[Darth Yoda]

Hi gurus. we just took on a new project made of M2 steel. It's a 6 piece run that will pop up every 6 months or so. We are a small shop and don't have any specialty tooling but are willing to buy if needed.
The parts are about 17 inches long and SHOULD come in soft and be hardened later. I have looked around and cannot find find speeds and feeds for M2 at all. The closest I've found is "M2 has a cutability of 65% compared to 1% carbon steel at 100%." This leads me to believe the SFM should be about 2/3rds of carbon or about 65SFM. Correct?

What other metals is M2 comparable to?
Thanks again guys.

[rockcliff]

M2 is very similar to D2, as a young tool and die apprentice I was taught to cut it dry, but I don't think coolant hurts, the main key is to keep it cool, as it can work harden quite easy, , it's pretty tough stuff,

[Darth Yoda]

Thanks for the reply rockcliff.

[juergenwt]

Your 50-60% is about right. Other factors such as stability and power of machine and material of cutting tools come into play.
Cutting oil helps. Should not be a problem.
In most cases I would say: cutting speed v=10 m/min using a Cobalt alloy HSS cutting tool.