One of HSMAdvisor users asked me for help figuring speeds and feeds for machining stainless on his underpowered Tormach 700.
He volunteered to send me a model to work on, so I decided it was a good opportunity to make a learning video and share it with everybody.

I must say programming for such a low-power machine is a lot harder than for a full-blown production VMC where you are not worried about stalling your machine with anything under 1" in diameter:

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.

We are actually listening to our users!

I have been working hard to improve not only HSMAdvisor lately, but FSWizard Mobile CNC Machinist App too!

The latest update improves productivity, speed, fixes a lot of small glitches.
And it also adds a completely new GD&T reference tab to both the FSWizard Free and PRO apps.

Update: FSWizard PRO and Free apps have just been approved by the iTunes and are available on the AppStore!

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Have you ever wondered how much tool life can deteriorate when using coolant with High-Speed Machining (HSM)?
Or maybe you never really saw the boost in tool life when using HSM techniques because you had to use coolant?

Well, here is a test result I just got from running the same tool at the same Speed and Feed with and without coolant.

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We all know what the CNC Milling Machine spindle is used for - to hold the tool. But it is old and boring. Everybody does that.

Here are the 6 interesting and maybe less common ways to utilize machine spindle, increase productivity and solve some problems you never thought you had.

Use your Spindle as a fan to blow chips and coolant off of your work-piece, table and fixturing.

I saw this little gadget at a local IMTS show and it was quite cool. It is installed into a tool holder like a regular cutting tool would be and at the end of the program you can call the it up and run a little table-cleaning program to make your work a lot cleaner!

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We all have heard hundreds of times that when chatter is happening during machining, we should reduce our feed rate. The same advice we also hear for compensating for extra-long tools and unstable setups.

Let me explain why I think this is mostly incorrect.

Let’s list  the effects of reducing the feed rate:

1. Reduces tool life.
2. Reduces productivity.
3. Increases deflection.
4. Causes chatter.

Let me explain from my own experience and research I have made each of these points and a simple way to avoid chatter's adverse effects.Read More 

Latest advances in tool technology make milling of high carbon and tool steels as reliable and predictable as benign aluminium alloys.

In this video a large 4140 steel component is being roughed out at 2700RPM and 600 inches per minute.
While achieving  impressive material removal rate (20 pounds of steel machined off in a matter of half an hour!) the tool life puts the old school square shoulder endmills to shame.

Yes, it could(and should) have been machined using a bigger cutter, but I wanted to put the tool to the test.
And it performed beautifully: Was able to surpass the recommended starting speeds and feeds by at least 170%!Read More 

Look for the HSM machining of the round central pocket in the beginning.
Here we have a 12mm 6 flute Coated hi-performance endmill, cutting 1" deep at 0.047" (10%) rWOC.
at 10000 RPM and 300 ipm feedrate. the chipload works out to be 0.005". Material is 4140 pre-hardened steel.

Impressive isn't it?
Those results have been achieved with uber-expensive BlueSwarf tap-test technology.

This is one video that caught the eye of one of my HSMAdvisor trial users:

Being a geek and wanting to help the user make the right decision I immediately punched the numbers into my HSMAdvisor app.

Here is what I've got:Read More