[TiagoSantos]

I love HSMXpress. I wish HSMWorks was cheaper - the ability to use 3D adaptive clearing even on prismatic parts is awesome! Makes zeros like me feel like CAM heroes..

[SCzEngrgGroup]

First you're buying solidworks, now you're using adaptive clearing? Who knows, maybe some day you'll buy a carbide endmill

I have plenty of carbide tools, but until now, there's been no reason to use them, because I could get the same MRR with a HSS tool that cost 1/3 as much, and was much harder to damage. Even now, I don't think they'll necessarily get the job done any faster on average - I'm limited more by rigidity and spindle power than by tooling. I expect I can go at least 50% faster (not in feed, but in radial engagement) with the HSS tools. I'll need to see how hard I can push it.

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Here's a prototype of one of the "tool receivers" for the ATC. This is the gadget that holds the unused tools in the ATC. The tools are held by their shanks, so the shanks stay clean and dry. It's a mini collet system, with the collet spring-loaded. When complete, there will be a disc screwed to the top of the collet, which is pushed up by springs in three of the holes surrounding the collet. Pushing down on the disc (done by a very small, short-throw air cylinder) releases the tool.

Thanks to HSMXpress, the three milled parts for this took less than 15 minutes to make, and only a bit more than half that was machining time - the rest was manual toolchanges, flipping each part over once, etc. Things go a lot faster when you can cut at 50-100 IPM! And I now know I can cut the machining time about in half with some simple changes!

Attachment 221412 Attachment 221414 Attachment 221416

The last few days was also my first chance to really make good use of the super-duper $50 Coroplast enclosure I put on the machine bad in December. It works wonderfully! Not a drop, or a chip, leaked out. The only coolant that got on the floor leaked out from a bad weld in one of the trays, where I had repaired some shipping damage. The enclosure is head and shoulders better than shower curtains!

Regards,
Ray L.

[keithmcelhinney]

100ipm! Holy hell! Quite a step up from the normal 18ipm I do on my little 135!

-Keith

[AUSTINMACHINING]

I downloaded HSM advisor last week and ran chiip thinning with a 3 flute Zrn lakeshore carbide end mill. I ran HSM adaptive clearing ...
..375 end mill
Doc .4 "
Step over .048
Rpm 6000
Feed 100 Ipm. (110 suggested).

Ran great.
Carbide is definatley stiff for those deep cuts.
Surface finish was incredible. They must be sharp too.

[keithmcelhinney]

You have got to film one of these cuts. I am very intrigued! I have a part that is going to require a ton of metal removal and am dreading having to have to do it the "old fasioned way". I bought one of the modular insert TTS tools from Tormach hoping it will help with some of the deep cuts I have to do.

-Keith

[SCzEngrgGroup]

You have got to film one of these cuts. I am very intrigued! I have a part that is going to require a ton of metal removal and am dreading having to have to do it the "old fasioned way". I bought one of the modular insert TTS tools from Tormach hoping it will help with some of the deep cuts I have to do.

-Keith

Yeah, I'll do a video sometime, though there's not a whole lot to see, what with the raging torrent of opaque blue coolant.

The other thing I've been meaning to do for a while is a PDB video, showing how good the tool retention is. I keep seeing posts in other forums with people talking about how TTS is only good for light milling, and how easily the tools pulls out. Ironically, even the Tormach guys seem to have a lot of problems with pullout with the Tormach PDB. I've NEVER had pull-out with any of my motor-driven PDBs, and I wanted to do a video where I'd take a TTS holder with a 1/2" endmill in it, dip the shank into a cup of coolant, then install it in the spindle, tighten it with the PDB, and run some heavy roughing. I've never actually tried it, but I bet it would work just fine....

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

100ipm! Holy hell! Quite a step up from the normal 18ipm I do on my little 135!

-Keith

Full disclosure - the 100 IPM was in plastic (UHMW). I'm running 50 IPM in aluminum, with 0.55" axial engagement, 0.050" radial engagement, and a 2-flute HSS tool. At those engagements, I know it will go a lot faster, probably close to 100IPM. Or I could continue running at 50 IPM, and probably double either the radial or axial engagements. With carbide, I'm sure I could hit 200, albeit at a smaller radial engagement, due to limited spindle power and rigidity. And since I'm running 4900 RPM with the HSS, carbide still would not buy me much, if anything, in MRR.

I have a batch of HSS 3-flutes, which I think are the ideal solution for this machine. They'll let me at least double my MRR, without the high cost of carbide.

Regards,
Ray L.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Nice ray
You mind sharing where you found 3 flute HSS ?.

