[gakor]

Hello,

I wonder if you guys could be kind enough to share your experience machining nylon. I have 20,000 bushings to cut. The bushing is 9mm long +/- 0.1, 10mm OD, and 6.6 +/- 0.1mm ID. I have never cut nylon before. I would appreciate a heads up so I have some time to prepare. What inserts would you guys reccomend? What brand? What feed, and what speed?

Customer supplies solid rods, so I have to drill. What drill would be suitable to do the job quickly and leave a nice finish?

I think they mentioned the nylon type to be LC94, PAS. This is not for sure, though.



Thanks ahead.

[yoopertool]

When I machine nylon I use the AL KX inserts from SECO. They have a sharp edge and are made for machining aluminum. The insert geometry is up to you though.

[machinemike]

If you're machining nylon on a swiss machine I'd be more concerned with the material diameter than inserts. Nylon is soft you can blast through with any carbide insert but the material diameter can change by as much as .005 causing it to jam up in the guidebushing. I mic the material and try and find a bar that is close from end to end. I then add a guide tube in the main collet to keep the material from whipping around. That's another issue. Good luck.

[Tinmuk]

With that material and tolerances I wouldn't even consider putting them on my L-20's, I'd throw that job on my Nakamura and have all 20k done in two weeks.

As for machining Nylon (any kind) use very sharp edged tools, a lot of coated inserts are not edge honed and you wont get a good finish. I would consider using a plain old HSS tool sharpened on a diamond hone. Use a good size nose radius as well, high feed and cut to size in one pass.

Drill it first with a drill made for plastic (included angle and spiral) and face, turn and part with the same tool. If you put the drill and the tool on the same holder, you don't even have to index. 20 seconds max per part.

[gridley51]

I machine a lot of nylon,using the same inserts we use for steel and flood coolant.Can hold tight tolerances quite well.
As others have said,a sliding head is not the machine to use as the od of the nylon is not accurate and is always oversize.
Other big problem is turnings birdnesting on the tooling which means stopping to clear it off.
Mark.