Here goes, the part im trying to make faster is a 3"x3"x14" block of d2, it has a step on each side of the block, one step is 1" wide x 1.02" deep and the length of the part (14"). the other step is the same dimensions but 1.300" deep. the block is oversized on height by .150" so i chuck it high in the vice, i profile the entire block with a kennametal 2" indexible with 5 cutters, run 500 surface feet ith a .006 chipload giving me a 28ipm feed rate, i run it at .200" depth of cut removing about .08" of an inch of material. Then to make the steps i run a 1.25" high feed indexible, off hand i cant remember the surface feet but at .04 depth of cut and a .045 chipload its around 130ipm, by using the high feed rather than using the 2" indexible i save 6 minutes of machine time. My question is, is there a faster way of doing this? I considered using a large rougher but since the cost of them are $300-$500 each. The cost of the high feed inserts are $7 a piece and i can make 3 of these blocks with 1 set of 3 inserts, so the cost for inserts is about $7 per block, i dont see a rougher lasting that long getting pushed to its limits,

For profiling i was going to consider a 2" indexible profiling mill that has 20 inserts, if my machine could handle it i could profile the entire block in 1 pass, not sure is the old haas vf4 can take a 2.875" depth of cut and removing .08" off the profile in 1 pass without overloading it, the 1.25" high feed 3 flute allready pushes it to 100 percent spindle load.