Anyone know of a good site to find feeds and speeds for unknown tooling?

[suntravel]

I'm not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing - I could read it either way in places. At least we seem to agree that chip evacuation is key at least.

.... This is flat out wrong as flood coolant is used in nearly every shop on aluminum, because it works the best.

....

IMHO high pressure cooling works best with internal application trough the mills or drills. That is what we use in our shop and not a water based cooling, but 100% cutting oil

But in my home shop this is to expensive for me, so I go with MQL and evaporating Fenella oil to keep the mess under control and prevent corrosion on the machines. Chip removal works well with the airflow of the MQL for cutting rates a hobby machine can deliver.

If possible i use AW 2007 / 2011 / 7075 aluminium for machining.

Regards

Uwe

[tblough]

I use FogBuster air/coolant systems on my mills and lathes with 10% semi-synthetic oil soluable coolant and 25psi air machining mostly 17-4ph stainless and 7075-T765 aluminum.

For the most part, that works fine with no rusting on parts, tooling, and machines. For deep narrow bores I often need to supplement with additional air from an air nozzle to get the chips out.

[Fueler1]

I have fwizard on my phone and Gwizard on the computer. Use Gwizard the most.

Machines doing production have higher speeds, augers and good enclosed cabinets so water makes sense.
I am limited to 4k, less than desirable shielding doing job work primarily in aluminum.
I use mql using Unist fluids distributed via a TriCo m1200. The dual line allows me to hit from 2 directions so I don't get the drip blocked by an obstruction.
Find the sweet setting and you don't see it. No smoke or smell with the Unist alum fluid.
The steel fluid can smoke a little and has a little smell when getting aggressive. Nothing too offensive.
Also have a button operated air blast if needed.
Tooling: Buy quality carbide and be done with it.

I do have the machine setup for water when needed but can't do the high pressure thing due to lack of cabinet. I use it once in a great while.

[Nigelo]

I don't use coolant at all but air blast / vac for in pocket machining etc. Occasionally and only when I anticipate a problem, I use a wax chlorine free cutting compound by Karnasch.

I only use premium solid carbide bits (YG-1 and Korloy) and am careful to select the correct geometry and chipload. Contrary to what another poster suggests on this thread, all the aluminium bits I use are not coated but highly polished micro grain carbide. I've found the secret to a good finish is the correct geometry for the material, ultra sharpness and correct feed / speed for my machine. I use 2 flute bits for aluminium out of preference

When I first started the transition from Manual milling to CNC, I found ME Consultant v2 a reasonable starting point but quickly moved to the bit manufacturers chip load settings as a baseline.

My 0.02, your mileage may vary

[rk9268vc]

That's not about cooling or lubrication (not required for carbide really), it's about evacuating the chips from near the cutter. .

Lots of hobby guys use WD-40 because it helps prevent chip welding, or at minimum an air blast to keep chips cleared.

Thanks for the good suggestions guys!

I do use WD-40 for lubrication. I also find that with no fluid, the tool/part must get hot because I tend to get undersized parts by 1-3 thou in my limited experience. The WD-40 helps me with surface finish, but I actually find that in boring and drilling, the WD-40 makes the chips not fly out as well and often get re-cut a lot. It's like they prefer to stick together in the fluid.

I have been avoiding chip welding by sticking to 2 flute cutters so far. I am looking to buy some 3 and 4 flute ones to try out though, in hopes of getting a better surface finish

I intend to run an air blast/ mist setup (similar to a fog buster) but I have to build my mill an enclosure yet. Right now it already flings the chips quite far, and air would make it worse haha.

My mill only does 3000rpm. So I have been just calculating the feedrate off of taking around 2-4thou per tooth (machinist handbook recommendation) at 3000rpm, and then conservative stepover and depth, all depending on the tool.

My mill is only a 2hp, so that limits my stepover and depth more than the tool. Especially using bigger tools like my 3in slitting saw, and my 2in facemill.

Thanks for the help! There is definitely a steep learning curve

[rk9268vc]

Look at FSWizard https://fswizard.com/

I have the full HSMAdvisor https://hsmadvisor.com/ but I find I just use the Wizard app most of the time.

Great suggestion! I like that it works for drills and facemills
So-far the browser based app has worked well for me.
I pretty much use it to convert rpm + feed/tooth into feedrate, and it works well

Thanks

[suntravel]

only for calculating I use CamCut, it is free and very easy to use

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... l=de&gl=US

Regards

Uwe