[kkarasch]

Currently we do not track our insert life. Last night we had another occurrence of an insert breaking, pulling the part out of the chuck and damaging the fixturing.

How often does this occur for any of you? seems like monitoring tool life this should be able to almost completely avoided.

thanks,

[fizzissist]

Since I always monitor tool life, having an insert break with catastrophic results is very rare.

You don't monitor tool life, and have catastrophic results.

I'd recommend looking at the insert edge on occasion. Insert breakage can be very expensive if you end up ruining the pocket, hence the whole toolholder. Looking at the insert edge once in a while is usually very inexpensive.

[kkarasch]

Any recommendations on frequency? I'm not a CNC expert by any means and i know it all depends on material, speeds, feeds, cut depth, etc. But a base starting point would be nice.

[txcncman]

You machinists should be able to give you fairly good base line information. I think you will find insert life is based on volume of material removed more so than time on the clock.

[jeffrey001]

Managing insert life is not very expensive.

If I'm doing let's say ,10 parts, I change insert for a new one but it still good for manual milling or turning.

Jeff

[DMF_TomB]

Currently we do not track our insert life. Last night we had another occurrence of an insert breaking, pulling the part out of the chuck and damaging the fixturing.

thanks,

....pull out of chuck? so using on a lathe?
need more info
for example using a steady rest off center (easy to do) basically wiggles part in and then out of the chuck. i have seen parts pull out especially at higher speeds.
.
need cutting parameters. basically with part material info and depth of cut and speeds and feeds horsepower, torque, cutting forces can be estimated. even assuming your tooling and tool holder is short, not sticking out too far and rigid there is a limit to what every lathe and chuck can hold. also many tool holders how they clamp on insert effects their ability to take heavy cuts. basically some inserts held with only a small screw usually are not the heaviest duty type
...... for example roughing stainless only in the chuck 1/4" can easily push part out of chuck. boring a part so it becomes thin walled will allow it to squish more and chuck holding force will go down. most lathe chucks at higher speeds have less holding force just by centrifugal forces. interrupted cuts / turning a square round creates a pounding action loosing chuck force.
........ lastly there is false cutting edge buildup. basically some metals especially when cut dry have a tendency to stick to the cutting edge and this buildup can increase quickly causing problems. not the least is when false cutting edge buildup breaks free it often takes a chuck out of the cutting insert.
........ then there is machine limit. basically every lathe has a certain limit on how heavy a cut it can take without serious vibration and chatter. literally you can stall the motor / headstock. even if speed slows down under load what once was a 0.005" thick chip can be much more depends on if lathe has a clutch and where slippage occurs. many will slip under load and this can be adjusted. some have the clutch not set very high because they want lathe to stall on overload. with no slippage a part can sometimes go flying at extremely high speeds.
........ usually i have seen insert chip not out right break.