Thanks.
Matt.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Nice ray
You mind sharing where you found 3 flute HSS ?.

Thanks.
Matt.

Sure: High Speed Steel End Mills, Square End, Ball Nose End Mills, Coated End Mills , Roughers and Finishers, HSS End Mills and High Speed Steel End Mills from Discount-Tools.com, the Nation's leading online cutting tool supplier.

Great company to deal with. Good tools, good prices, great selection, and really good service.

Regards,
Ray L.

[TiagoSantos]

I've gotten 3 flute HSS end mills from enco a few times. I don't think I've seen high helix, 3 flute HSS end mills though, that would be neat. I'll check discount-tools..

[neilw20]

Great mini collet holder in the receiver!!

What plastic did you use?

Many more tools in a given disk diameter, due to only needing to be same size as flange.
Beats the hell out of trying to hold by the flanged part, or even needing consistent shapes of flange, like grooves, etc.

[jid2]

One of my standard cuts is with a 3 flute 1/2" carbide tool, about .75-.90" deep and .060" wide at 90 IPM, with the spindle running 6800 RPM. I think your machine is more rigid than mine and you may be able to run those same feeds (with less spindle speed) and just have a higher chip load. I increase the amount of stepover as the tools get smaller in diameter. On 1/4" tools I run 40% stepover, even with deep cuts and let it rip.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Great mini collet holder in the receiver!!

What plastic did you use?

Many more tools in a given disk diameter, due to only needing to be same size as flange.
Beats the hell out of trying to hold by the flanged part, or even needing consistent shapes of flange, like grooves, etc.

Neil,

That collet is basically a "placeholder" made of UHMW. WAY too slippery for this application, it's what I had on-hand.

But, I decided while I really like the concept, the collets will be too difficult for me to fabricate. I've already designed a new, simpler mechanism, which is trivial to fabricate. Still fits easily within the same form factor. And, it's positive locking, not dependent on friction, so it's better overall. Might get one made later today. Right now, gotta jump in the toy car ('64 Jag E-Type roadster), and do my part for Global Warming by creating some Greenhouse gasses....

Regards,
Ray L.

[neilw20]

Is that a V12 etype? My mate has one.
Bloody awful fuel pump. Carry a spare or a wet towel if it overheats.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Is that a V12 etype? My mate has one.
Bloody awful fuel pump. Carry a spare or a wet towel if it overheats.

Neil,

I couldn't afford to feed a V-12. Mine is one of the early 3.8L inline sixes - the most "sporting", and valuable, of E-types.



Regards,
Ray L.

[TiagoSantos]

Not sure what year, but there's at least one E-Type that usually shows up at the Vintage races here in BC. Pretty spiffy "little" cars

edit: looks like it's a '64 as well. I think I was helping with flagging at one of the corners, this exact race haha.

http://jag2jag.com/video/rivers-edge...y-mission-bc-2

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Not sure what year, but there's at least one E-Type that usually shows up at the Vintage races here in BC. Pretty spiffy "little" cars

edit: looks like it's a '64 as well. I think I was helping with flagging at one of the corners, this exact race haha.

River's Edge Raceway, Mission BC - Part 1 - THE JAGUAR SOCIAL NETWORK of OWNERS

That guy is having too much fun.... :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

[neilw20]

hmm. Getting valuable.
your one, -- couldn't find a 1964 here. $175,000
1962 Jaguar E Type Series I

The V12 one. $55,000
1973 Jaguar E Type Series III

They are getting too valuable to drive??

[SCzEngrgGroup]

hmm. Getting valuable.
your one, -- couldn't find a 1964 here. $175,000
1962 Jaguar E Type Series I

The V12 one. $55,000
1973 Jaguar E Type Series III

They are getting too valuable to drive??

There is some kind of freakish "bubble" going on very recently, and auction prices have gone completely insane. Some people are paying stupid money for rather ordinary cars. One early car sold a few months ago for about $280K, and the same car sold again about two months later for over $400K! It's insane! It won't last. "Normal" price for that car would've been in the low $100s. Personally, I believe there are a lot of people these days who simply have so much money, if they want something, they pay whatever they have to pay to get it. For them, the difference between $100K and $400K is literally pocket change. There's no other explanation for paying 3X what that car was worth. There were a lot of these cars built, and lots of them for sale all the time. You can have a complete rust-bucket restored to 100-point status for well under $200K, so why spend $400K+?? Mine, at least, is worth more than I have in it, even though I've put 40K miles on it over the last 11-12 years since it was restored.

Regards,
Ray L.