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Highfeed endmill for aluminum (Long Skinny Tooling)

zalectric

Plastic
Joined
Apr 17, 2015
Location
Taipei Taiwan
I have a machining operation with uses a 1 inch/25mm tool that is 8 inches/200mm long in my vertical machining center. In addition, the part geometry is relatively weak as this is the 3rd op on an aerospace-type structure with a very large amount of material removal. Due to vibration in the part and tooling, I am taking just a .040/1mm radial depth and a .4/10 axial depth of cut. Any more and the vibration gets out of control. The part geometry means I cannot use a larger diameter or shorter tool. A few years ago I bought a high feed mill that is the same dimension due to making a mistake writing down the part numbers...:willy_nilly:.

Last week I loaded up the Highfeel endmill tool for a quick prototype when all my other tools were tied up to circular interpolate a deep small hole in aluminum. Since it was just a few parts I went really conservative (suggested steel speeds and feeds) but it sounded great in the cut and the chips with easy to evacuate for this small deep hole. I am considering trying this for my long 3rd operation on the structure part. Any thoughts or experience using high feed mills in 6061-T6 to aid an unstable setup?
 
ran a 13mm high feed indexable end mill in 6061 doing pocket milling routine and it ran great, ran over 100 minutes and still did not need to index the inserts

the inserts had a small hone and carbide substrate was hard, not tough and had a TiN coating, zero issues
 
I haven't used high feed milling in aluminum that much but often use it in steel for pockets and cavitys. Boring deep countersinked M36 bolt holes in a steep inclined surface for example.

My go-to is a Kyocera 25 x 250 mm if I remember correctly. Works a treat but chip evacuation is really important, esp. in steel since the chips become hardened.

Only tip I have is to use the feedrate specified, or decrease spindle speed if machine can't keep up to maintain FPT.
They REALLY like to go hard and it can be a bit scary at first with recommended speeds and feeds.
 
I have a machining operation with uses a 1 inch/25mm tool that is 8 inches/200mm long in my vertical machining center.
Got a picture or a link to this tool?

High feed mills are great in the right applications, but they're for roughing only and you're still left with the problem of having to finish the part with the same reach constraints.

The ideal tool for this app would be 1" solid carbide with a short flute length (around 1") with a relieved neck.
 
A solid carbide tool with an 8 inch length would be crazy $$$ I use some crazy long lengths but all with modular holders, I use a carbide shank with mostly Kyrocera tooling. A "heavy metal" shank would be my next option. If price is a huge consideration, a conventional Iscar HSS holder using an APKT style insert, will also accept a "high feed" style insert that Iscar makes, they work well and it's a cheap way to go, I do believe they have one specifically for aluminum, but it's been a while.
 
Got a picture or a link to this tool?

High feed mills are great in the right applications, but they're for roughing only and you're still left with the problem of having to finish the part with the same reach constraints.

The ideal tool for this app would be 1" solid carbide with a short flute length (around 1") with a relieved neck.
Maritool unfortunately doesn't have this exact tool as you describe, but does have a few that are fairly close.

Of the OP needs a true 8 inch long shank - outside of the holder - then the next best thing is a type of insert holder that's intended for helical boring.

I had to do a run of deep square pockets in 2021 with the same 26mm diameter, 6 inch deep thing on a non dual contact bt40, and I settled for non-circular helical ramping down into the pocket after removing most of the volume and depth with a 41mm U-drill, 4 holes to get the corners, 1 in the middle, then plunge cutting with that 10" gauge length U-drill followed by the other 26mm indexable cutter with 25mm shank.

It worked without bad chatter, and the insert radius made reasonably smooth steps.

I really wish some manufacturer would make a solid carbide tool holder with integral shank..... Yes, the entire bt40 or ct40 tool holder as tungsten carbide, price be damned.
 
I really wish some manufacturer would make a solid carbide tool holder with integral shank..... Yes, the entire bt40 or ct40 tool holder as tungsten carbide, price be damned.

That really would be a pricey item. Like two - three grand.

Presuming you're talking about an insert holder, my ideal would be for a carbide/heavy metal shank shrunk into a stub (normal steel) CAT or BT body, with the body taper ground to spec after heavy interference shrinking.
 
A solid carbide tool with an 8 inch length would be crazy $$$ I use some crazy long lengths but all with modular holders, I use a carbide shank with mostly Kyrocera tooling. A "heavy metal" shank would be my next option. If price is a huge consideration, a conventional Iscar HSS holder using an APKT style insert, will also accept a "high feed" style insert that Iscar makes, they work well and it's a cheap way to go, I do believe they have one specifically for aluminum, but it's been a while.
The last 1" dia long reacher I had made was from a 9" long blank a with 6.5" reach was about $500. Reasonable considering the alternatives. I do not run the thing that aggressively, its simply a finisher after an extended face mill cleans out the pocket.
 
Also, to the Ops question for opinions, my opinion on a hi-feed cutter, especially indexable hi-feed cutter in non-ferrous-
I haven't had an issue using standard(not hi-feed) non-ferrous indexables for radial cutting, even though they are more designed for axial cutting usually.
Have even been using some of these Pramet indexables for radial cutting lately.
Pramet Indexable Link
And prove me wrong, Its my understanding that Hi-Feed mills are not for non-ferrous materials, and to that extent, I have never seen a hi-feed indexable that has non-ferrous inserts available.
 








 
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