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 

From this point on, all holders of valid HSMAdvisor licenses will be eligible to free Life-Time updates and upgrades to their HSMAdvisor product.
Likewise there is not going to be a big functionality jump between the version 1.99 and 2.0 like in some other software products.

This release model is called "rolling release" and it is becoming the new industry norm.
It offers smoother transition and no steep learning curve for existing users. It also helps prevent unavoidable bugs when a large amount of changes is introduced all at once.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 

I would like to announce the launch of a brand new product called HSMCode.

HSMCode combines the power HSMAdvisor speed and Feed calculator, its advanced Tool and Cut Database and the new functionality of HSMCode into one seamless product!

What does HSMCode Do?

HSMCode allows you to create ToolPaths from imported CAD or Solid geometry with ease.

All you need to do is pick features that need to be machined and HSMAdvisor will pick the most suitable tool, calculate proper speeds and feeds and then HSMCode will generate the G-Code for your machine

As simple as that.

You can also create additional geometry using an in-built CAD designer and Simulate your Toolpaths to verify the correctness of your work.

The sales will begin in a couple of months on June 31 2016!

Please contact me if you would like to test the early demo version, affect the development of the software and (depending on the value of your input) receive your Lifetime Subscription for free!

Cheers!

There have been reports of troubles our FSWizard users were having after updating to Android 6.0

I issued some hotfixes before but they did not help.

So I would like to announce that with the latest update all the problems have been fixed. There were also minor updates in the UI, but nothing major.

Cheers!

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V1.47

I just have to tell.

I know, I know I should not. But I am working on a very cool feature right now and I am extremely happy and proud with how well it comes together.

Okay. I can tell you that it has a word "Cloud" in it and that I have VERY high hopes for it.....Once fully implemented it will unite all of our Speeds and Feeds products in a huge way.

Keep tuned in. Closed testing is about to start very soon.

If you would like to participate in something groundbreaking and new, shoot me an email!

Only license holders can apply, though. I don't want it to leak too early.

We have just released a pretty important HSMAdvisor v1.217 update!

I strongly encourage everybody to go ahead and install it as it contains some big improvements.

What is new and improved in this update:

• New Tool Database Status Indicator:
  Status Bar Indicator showing whether the Database file is being written, up to date or if write has failed
• A Warning now shows up when HSMAdvisor is closed with DB changes not saved.
• Now you can not close HSMAdvisor until Database file has been written to the disk
• A local backup copy of Shared database is now created on each computer for cases when connection is unavailable.
• Fixed the problem when new Tools and Cuts were not added to the shared database
• Fixed some (./,) locale-related problems.
• Fixed the problem of some settings not being saved.

I would like to explain one new feature here - The Tool Data Base Status indicator:

On the status bar of HSMAdvisor screen you can now see The Tool Data Base Status indicator (later DB Status) icon.

Read More 

Every month we are getting a good amount of feedback and suggestions.

Everything is getting prioritized and eventually implemented. Urgent stuff is getting done fast. And other "nice to haves" are getting pushed down according to their usefulness / difficulty (yes, everyone secretly wishes my program could also edit and create HSM g-code :)).

It is amazing, but almost half of HSMAdvisor's features were originally suggested by our loyal users!

The latest update HSMAdvisor 1.213 addresses some of the feedback I have received last couple of months.

So the New features are:

1. Smart Depth and Width of Cut (DOC/WOC) suggestion (user suggested)
2. Compressing of Shared Tool DataBases
3. Display of Stock status on Tool DataBase tables (user suggested)
4. Various little improvements like new Heli-Coil reference, better DOC/WOC calculation better multitasking, etc. (mostly based on user feedback)

Let's go over the most important ones here:

Read More 

I would like to thank each and every person who has helped us out on our many projects this year.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thus I am kicking off the last sale of this year. It will run until January the 4th.

You can save 15% on all purchases over $90!

Cheers.

See you next year!

PS. I have just uploaded an update to address the latest feedback. Thank You and Enjoy.