HSS vs Carbide End Mill tool life for a specific circumstance

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Thread: HSS vs Carbide End Mill tool life for a specific circumstance

  1. #1
    Registered bcavender's Avatar
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    Default HSS vs Carbide End Mill tool life for a specific circumstance

    I am coming from the CAD side, trying to move into CAM. My work will be prototyping, not production. I am trying to develop practical knowledge for 1" and down end mill tool life. (Non-indexed)

    From my reading, Carbide can cut 4-12 times faster than HSS with cutting edge wear withh roughly a 3-4X advantage to carbide ... as well as a higher price ... presuming those sources were any good. (I only have the shortest boots on the ground experience with speeds/feeds and am looking to get to a practical, usable sense of reality here.)

    What I am looking for is how to compare tool life of HSS and Carbide mills in Brinell125 steel and 6XXX Aluminum.

    My question:

    Given (1) equal material/DOC/WOC/tool geometry and (2) machine availability/production time are not constraints where feed rates for both tool types can be optimized to maximize total material removed, how I can roughly calculate what I should expect in tool life? (Even if only on a SWAG basis)

    Appreciate any thoughts, assistance or links where to go to learn this.

    Best regards,

    Bruce

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    Member KH0UJ's Avatar
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    Default Re: HSS vs Carbide End Mill tool life for a specific circumstance

    The best way to learn about tool life span (Carbide vs. HSS) is to do an actual bench test on it, there are a lot of factors in the actual test cuts, here in the shop were using 1/8 bits, for the HSS it only last 2-3 days on wood (8 hours / day) before it gets dull and needs resharpen, on the carbide side it can last 2 weeks (10 days) without worrying of getting dull, here in our area the cost of the HSS bit is 40 php and the carbide is only 60 php, since then I dont use HSS for mass production due to the hassle it gets (frequent resharpen and tool change) in the actual production.

    one thing in mind, china carbide bits are more tougher now than the US carbide bits, the reason....I dont know, try and bench test it yourself to confirm.



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    Community Moderator Jim Dawson's Avatar
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    Default Re: HSS vs Carbide End Mill tool life for a specific circumstance

    I also do mostly one-offs, prototyping, and tool & die work. On the mill, I normally use solid carbide in 1/4 and 3/8 sizes, which are the sizes I use the most. HSS above that just because they cost less and I don't use them that much. I also use M42 cobalt roughers in 3/8 and 1/2 sizes. Below 1/4 I use HSS because they are more forgiving to stupid mistakes. And where appropriate, I also use solid carbide and carbide tipped wood router bits on all materials from wood to stainless steel. 1/2 shank where possible. The nice thing about those is that you can get them at the local big box store on a Saturday afternoon if you need one. Harbor Freight is a good source of utility end mills, they are cheap, but the quality varies set to set. I keep several sets around.

    I expect about 1.5 hours of cutting time out of a HSS in mild steel, carbide will last for days sometimes. Climb cutting and keeping the chip load up to around 0.002 to 0.0015 seems to give the best life. If you're not in production then reducing the spindle speed and feed speed helps with tool life, but keep the chip load in the range above. Allowing a cutter to rub rather than cut will kill a cutter very quickly.

    In my router I use exclusively solid carbide and carbide tipped router bits.

    Jim Dawson
    Sandy, Oregon, USA


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HSS vs Carbide End Mill tool life for a specific circumstance

HSS vs Carbide End Mill tool life for a specific circumstance