[InventIt]

I have a Glacern 1" EM and I noticed you have to be very careful putting the inserts on it. They fit tightly against the shoulder and can be crooked or not seated all the way if your not careful, just something to check.

I have not tried the alum inserts yet, but I have run the standard inserts. The 1" EM REALLY vibrates my mill (Series II Bridgeport Manual) cutting mild steel. The same machine cuts the same material like butter when using a 6 flute 1.25" HSS rougher. Im thinking 2 flute cutters like the Glacern need 8-10K rpms to peform well.

I would think you could get MUCH better productivity from a 5 or 6 flute HSS/Carbide EM in your machine.

[dlenardu]

Delw

The endmill that I was comparing was a 3/4 3 flute carbide endmill using the same .25"doc and .5" width. I did not have Gwizard when I did the speeds and feeds with this endmill, so I did a standard chipload calculation and was a bit conservative but the endmill cut like butter, no coolant just air. This indexable endmill I cannot get to perform even at a slower feedrate than that carbide endmill. Even when Glacern told me to back the depth down to .1" doc 2250 rpm and 38 ipm the endmill still chattered. I am not denying that a Box way machine is much more rigid than linear rails, no doubt. However, I still feel this machine is rigid enough for this endmill to perform. I run a 3/4" 6 flute through steel with no problems either. I understand what you are saying and I went and checked the backlash on the machine and it checked out great. I do agree that I need to find the sweet spot for this endmill but it has been very discouraging. According to Glacern "The high positive axial rake reduces cutter flex and vibration while conserving spindle horsepower." So I feel there is no reason I should not be able to make this endmill work and be at least as effective as a regular carbide endmill, but then again maybe it won't work well in aluminum due to lack of chip evacuation.

Inventit,

A 6 flute endmill will not really work for me, I'm cutting aluminum and there is not enough room for chip evacuation with 6 flutes.