[thackman]

I'm trying to figure out my initial tooling purchase and some feedback from the community as to what works well in the Syil SuperX3 would help. I'm going to order a full set of generic end mills to start with or more accurately break while learning. I've heard that name brand cutters perform far better than generic tooling from China so I was going to pick up some Putnam, Melin and ATRAX end mills as well. Of course that is where I realized that my shopping list for endmills alone topped $200. Time for some revision.

My dilemma is that I suspect that there is an optimal end mill size for the X3 and it will vary depending on the material being cut. I could spend a small fortune trying find the right end mill size and material and then I'd be left with many expensive end mills that didn't work very well. When Enco has a sale on end mills it's hard to pass up that $95 3/4 Putnam end mill that is on sale for $20. I know as a hobbyist I'm never going to put a $95 end mill in this machine unless I got it for a steal.

To get back on point. There is a difference between what make chips in the X3 vs. what works well and gives good tool life and surface finish. I don't want to deal with very many tool changes to I doubt many of my jobs will use roughing mills but Enco does have some good prices on them at the moment.

There are a lot of articles on the web that detail why carbide is better than HSS or vice versa or why you need a high helix for AL or even why small mills like this don't benefit from a high helix in AL. I'm looking for a good starting point from some people with experience with X3's. I haven't made chips with a mill before but from what I have read online, which has to be true, doesn't it? , the spindle speed isn't quite optimum for AL except on the larger cutters, the spindle horsepower isn't quite enough for harder to machine steels, and the rigidity isn't great overall. Of course all of this came from other forums where a Haas VMC was considered a good starting point for a small business. Some of them also had the idea that 1600 ipm rapids were a good starting point, if only I had $75k to spend. I'm sure everyone who owns an X3 has managed to make some good parts on them but the manufacturer recommended feeds and speeds for most end mills just are not obtainable on an X3. Since I'm not trying to make money on this I care less about the speed I'm making chips and more about the surface finish, tolerance, and tooling costs.

In general I think/guess that I will use 3/8 endmills for most of my work but there are some parts that are going to smaller endmills. At the spindle speeds of the X3 is 1/16 carbide justified or should I stick with HSS for the small tools. I ask because while the carbide is more fragile it will be more rigid. I'm hopeing that these are easy answers for someone who has tried them before. That way I don't burn money attempting the impossible.

Can the X3 handle a 3/4 end mill with AL? It definitely brings up the SFM.

If you could only have three end mills (one for 6061 AL, one for mild steel, and one for tool steel/303 stainless) what would they be?

For all around work in both AL and steel are coarse or fine roughers better?

At least I'll be in the right ballpark when I'm breaking cutters.

[SyilAmerica]

Aluminumm : I personally love using a 1/2" coated HSS 2 flute, 3200-3400 rpm, .150", 9 ipm. Ramp all my cuts 15 degrees and let it eat material.

Stainless : 3/8" 4 flute, carbide, 1700 rpm, .050", 5 ipm

I experiment with alot of things. If you are new, I'd suggest the cheapest bits out there. You're going to break a few, why not break the cheap ones.

When I got into stainless cutting I found HSS was OK, but carbide is wonderful. HSS is still my preferance with aluminum. Maybe it's just because of the price.