[Kmed]

But nobody noticed I took one of the videos from the side on a Super MiniMill. I don't have a chip auger but I do have a honking big hole in the right hand side of the enclosure which is very handy for pulling chips out through.

PS: With a polycarbonate window to keep chips and coolant inside when the machine is running.

You know. I looked at that way cover from the side one, and thought maybe i am seeing things. I based that assumption on 2 vises and a rotary table (I thought was a 210, but must be a 160. The tool carousel looked low, but I dont have one of those, mine is side mount.

[Geof]

....2 vises and a rotary table (I thought was a 210, but must be a 160....

It is a 210; this machine has the 4" Z axis lift which gives enough clearance for the bigger rotary. We have four of these machine outfitted with 210s and have rotating platforms that accept a great variety of multi-part fixtures. I have shown some of these setups in various threads.

They are my version of a 'horizontal machining center' with the tombstone horizontal. And they really crank out the parts.

[MrWild]

The videos were amazing. I'd have never dreamed what you showed was possible without seeing it. In fact, I'd have argued the cutter would weld to the part. I've been retired too long and my experience is in the old days of hand machining. New at the time of my retirement were the cobalt hog mills that had round tooth thread profiles. That ancient tech carries over when I've tried to program projects in my hobby shop. Might be time to see about auditing some CNC courses.

[tobyaxis]

The videos were amazing. I'd have never dreamed what you showed was possible without seeing it. In fact, I'd have argued the cutter would weld to the part. I've been retired too long and my experience is in the old days of hand machining. New at the time of my retirement were the cobalt hog mills that had round tooth thread profiles. That ancient tech carries over when I've tried to program projects in my hobby shop. Might be time to see about auditing some CNC courses.

If your here your not stuck in the "Old Ways", MrWild. Our CNC ways might be a little different, but all your experience will prove outstanding on a CNC.

As I always will believe "Manual Machinists make the Best CNC Machinists"

You will SHINE!!!

[Geof]

The videos were amazing. I'd have never dreamed what you showed was possible without seeing it.....

I was sceptical in the past; my experience is a bit like yours with the best thing since sliced bread being the cobalt roughing mills or Kennametal KC850.

The thing is I have found you need to configure things correctly to use these very high speeds and it is feasible for cuts like I was doing where it is a simple straight entry. Trying to go around a profile is much more complicated and that is when you need CAM that can generate the trochoidal toolpaths that nibble their way around.

[Kmed]

They are my version of a 'horizontal machining center' with the tombstone horizontal. And they really crank out the parts.

Funny. I am running my vertical horizontal right now. 17-4 stainless blocks, 2 parts on 1 fixture.

I still thinkin the mini mill is the best bang for the buck. I am working on the fiance to let me put a new SSminimill int he garage, but she is not really bitting right now... Something about never seeing me lol...

[tobyaxis]

Funny. I am running my vertical horizontal right now. 17-4 stainless blocks, 2 parts on 1 fixture.

I still thinkin the mini mill is the best bang for the buck. I am working on the fiance to let me put a new SSminimill int he garage, but she is not really bitting right now... Something about never seeing me lol...

This is the reason mine won't let me get the Office Mill and Lathe, LOL.

Why do they think they will NEVER see us when all they have to do is start cooking. The smell of good food will override the previous activity. Of coarse there is one other activity that can lead us away from machining but that can't be mentioned here, LOL. It always works in my home, LOL.

[Geof]

....I still thinkin the mini mill is the best bang for the buck. I am working on the fiance to let me put a new SSminimill int he garage, but she is not really bitting right now... Something about never seeing me lol...

Super MiniMill is best bang for buck I think; faster rapids, faster toolchanges, faster spindle. I have both and a part that takes 5 minutes on a MiniMill takes maybe 2 on a Super.

But I do have to qualify this: We have a MiniMill used exclusively for leaded steel parts. We load up to 20 parts at a time on mini-pallet type fistures which are reloaded outside the machine. Because there are so many parts per load the slow toolchange does not matter and the spindle is only running at 4000rpm. This is an application where the MiniMill is the best buck banger.

Can I give you some ammunition to work on the fiance? I have to mention I have been fortunate because my wife and my two daughters always supported my aspiration to have my own business. Eldest daughter and husband now are taking over the business. Wife and I spend about 1/4 to 1/3 of our time travelling because we can afford it; it is very unlikely we would be in this position had I not bust a gut for many years back in the 1990s getting the business up an running. There is a lot of uncertainty in starting your own business, a lot of hard work and sacrifice is needed in the early years but when things fall into place it is nice.

[Geof]

...Why do they think they will NEVER see us when all they have to do is start cooking. The smell of good food will override the previous activity...

