End Mill selection

[aucran]

I've been reading a lot on end mill types, specifically the aluminum cutting endmill.

Do high rake angles or carbide material really help me if I am only doing manual machining? Right now, if I go slow enough, I can get a decent finish with a 2-flute TiN HSS end mill, or an almost mirror finish with a plain 4-flute HSS end mill.

So my question is do the fancy end mill help much for manual milling, or are they more for CNC where you will have a much higher chip load and faster feed rates?

Thank you

[christinandavid]

Hi,

Don't think you will find the extra outlay worth it on a manual.

As well as the points you mention, machine rigidity, tool runout and coolant flow are main factors that can affect the performance of these tools. You will not be able to push the envelope on these tools using a manual mill.

If you want to give it a go I recommend wearing a visor at the least, or maybe full body armour. If your machine is up to the pace then you yourself will have to start an intensive fitness regime to keep up with it for more than ten minutes.

DP

[eorourke]

Try Minicut International for aluminum milling. They have a wide variety of hi rake endmills (HSS and Cobalt) for aluminum. Due to the potential of manual feed, it is not advisable to use carbide.

[packrat]

If your talking about milling a flat surface and NOT side milling, a good FLYCUTTER will give the best finish and faster than a endmill. Depending on the rigidity/type of mill your working on a .100 - .200 depth of cut can be made. Just watch for flying chips!

cary

[78nova]

You stated if you go slow enough you can get a good finish, yes that makes sense but how much longer is it taking you and how small of a cut are you taking to get those results.
To answer your question about high rake end mills or carbide. Both can benefit you depending on your actual application. Our tooling guys that make fixtures use carbide asymmetrical end mills on steel and ski-carb end mills on aluminum with a manual mill. Minicut end mills will also remove a lot of material (aluminim) in a hurry but you can only go so fast on a manual machine.
If it was me using a manual mill, I would use a mini cut high speed end mill or a ski-carb end mill. I use both of these tools on an cnc machine but with a rigid part set up, the proper tool holding along with a good speed and feed selection and good shielding you can get good results on a manual mill also. 2 & 4 flute HSS cutters will also get the job done eventually but will take longer due to the lower rpm and feedrate that you end up using to get satisfactory results.
Just another note on mini cut and ski-carb end mill usage. These tools like a deeper cut rather than babying them through when side milling. If you are stuck with having to take smaller cuts just stick with the tooling you are using. Higher performance tooling is good to use if you can run the depth of cuts, feeds & speeds that work well with them and in most cases get the job completed quicker and make a better quality part.

Happy milling.