Calling all CNC operators

[ElPanda]

literally every single day I experience a sound scare, some random noise, be it a crunch/pop/smack/bang will scare the crap out of me

I will just stop whatever I am doing and start looking at/listening to all the machines intently until I am sure it was just someone being an idiot somewhere else

today we had an operator put two small parts into an operation upside down, I was proving something out on a machine next to it, heard the noise difference and ran over and feed held the machine before it moved on to do any damage

luckily the parts are small and the only thing that happened was the 1/2" EM just plowed through them, nothing broke and I was able to save all the tooling, at least 4 tools downstream in the operation would have broken if I was not right there.

wish I got that lucky all the time but I have come in first thing in the morning to broken tooling more times than I can count thanks to people not being smart enough to pay attention.

[BTAutoMag]

I work 15 feet from a station where they use giant lead sledge hammers to straighten out Harley cranks, on the other side of me are 2 5 axis machines that churn out ported cylinder heads. my machine will only make the sounds comming from the machines to my left or right if something breaks horribly. usually I phase out the sounds and listen to my Newen drone on but some times one of the sounds will sync PERFECTLY with me running my machine.

Only a cnc operator knows how fast you can hit a 1/2" button from 20 feet away without even realising youve moved

[Instien'sPaintball]

Only a cnc operator knows how fast you can hit a 1/2" button from 20 feet away without even realising youve moved

Faster than the Speed of O'Shit!

[Ydna]

I have a chip fan....I never run it very fast though. I'd really like to recreate the design in a homebrew system since they're so stupid expensive.

The problem with a lot of those back-deburring tools is they're not too consistent. While back I had a contract job that involved a robotic cell doing an application like that for some round spools with cross-holes...they bought me a bajillion varieties of everything under the sun to test. All the tools were similar in design and they all worked pretty good most of the time, like 95% success...but then there'd be a weird hole that wouldn't come out. they were trying to make one of these parts every 3 seconds so there was nothing that could be done. (we ended up having to make a reject pile which had to be picked by hand)

I use cogsdill tools for some things, but they're not very effective in holes smaller than about 1/4" diameter.

[ElPanda]

what kinds of tooling do you guys like to use?

I highly recommend SGS end mills for aluminum, their 3 flute S Carbs are spectacular for non-ferrous work, they are specifically designed for aluminum and they work freaking incredible.

I sound like a salesman but really I am just very satisfied with their performance. They are literally the first brand that I look for when I open up the tool drawer before setups.

just recently I modified a brand new one with coolant grooves down the sides of the shank for TSC

6061 Al.
TSC on
Approximately 1.25" Depth of Cut
.125" Stepover (using Trachoidal/High speed style milling)
12000 RPMs
195 IPM

was getting around 75% spindle load with those settings, freaking amazing watching it rip a big chunk of aluminum apart. It literally looks like its exploding into chips

[BTAutoMag]

Greek...

I run a newen contour bb. Google it. The cnc machines I button push. Lol.

[Simon]

what kinds of tooling do you guys like to use?

I highly recommend SGS end mills for aluminum, their 3 flute S Carbs are spectacular for non-ferrous work, they are specifically designed for aluminum and they work freaking incredible.

I sound like a salesman but really I am just very satisfied with their performance. They are literally the first brand that I look for when I open up the tool drawer before setups.

just recently I modified a brand new one with coolant grooves down the sides of the shank for TSC

6061 Al.
TSC on
Approximately 1.25" Depth of Cut
.125" Stepover (using Trachoidal/High speed style milling)
12000 RPMs
195 IPM

was getting around 75% spindle load with those settings, freaking amazing watching it rip a big chunk of aluminum apart. It literally looks like its exploding into chips

I have been very happy with the OSG Blizzard end mills in 3 flute carbide with their diamond coating. I do tend to baby all of my feedrates though as I don't tend to be at the machine a lot of the time. I get the parts running and then go back to working on the shop or designing/programming. I often run with lights totally off on longer jobs or with the lathe.

It's more important that I can get more done at the same time than save a small amount of machine time but have to watch it more carefully and risk breaking a tool. Obviously that would change if I ever got a part/full time machinist in house to help me.

[steadian]

fair enough, how are the shop renovations coming by the way?

[Simon]

fair enough, how are the shop renovations coming by the way?

Slowly. Too much to do

[m98custom1212]

what kinds of tooling do you guys like to use?

I highly recommend SGS end mills for aluminum, their 3 flute S Carbs are spectacular for non-ferrous work, they are specifically designed for aluminum and they work freaking incredible.

I sound like a salesman but really I am just very satisfied with their performance. They are literally the first brand that I look for when I open up the tool drawer before setups.

just recently I modified a brand new one with coolant grooves down the sides of the shank for TSC

6061 Al.
TSC on
Approximately 1.25" Depth of Cut
.125" Stepover (using Trachoidal/High speed style milling)
12000 RPMs
195 IPM

was getting around 75% spindle load with those settings, freaking amazing watching it rip a big chunk of aluminum apart. It literally looks like its exploding into chips

1/2 Endmill I'm guessing