more to come. And we are not even on to version 1.0 !

And the best part is, if you pitch in now, you will be able to enjoy all the updates and features i am talking about for free!

Take care.

Have a save work week!

HEM is a relatively new term.

It means High Efficiency Milling. It only became available when constant tool engagement toolpahs became almost standard on most of the CAM software.

Unlike HSM that utilizes chip thinning effect, HEM relies on much larger widths of cut and thus chip thinning does not occur. What gives it its name is much higher material removal rate that would normally be possible.

When you are machining a pocket you are most often only milling at about 50% WOC. But nevertheless you need to calculate speeds and feeds based on the fact that the very first move and every corner will be full slotting action. Which means that the whole pocket needs to be machined at lower feedrate.

HEM uses constant engagement toolpths to make sure that this never happens and that Width of Cut remains optimal. Tool never needs to make a full slot so you can ramp up the feedrate as if you were doing outside profiling.

Here is a video of a 1/2" 3 flute endmill machining a 5/8" deep pocket in aluminum at full depth. Normally this pocket would have been machined in 2 steps at 150 inches per minute.

Using Constant Tool Engagement toolpaths we can go full depth at 0.175" stepover and 275 inches per minute.

The advantage of this method is obvious- Higher Productivity.

HEM is not ideal for all cases and each application merits its own method of machining, but its always nice to know more than one way to do your job.

If you are working in mold-making, prototyping or even in a job shop you have had to use unusual form tooling before in your life.

Form tooling is often used to machine undercuts and other features on regular 3 axis machines that would otherwise require a multi axis machining centre or are not machinable o at all.

The classical example of a form tool is a tear-drop ball mil, also known as a "lollipop". It has a tip with a certain diameter and a much smaller shank that produces enough clearance to machine undercuts on straight walls. It can also be used to regular surface finishing and 2d milling.

Another example is a T-slot cutter that is used to produce key-ways and t- slots

The main thing to consider when machining with reduced shank end mils is deflection and torque.

While deflection is especially dangerous for long tools, torque becomes much more important for tools with severely reduced shank.

Torque required to break a tool is directly proportional to the diameter of its shank.

And when shank diameter is much smaller than the tip diameter it does not matter how short that weak portion is: unless you compensate for it you will snap the tool.

The first thing that crosses the mind in many such cases is "I gotta run this tool very slow". It may take forever, but in many cases job gets somewhat done.

Contrary to that many experienced machinists have been proponents of different approach. Instead of reducing feed rate to the point of rubbing and below, it is much more productive to reduce cutter engagement if possible and leave feed rate settings largely unchanged.

Trying to keep proper chip load is even more important when machining work-hardenable materials like stainless steel and titanium. In those cases rubbing is not just unproductive, it leads to a very premature, in many cases instantaneous tool failure.

Just how much of a cut is possible to take in each particular case is the black magic that separates beginners from seasoned pros.

Not to worry though

Here is an example Read More 

HSMAdvisor is going fully commercial.

After September the 1st 30th, three seat license for HSMAdvisor currently available for just 75$ will cost 249$

Here are final prices for different packages that will be available:

Basic Individual License

• Single Seat  ___________99$
• Three Seat   ___________249$ (15% savings over single seat)
• Five Seat     ___________349$ (30% savings over single seat)

Special Company-Wide License

• Unlimited number of seats within company premise ___________email Quote

Hurry UP you only have few days left!!

For the list of people whos suggestions and feedback were deemed valuable and who will get a free license please read here.

We all have manufacturer speed & feed charts and have used their recommendations.

But sometimes those charts just don't apply.

For example manufacturer charts assume you are using their endmills at a certain stickout length, flute length and at a certain depth of cut.

But in the real life you rarely match all these conditions.
Sometimes you need to use longer endmill. Sometimes your flute is longer than what manufacturer gave you speeds and feed for.

What i am trying to say is that whenever your real life conditions differ from "normal" you "need to adjust accordingly".
In fact this is what is printed below many charts.

Too bad not many sources tell you how and what to adjust.

While failure to adjust cutting parameters often leads to chatter, poor surface finish and even tool breakage, one of the biggest mistakes people do when machining is Read More 

Hello gentlemen,

On September the 1st HSMAdvisor will turn one year old.

At that point 75$ for life deal will stop being offered.

Prices will go up.
New payment plans will be introduced.

Considered packages are:

• Current Release Single Seat License (1 key): xxx$
• Current Release Five Seat license (5 keys): xxx$ (30% savings)
• Current Release Company-Wide License (Unlimited seats within company premises): xxx$

Program Upgrades (Upgrading from version 1.xx to version 2.0):

• Single Seat License Upgrade: xx$
• Five Seat license Upgrade: xxx$
• Company-Wide License Upgrade: xxx$

I am not exactly set on pricing right now, so i can not say just how much things will cost.
I can only promise that pricing will continue being more than reasonable and very competitive.

Until September i will release several updates, but I will no longer offer trial extensions after September the 1st.

Announced changes will only affect commercial HSMAdvisor.

Free Online FSWizard will remain free for everyone.

The ONLY FREE CNC Speeds and Feeds Calcualtor

Confidently calculate cutting conditions for hundreds of work-piece materials and of combinations of tooling types and coatings.

• Accurately Estimate cutting forces involved in machining process and prevent tool breakage.
• Estimate machine power requirement and help choose best tool for the job.
• Suggest safe and practical Axial and Radial engagement values.
• Compensate for reduced-shank, long and extra-long tools.
• Improve cycle times and tool life
• UNIQUE feature that allows to set comfortable levels of cutter torque and deflection and prevent cutter breakage.
• Ideal for use as your Dynamic / Thoroidal / Truemill calculator

Please visit the project page for download link, support and instructions.
http://zero-divide.net/index.php?page=FSWizard_SA

Using Peck Cycle is often needed when drilling deep holes.
When using proper feed and speed no peck is required at depths of up to 3xDia for regular or 5xDia for High-Performance Parabolic drills.
At depths up to 10x, up to 5 pecks are required for regular  drills and up to 3 for Parabolic.
Anything over 10x Dia requires constant pecking of 0.5-1x Dia for regular drills and 1.5-2 Dia for Parabolic.

Since for programming you need a peck amount. Here are the numbers:

Of course our HSMAdvisor Speed and Feed Calculator suggests not only the Speeds and Feeds but also the proper peck depth for various drill types and depths of the hole.
It in fact was the first machinist calculator to do so. This feature was much later borrowed by our competition.

And here is a pretty image showing Peck VS Hole Depth for regular twist drill:

This not only means that peck amount should be different for different styles of drills and depths of holes.
But also that peck distance should be different for different stages of drilling the same hole.
Ideally we should start the hole with large pecks, that continually reduce as the hole gets deeper and deeper.

Let's find out how we can apply this knowledge when programming our toolpaths.
This is format for normal Pecking:

Read More