Doesn't work for me. My wife has run the financial side of the business for over 25 years. Many years ago we started eating out every evening because we were both to tired to bother cooking after getting home from work. Fortunately our city has maybe the best variety of restaurants anywhere outside New York or Frisco.

The other cause for diversion doesn't apply for various reasons.

[tobyaxis]

Doesn't work for me. My wife has run the financial side of the business for over 25 years. Many years ago we started eating out every evening because we were both to tired to bother cooking after getting home from work. Fortunately our city has maybe the best variety of restaurants anywhere outside New York or Frisco.

The other cause for diversion doesn't apply for various reasons.

Diversions are GREAT as long as you not proving-out a program with and expensive tool in the middle of a critical cut.

When my phone rings at work I always get the question, "why didn't you answer your phone?"

The reply is usually "My head was stuck in the Machine and I didn't hear it ring"

Reality "&^%$# phone rings when I'm in the middle of something important and can't stop the tool in this cut".(wedge)

[PBMW]

Geof
I have a job I run on my little Box way Sharp. 1018. I take a 4fl variable helix altin EM 1000sfm, .375 axial and .375 radial at 110 ipm. runs dry of course.
Awesome to behold...
Chips sound like a machine gun hitting the windows. Hot, Blue and Smokin

[tobyaxis]

Geof
I have a job I run on my little Box way Sharp. 1018. I take a 4fl variable helix altin EM 1000sfm, .375 axial and .375 radial at 110 ipm. runs dry of course.
Awesome to behold...
Chips sound like a machine gun hitting the windows. Hot, Blue and Smokin

NICE!!! LOL, if I did that in a few places they would have to go change their Depends

Technology in Manufacturing is a wonderful thing

[miljnor]

Anyone do any high speed (relative) in H13 tool steel...im looking at the dies im making and think i want to push the envelope a bit...but this stuff is tough stuff!

any suggestions would be awesome!

[Geof]

Be daring and push it yourself; then report back. All you have to lose is a few dollars worth of tooling.

[miljnor]

Sure as long as i don't wreck the H13 and its not cheap....like 6.00 a lb cheap!

[Donkey Hotey]

You're in Huntington Beach. Why don't you call some of these tooling vendors? They're in business to sell you cutters.

What kind of diameter cutters are you running and what kind of RPM do you have in the machine? I saw some really impressive cutting with Greenleaf ceramic inserts. The trick (as the guy explained to me) is spinning the cutter fast enough to get the SFM up to where HSM works.

I have an application where I need to do this in Stainless, but I need it with a 0.375" cutter (or smaller). I don't have enough RPM for their ceramic cutters to work in my application.

http://www.greenleafglobalsupport.com/

Here's a video of them running a face mill:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J05u7rhVZ3I"]YouTube - Milling 50HRC Toolsteel using Ceramic Insert Video from Greenleaf[/ame]

[tobyaxis]

Mike you may also want to look at Ingersol Tooling.

http://www.ingersoll-imc.com/en/ingersolltv/index.htm

Material: Inconel

Tool: TFMRND2.0012CH-F
Insert: RNGX1207CH,
Grade: AS20
DOC: .040", WOC: 1.0 "
RPM: 4310, SFM: 2258, IPM: 334
Spindle Load: 55-65%

Impressive

[Geof]

Sure as long as i don't wreck the H13 and its not cheap....like 6.00 a lb cheap!

I suppose I was a bit irresponsible saying go ahead and push it on that type of material; it is possible to wreck it by burning out a tool and creating a hard spot which is then a potential fatigue spot in the finished die.

I did some Googling which was not very helpful. The first link just says 'good machinability'; the second one has a table for various steels and if you look at the figures they are well out of the range of HSM speeds.


http://www.ess.elwd.com/pdf/essh13.pdf

http://www.steelforge.com/machinabilityratings.htm

[davereagan]

Even on a mini mill, I would think you could take .25" doc, full width using a SGS Z carb with a super short holder (.1.375" gage length). Why not pop a quick 1/2" hole and then just make seven interpolations instead of 70? I see those hot programs and I wonder if the person considers how long the machine lasts with 10-20 times the number of reversals on the ballscrews and ways. Yeah, it looks trick, but the salesman isn't there 10 yrs later when you have a mile of backlash.

[miljnor]

well I wasn't in the mood to go HSM dry on it so i ended up with 320sfm at .0025per tooth with coolant and 1 cutter did the whole job which was about 6.5 hours of machining....so i must have been ok...usually they break long before that if you dont get into the sweet spot....IMO if i did HSM on H-13 all the time you could probably get great performance with Dry machining and get the machining time down to maybe 3 hours