Re: tips for 304 st st plate
hello bspear i guess you allready know that the crust is hard ... not possible to go fast, vibrations, eats a lot of inserts, etc
even a high quality carbide insert may fail sooner then expected
if possible, try to avoid flame cut ...
otherwise, use a holder with as many inserts as possible ( so to make the cutting proces more linear, more continuous ), and tool diameter as low as possible ( so to reduce required spindle torque, thus less vibrations, cutting force vector closer to spindle center, etc )
i am not sure if hsm is ok, because crust is uneven , and this means that tools goes into material and goes out many times, and all these entries & exits into that crust may kill the cutting edge ... it may be better to keep the tool cutting, inside the material, as long as possible ?!
just saying ; i don't know your setup / kindly
Ladyhawke - My Delirium, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_bFO1SNRZg