Mikron endmills the best for micromachining?

[cgrim3]

Hi all,

We currently have a job where we have a ton of micromachining to do. Mostly have to use 1mm and 1.5mm endmills. Is Mikron the go to people for micromachining with thru spindle coolant or are there other big players in town for the small endmills that I should look at?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[DavidScott]

It probably depends on what you are machining and what features you are cutting. I really like Harvey for those sizes but have never use Mikrons. Then again I cut mostly aluminum and some plastic.

 

[implmex]

Hi cgrim3:
You wrote:
"Mostly have to use 1mm and 1.5mm endmills."

1mm and 1.5 mm endmills are rarely considered to be for "micromachining" in the tiny parts world.
These are common sizes easily accommodated by Garr or anyone else to an adequate standard for many, if not most applications.
I'd save the expensive Mikron cutters for the truly small stuff...I start thinking specialty cutters when I get around 1/2 mm or so...at those sizes their performance starts to become truly worthwhile.

When you've seen a 0.1 mm endmill up close and personal, a 1.5 mm endmill looks like a tree trunk by comparison.

I fully understand that if a small endmill is a 1/2" endmill during your normal work, a 1 mm endmill looks truly tiny...but it's not tiny enough in my opinion to justify getting something exotic and expensive.

I've had very good success with Garr down to 1/32" diameter...they cut just fine and I have zero complaints.
I buy them because they're both economical and available
Down to about 0.015" I've used MA Ford and Harvey.
Smaller, I go looking for something better, but I have so little spindle speed it gets kind of pointless.

I lust after mhajicek's 50,000 RPM CM-1 at times like these.


Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

 

[mhajicek]

Hi all,

We currently have a job where we have a ton of micromachining to do. Mostly have to use 1mm and 1.5mm endmills. Is Mikron the go to people for micromachining with thru spindle coolant or are there other big players in town for the small endmills that I should look at?

Thanks,

Chris

I make medical device parts in mostly Ti6Al4V-ELI, using cutters down to .005", spinning at up to 50,000 RPM. I've been getting good results from Redline cutters, as good as Harvey, and they're cheaper than most of the competition. I'm using flood coolant (don't have TSC on the 50K spindle), but on larger, slower machines in the past I've just run the 1000PSI TSC through a standard ER-11 collet (it flows through the slots) and it's worked just fine at up to 15,000 RPM.

 

[plastikdreams]

Smallest we use is a .02 drill and man that's small...I lied I think we've done some detail work with a .015 endmill.

 

[implmex]

Hi again cgrim3:
While I'm thinking about it, what kind of spindle speed do you have available?
This should be your first consideration, and if you're running production, part of what you might need to get is a spindle speeder...not just the cutters.

On the other hand, if you're not too fussed about wasting time you can run less efficiently and rely on programming strategy to avoid snapping the endmills.

I do it all the time...the essence is not to overload the cutter, and that means three things:
First is not to give it too much DOC and not to give it too much chipload.
The second is not to give it a hugely varying chipload, so no plowing into corners for example.
The third is not to recut chips.

It's amazing what you can get away with if you take care not to violate those things, but as I say, it's not very efficient if you don't have the spindle speed to allow a decent feedrate for the very small chiploads you need to respect.
For a witzy little cutter the chiploads are tenths per flute.

Of course you can't spin it so damn fast you burn up the cutter...I rely on what the published process numbers are for the material in question.
With only 6K of speed, I rarely get into the zone where I will ever overspeed a cutter, but those 50K guys just might.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

 

[memphisjed]

Marcus,
You’ve been wanting a new toy all year- just get the cm mill and put it on santa’s tab. He will understand.

 

[implmex]

Hi memphisjed:
No no no no NO!
Stop tempting me.
It's bad enough in my shop already with all the gadgets I've accumulated.
Besides I am retired and looking painfully to the day when I have to sell all my gear...sadly that's not too far in my future now.
I need another toy like I need a hole in my head.

If a persuasive salesman ever got their hooks into me, my Lovely Wife would have me committed to an institution for those "Not Quite Right in the Head".

So I'm resisting with all my heart...actually I'm not...I'm like a reformed smoker looking at a pack from across the room, and only my good sense is keeping me away.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

 

[ToolmakerTH]

My go-to tiny endmills are NS Tool. At 1-1.5mm endmills though, there are many brands to consider. Recently I have been using Guhring's new line of endmills called RF100 Sharp. They are great. I have used them on anything from aluminium to titanium with better tool life than expected.

 

[mhajicek]

If you have high pressure TSC you can run a coolant driven speeder, like this:

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/94712148

 

[5 axis Fidia guy]

NS tool is tough to beat, also Union Tool.

 

[Mtndew]

using cutters down to .005"

Fuck that! lol

 

[Milland]

Fuck that! lol

Yeah, I hate that big stuff too! Give me 0.1mm and under cutters any day...

 

[PegroProX440]

I used NS (Mikron) at my last shop and Harvey Diamond and Union for hard metals at my current shop. Down to .01 inches. They are all good, I would put NS on slightly on top of the competitors. One thing NS had going for it was its diverse reach lengths. So many options once you figured out the Japanese catalog. Its been a few years and its probably more legble now.

 

[5 axis Fidia guy]

I believe Mikron tools are actually ground by NS Tool