Short tool life slotting 1045

[Farfle]

Heya all! I have a project I am working on with the Fadal 4020. Shortening and cutting lightening slots in these 1045 steel gear blanks.


The problem I am having is short tool life on the end mill I am cutting these slots with. I am getting roughly 60 parts per tool (600 slots) after swapping feeds, speeds, ramp angles and even a few different kinds of tools,

The best combination I have found is:

.3125 Maritool variable 4fl TiAlN for tool steel w .02 radius

Running Mobil soluble oil 100 at a fairly high concentration.

340sfm 4200rpm 7IPM .0004ipt (seems light, but breaks if I lower spindle speed, and breaks if I increase feed rate)

4° profile ramp, this does roughly five zigzags to the bottom. Slot is .340" deep, about 1.2xD

6ipm 14 thou radial finish pass, as the ramping cut leaves a bit to be desired.

Things I have tried:

A straight plunge to 100% depth and slot works some of the time, but depending on coolant stream angle, it will chip load and fail randomly.

Plunge to 1/2 depth and slot works ok, but The tip .150 wears and fails faster than the ramping pass does.

I pulled an end mill after ~50 parts and you can see the degradation on the cutting edges on the bottom edges, as well as the sides about ~.130" up the flute.

Thanks!

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[the_gentlegiant]

If anything I'd say shorten your flute length to the absolute minimum and use 3 flute for slotting and a 4 flute to finish. The corner radii is a good idea. If your coolant application isn't perfect you might be better off running dry. Use a flatter retaining bolt so your stick-out is shorter too. A properly sized flat head might do the trick. I say all this because I think chatter, even mild is part of your problem. What about drilling out all the slot ends and slotting in two passes with the 3 flute. Just some ideas. 60 parts doesn't sound that terrible anyway.