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 

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

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.

13640634846051.jpg

Where do we stand and how did we get here.

When i first started FSWizard project one year ago in December 2011. I felt the need to upgrade my knowledge and skill-set regarding speeds, feeds and best cutting conditions.

Other calculators available at that time simply did not cut it for me.

One of them did not account for such important parameters as tool length.

The other did not care about such crucial tool geometry features like helix angle, shank diameter, lead angle and so on.

As a result i have endeavoured on a mission to build the best calculator that would accurately predict cutting forces, cutter deflection and suggest best cutting modes using all available tool data for multitude of combinations of work-piece/tool materials, coatings and tool types.

It has been a year of research, building cutter and material models, applying REAL MACHINING experience.

All results were tested in REAL PRODUCTION environment.

Today thanks to FSWizard, machines i work on produce 200%-300% more parts per day than 1 year ago.

It has been one year since i have started.
And i believe i have achieved my original goal.

Today The FREE FSWizard gives far better results than many expensive solutions available on the market.

FSWizard:Standalone is the only available program that will warn you if cutter will be reaching its breaking point.

In fact we see paying users of other programs asking their developers for features that have been long implemented in FSWizard.
And we see those developers finally moving out of their comfort zone and trying to improve their program's functionality.

Where do we go from here?

What does the future hold for this project?

No one really knows.
Unlike others who can talk the speed/feed game, I am not into marketing.
I don't do a particularly good job of persuading people that my product is the best thing that happened to the CNC world.

All i have is 2 hours of free time on my hands after work and a ton or real-world machining experience not many in the software business can brag about.

All that remains to say here is

I am not using words "product" ,"consumers" and "business" just by accident.

Next release version of FSWizard:Standalone 0.015 PRO will be a commercial product.

It will be sold as a 1 year subscription.

I am not yet sure about the pricing.
But i know that i will make it subscription-based and the price will be very affordable.

This is the only way to move forward on this.

If you have any comments or thoughts, i would love to hear them out.

Hi-helix end mills have several advantages inherited with their design.

Simple math says that a an endmill with 45 degree helix angle directs 50% of the cutting force downward versus  25% for a 30 degree end mill.

Main advantages are:

• Higher rake angle directs more of a cutting force downward.
  This reduces side load on the cutter, that leads to less deflection and less tendency to chatter.
• At high axial engagement (deeper depths of cuts) more flutes remain in the contact with the work piece. This leads to much smoother cut, again reducing tendency of the cutter to chatter.
• High helix angle pulls chips upward and away from the cutting zone.
  This reduces chip re-cutting and helps prevent cutter from getting clogged up. This also allows to take deeper cuts and increases productivity.
• Because of higher helix more of flute length is being used in the cut. Better surface finish is achieved even when using the same chip load.
  Generally an end mill with 45 degree helix can be fed 30% faster than equivalent one with 30 degree helix and still achieve same surface finish.

High helix end mills also have disadvantages that a machinist has to take into consideration:

• With more of cutting force directed axially, the load on spindle bearings in downward direction is increased.
• Tendency for both the end mill and the work piece to pull out is increased. So a more rigid tool holding and work clamping should be considered.
• Higher helix end mills are also less stiff that regular helix end mills. This may cause more deflection and may become a problem when having to machine straight walls.
  This effect should be mostly diminished by lower side radial load, but it still needs to be considered in some cases.

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

FSWizard Online is:

FSWizard is here

It is the most accurate Online Feeds and Speeds Calulator.

In order for every user to enjoy latest modifications and most accurate results, it is WEB Based.
This means that you can use it across all imaginable operational systems and devices.
All you need is an internet connected WEB browser.
No download or installation is required: Just visit the web page.

Also a full functioning mobile version is available.

Key Features of FSWizard:

Read More