Not a HAAS specific post, but I thought I'd post here since I work mainly on a VF-4. I've been getting the hang of ramping, and I've found an issue which has me curious. Specific slot today was 3/8" wide, 2" long, and 3/8" deep being a through slot.
Since I didn't ramp down to the full depth in one pass, I wondered about the proper way to complete the ramp. The first pass was, say, G1 G91 X2. Z-.04 (pretty shallow ramp, like 1.5 degrees). Now if I ramp down .04" on the X-2. cut back, then my endmill will actually approach a .08" depth of cut as it makes its way back across the slot, correct? Seems like that could run into some tool stress problems with longer ramps.
On the other hand, if I cut back to the beginning without another ramp -- G1 G91 X2. Z-.04; X-2.; -- then I have a lot of wasted run time, I think, by cutting passes that don't ramp down. What's the general practice for slot ramping?
Also, since I found out the hard way today that this practice is a pretty bad choice in 304 stainless, is the traditional slotting practice of drilling a lead hole, roughing, then finishing still necessary in this abomination of a metal?
Thanks for any advice and for all of the helpful information on this forum.