1/8" end mill question

cbr900son

cbr900son

Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
1,010
So ordered a small end mill (actually 2 in case I snap one) and wondering how fast you guys run end mills this small. Ive always heard go about half depth of your diameter also. Anyy comments, suggestions, tips, winning lottery numbers? K that last one wasnt really for knife making but figured couldn't hurt to ask :D
 
What material are you cutting?
What are you using it in?
Carbide or HSS?
2, 4, 4 flutes ?

all that stuff makes a difference.
 
Half the diameter for anything but al or maybe brass seems a bit much, I will do a really light cut maybe 0,005 or less and see how that goes, you can tell when it working to hard you will be some chatter. If all is well and you are in a hurry then go a bit deeper. Cutting fluid is a must and use air to clear chips. The material you cutting will me a big difference so be careful.
 
Well i mainly will be using this bit for copper brass and mostly 180-1095 steels. Hss and 2 flute. Sorry I knew I should have added that but no caffiene yet this morning.

BTW happy thanksgiving and thanks for the input!
 
Sorry I can't help you with speeds. That is something I also struggle with. I use the machinist handbook to calculate them. You should really get a copy of it.
What I can tell you is that you should try carbide endmills. You run them blazingly fast so it is scary at first but once you tried them you'll be hooked. Expensive buggers though.
 
Patrice Lemée;10220570 said:
Sorry I can't help you with speeds. That is something I also struggle with. I use the machinist handbook to calculate them. You should really get a copy of it.
What I can tell you is that you should try carbide endmills. You run them blazingly fast so it is scary at first but once you tried them you'll be hooked. Expensive buggers though.
Click to expand...
Yeah i picked up a hss set for a decent price and figured id rather mess these up while im getting used to my new mill then move on to higher quality.
 
For aluminum, I usually run cutters that size between 4 and 6 thousand RPM and I normally use a .01" cutting depth.
Then I adjust the feed rate up until it seems right.
 
They won't last long, so when you replace them, get carbide.

Here are the numbers for tonight's Lotto:
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,176,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48
Six of them are the right ones. Don't use the others.
 
Basic recc's out of harold halls milling a complete course:
For a 12mm or 1/2" cutter set your speed at 500rpm
For a 6mm or 1/4" set speed 1000rpm
For a 24mm or 1" set at 250rpm
These speeds are for mild steel, for aluminium double them and for cast iron or bronze you halve these numbers.

So for your 1/8" you'd set it at around 2000rpm for steel or 4000 for aluminium or 1000 for cast and bronze.
I usually set the cutter depth at around .7mm per pass no matter what size cutter i use.

Be safe and enjoy your mill.
 
Thanks for replay especially those lottery numbers! LOL Good thing I asked I would have probably gone deeper on depth then I should. I really need to order a machinist manual!
 
You can get a good carbide endmill for $7-$8 for an 1/8 one. For HSS in brass you could run it at 2500 rpm with-out any issue but use some cutting oil on it.
 
BTW better have a nice tight mill cause if its a sloppy HF mini and you get a bit of chatter you can get tool grab and blow up carbide bits and hurt HSS too

i jsut cleaned up and reset the gibs on mine and its much better but still not a reall mill
 
butcher_block said:
BTW better have a nice tight mill cause if its a sloppy HF mini and you get a bit of chatter you can get tool grab and blow up carbide bits and hurt HSS too

i jsut cleaned up and reset the gibs on mine and its much better but still not a reall mill
Click to expand...
Just got mine setup with powerfeed and DROs. Then spent the time yesterday to get it perfectly squared up. (less then 0.0001 according to my gauge)

IMG_0386.jpg
 
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