rail selection (forces involved in cutting)

[daedalus]

Hi,

Im trying to design my first cnc milling machine, and am at the stage of selecting linear rails. Are there any good references for the cutting forces excerted on a table from typical milling operations in different materials?
Ideally i would like to know the worst-case forces the mill table will recieve whilst milling alu and steel, so i can decide on rail positioning and table thickness.

I have access to fem simulation software at uni, so was planning to validate the design with that, but i cant seem to find a good reference for the forces involved in cutting.

Thanks,
Tom

[loves80z]

Hey Tom,

I was looking for that info a few weeks ago and found it at places that sell workholding stuff like hydraulic clamps so U can calculate holding force. U will need to know your HP.

I googled: maching clamp force work holding

to get this:

http://www.carrlane.com/Catalog/inde...2A36515F53445D