What's new:

• Revised chiploads for smaller endmills.
• Revised recommended Depths of Cut for different material types for endmills with various number of flutes.
• Improved Deflection model to include cutter lead angle.

In this update i have re-visited speeds and feeds area of the calculator.

Recommended Depth of Cut and Deflection calculation was revised.
At the same time Chiploads for endmills smaller than 3mm or 0.125" were reduced in half.

This resulted in most things regarding actual Speeds and Feeds remaining the same, but i believe this update works better as it considers material type and number of flutes to calculate recommended depth of cut.

Also Deflection calculation was changed for tapered endmills

Hello guys.

There have not been any updates for quite a while now.

But it is so for a reason.

See i am in the mids of implementing some long awaited features.

So far Boring bars and taps are in the works. I am also planning to include plunging feedrates and revise some other tooling definitions.

If you have something small you wish to see implemented in the next release let me know.

This is another video from his Productivity Series.

In there we get a quick demonstration of HSM techniques Eric is using to produce his beatiful vise.

Also my own HSMAdvisor is featured there!

Thank you Eric!

Orange Vise are produced in the USA.

Check out this website for more info http://orangevise.com

I have been asked to create a tutorial on how to work with the tool library, so here it is.

myCut Tool Database is quite a unique thing.

It not only contains all of your tools, but also each and every tool can have multiple operations or "Cuts" attached to it.

Everything is very simple.

Database contains Libraries

Libraries contain Tools

And Tools contain Cuts

Each entity behaves according to specific rules and "knows" specific kind of data.

Please read more to learn how it all works.Read More 

I was originally going to introduce new License types on september the 1st.

But it turned out to be a little harder than i thought and everything got delayed by almost one month.

The revised date of september the 30th is still standing though.

So until then 3 seat license will still be available for 75$ and a new single seat will be available for just 49$ !!!

If you have been procrastinating, this is your time to save.

Also check out my Online store that i coded myself.

http://www.hsmadvisor.com/index.php?page=buy

HSMAdvisor version 0.5 has just become available on downloads page.

There are many improvements and fixes in there.

But the most noticable one is improved Circular Compensation Calculator.

Located on FSWizard page and only available for milling tools it allows to calculate with of cut by stock or pilot hole diameter.

Also helical angle calculator hels converting degrees to pitch and vise-verse.

Check it out!

helical_interpolation.png

This release features some pretty major updates and features.

First of all, Tool deflection model has been radically improved over previous versions.
Now model fully considers not only the flute length, but also depth of cut and how it affects deflection!

No other speed and feed calculator alows you to do that.

Calculator now helps getting full advantage of those Hight Axial engagement toolpaths.

New things

• HSMAdvisor can now print!
  For now you can print a screenshot of application window. Make sure to select "Album" layout in your printer settings, otherwise portion of the window may get cut off.
  Tool library printing is next in line to be done.
• User Library Export and Import in XML format is now available.
  You can use it to back up your tool library and share library files with others.
• Library Tabs are now right-clickable by mouse- this allows to right click on the library tab and select desired action like "Delete" "Merge" and "Rename".
• Speeds for some tool and stainless steels have been revised.
  Couple of materials were added.

Things updated and improved

• Improved tool deflection model.
• Improved and fixed machine and tool limits trigering.
• Creation of new Tool or Cut now forces newly-created tool/cut to get loaded, so you dont have to search it from the drop-down list- it becomes active right away.
• Viewing and editing of tool/cut info in myCutDB page now does not close opened tool tree.
• Tool material and Work Material are now a single column. Its called Tool&Work Material and it shows tool material for Tool rows and work material for Cut rows

HSM or High Speed Machining is becoming more and more popular each day.
Many of us have seen those youtube videos where endmlls remove large amounts of material at high speeds/feeds.

While definitions of HSM may vary between tool manufacturers and even individual shops, the physics behind it remain the same.

In this article i would like to explore flat endmills.

HSM is not about ramping up your speed/feed overrides to 200% and puling out your smartphone to record another youtube-worth video.

What is HSM?

HSM is a complex of programming, machining and tooling techniques aimed at radical increase of productivity.

Programming

The cornerstone of HSM is low radial and high axial engagement of an endmill with the workpiece.

There are many CAD/CAM systems that allow you to create HSM tool-paths. Mastercam's Dynamic milling and SurfCAM's Truemill are some of them.

When radial cutter engagement with the material is smaller than the radius of the tool an interesting thing happens.
Chip load- the distance the tool advances per cutter revolution per tooth- does not equal the actual chip thickness anymore.
Chip thinning mainly happens at radial engagements below 30% of the diameter.

In order to get compensated chipload you need to multiply recommended by manufacturer chipload by the chip thinning factor.

Usual Radial Engagement for HSM toolpaths however is between 5 and 15%.

Axial depth of cut varies depending on geometry, but Read More 

Radial Chip Thinning HSMAdvisor Screenshot

New things: None.

Well not really.

First of all alot of small bugs has been fixed.

Second of all i added a neat picture to Drilling operation.

It now shows what each drill specific field means

Also. Unfortunately all current license key holder will have to get new license keys.

If you currently have a license key, please e-mail me your new Computer-ID
And i will send you a new license key.

NOTE:

If you are installing over previous version of HSMAdvisor, you are encouraged to perform complete uninstall of the old version.

Othervise what happens is old settings file is not compatible with the new one.

This will cause Default Tool Type, Tool material and Coating presets to get lost and you end up with a funny looking FSWizard page.

Correcting this is extremely easy:

You need to select some tool type (IE: End Mill), select some Tool Material (IE. HSS) and finally select some Coating (IE. NONE)

This will fix the problem.

Attached below is a screenshot of what it looks like when settings mismatch happens, not a pretty sight i agree, but there is no need to panic.

(Note to self: add version check for every file)

Drilling Settings version mismatch

Things new in this version:

• Added Lead Angle/Taper Angle/Tip Angle switch that allows to specify the angle of the cutting edge.
• Added V-Bit engraving cutters.
• Added wood materials
• Stainless steels from Medium and Easy groups have been revised.

Tool library changes:

• Tools no longer carry any information about material or engagement- all that extra data is now saved with Cuts
• Fixed a small bug with copy/move function.