[Ken_Shea]

Do any of you pay any attention to the "Spindle Load" meter, and if you do how do you and how can I use it to increase cutting efficiency?

Right now my cutting just bumps the needle.

Thanks
Ken

[WOLOG]

Ken,
I have a Haas SL-30 BB and a VF-5/50. The spindle load meter is an important feature I use every day. I mostly use it to monitor the cutting forces on a given operation. It can also tell you when you are about to blow up a tool and lose a part. Whenever I run a job for the first time, I pay attention to all of the load meters. I try not to overload any of them as much as possible. But 100% is fair game. The meter works great for monitoring drilling operations.

I am not sure if a spindle load meter will increase efficiency or not. If you are using the proper speeds/feeds/DOC and the meter is not showing much, the machine is just having a easy time with the cut. Also, if you have a 30 hp machine vs a 15 hp machine and try to run the same cut, the load could be different due to the greater/lesser hp rating. I think the whole gear box vs direct drive thing may come up here to. Both of my machines have a gear box on the spindle motors. to give you an idea about spindle load, the other day I ran a 1 3/4 inserted drill in a piece of 4140 material. I was tuning a 1250 rpms with a .005/ rev feed and the spindle load was 19%. At the last Haas Demo day, They ran a 4" OTM inserted drill in a piece of 4130 and the meter was at 98%. The VF-6/50 didn't even grunt. Nuttin" but chips!!! i hope my rambling helps.