Thread: Aluminum Endmill Throwdown!! Destiny vs. Niagara vs. Gorilla vs. 2nd Shift Grinding

Gumby, that endmill you posted looks just like the one I got today. My poor cellphone camera doesn't focus, so up close pics suck.

Originally Posted by Perry Harrington

Gumby, that endmill you posted looks just like the one I got today. My poor cellphone camera doesn't focus, so up close pics suck.

You mean the 4 flute tool? There are some differences but it is a similar style of tool.

***Update***

For some reason I can't edit the original post, so I shall add here:

LakeShore Carbide Variflute Rough/Finisher, 360012XRF - Not sure on the price
ZrN coating
10,000 RPM - 86.4 ipm 7,500 RPM - 108 ipm
27 ci/min, 6.7 hp

A very healthy second place. The tool has tiny slots on the teeth, but I don't see where it affects the finish in any way that would bother me personally.

SS, is that a new design endmill they sent you to test, I don't see that part number on their website.

Thanks,

Paul T.

10,000 RPM - 86.4 ipm 7,500 RPM - 108 ipm

Did you accidentally reverse your feedrates here?

Fastest metal removal I have ever used The MINICUT™ Super Cobalt, ripped right through AL. http://www.minicut.com/main.php?sect...cts&category=1 I had one squirreled away for my own use and let someone borrow it now its toast.

Paul,
Hopefully they will get this cutter on their site soon.
I have been testing it for quite a while. It is a great tool. One of the real benifits to it, is chip management. The chips are much easier to evacuate on a vertical. It also uses less HP and runs real quiet.

If you call them and ask for the tool I am sure they will sell it to you. I believe they have the first production run done.

On a lower HP machine I have also seen a higher MMR at a lower RPM. I see my max at around 7K. With some real power I think this tool would really fly.

It has been hard not talking about this tool until now. I am a huge fan of this tool.

When I first started carrying 3 flute end mills I was not looking for something too specific. I wanted a cutter that was a good general purpose end mill that was low in cost had a decent geometry and coating for soft metals and Alum.

After some feedback I think I found a great aluminum specific end mill. So far testing is very positive. One of my customers are getting better performance with this tool in its uncoated version compared to a ZrN from someone else.

The helix angle is 38 deg and The cutting surface has 3 lands. Once testing is complete I will have these in uncoated and ZrN coating. I will also have some with a small corner radius for serious feeds per tooth.

Originally Posted by Dave K

Did you accidentally reverse your feedrates here?

Nopers. The Haas power curve (or lack thereof) means more power is available at lower RPMs, even though the chip load is higher. On a REAL machine, this would more than likely not be the case.

Originally Posted by StreetSpeed

***Update***

For some reason I can't edit the original post, so I shall add here:

LakeShore Carbide Variflute Rough/Finisher, 360012XRF - Not sure on the price
ZrN coating
10,000 RPM - 86.4 ipm 7,500 RPM - 108 ipm
27 ci/min, 6.7 hp

A very healthy second place. The tool has tiny slots on the teeth, but I don't see where it affects the finish in any way that would bother me personally.

That was a lot closer in results to the Gorilla Mill than any of the other tools but still a 10% difference in feed at 7500rpm and an 8% difference at 10krpm. It is too bad you don't have a price on the tool.

That makes me wonder how SGS's 3 flute tool compares. Any update on getting that mean looking Mazak?

No Mazak in the foreseeable future. It appears the scope of our customers' project was perhaps a bit less than we were initially led to believe. Disappointing, but, there are lots of fish in the sea. Just gotta find that big one.

FYI....just had a killer test with a brand by the name of Helical. We ran a 1/2" 3 flute tool on a HAAS VF3 Super @
12,000 rpm
900 ipm
.025 clpt
.500 adoc
.200 rdoc
Pocketing with a 1/2" 3-flute "uncoated" SC chipbreaker and it looked new after 5 parts(ran out of material) we cut cycle time by more than 50%. Check out their website www.1helical.com and you can see some incredible videos.

Its important to note we also utilized a toolpath program thats just as incredible as the tool, called VoluMill. You can check this out at www.volumill.com

Cheers,
ST

'Preciate you resurrecting an old, informative, and non-biased thread with Spam.

Originally Posted by Tiehen

FYI....just had a killer test with a brand by the name of Helical...

Ok Tiehen, now that you've been busted, how about sending a couple of those endmills to StreetSpeed so he can get some numbers on them, if he's interested in doing that.

Paul T.

Originally Posted by Tiehen

FYI....just had a killer test with a brand by the name of Helical. We ran a 1/2" 3 flute tool on a HAAS VF3 Super @
12,000 rpm
900 ipm
.025 clpt
.500 adoc
.200 rdoc

Interesting, but the ss machines are limited to 833 IPM feedrates.

I smell a rat.

I have a small mill (2 HP round column Grizzly, converted to CNC), and do mostly aluminum work. I use microdrop coolant, with lots of air flow. Being limited to 2K RPM, my feed rate is low, but all the same, I've found that my best performance by far is to use a single flute end mill (0-Flute). Anything else gets aluminum build-up on the flutes, and snaps the bit.

I get very nice looking chips, and can sustain twice the feed rate as with a 2 or 3 flute mill. My limitation is always flute clogging, not speed, HP, etc.

Originally Posted by Tiehen

FYI....just had a killer test with a brand by the name of Helical. We ran a 1/2" 3 flute tool on a HAAS VF3 Super @
12,000 rpm
900 ipm
.025 clpt
.500 adoc
.200 rdoc
Pocketing with a 1/2" 3-flute "uncoated" SC chipbreaker
Cheers,
ST

Impressive results, but something wrong with your math here.
May I suggest you research the difference between "advance per rev" and "effective chip load per tooth" when at less than 100% cutter engagement.
Tain't no way you've got a .025 chipload here.
This is the basis for most high speed machining software, lower the engagement and you can feed way,way faster, in the old days it was know as "radial chip thinning" (everything old eventually becomes new again).
A concept you can really take advantage of if you've got a linear motor machine that will feed at 1800 IPM.
Bob

Any of you guys want to debate and suggest a specific grind? I could juggle a few test grinds on the cnc, and we could document the results for all to see.
Terry

Since I'm in tool testing phase right now, if anyone has a coated, aluminum specific end mill they would want me to test, send me a pm. Material is 12%-14% Si proprietary Al alloy. If it lives and cuts well in this stuff, it'll blow 6061 away.

Originally Posted by Tonytn36

Since I'm in tool testing phase right now, if anyone has a coated, aluminum specific end mill they would want me to test, send me a pm. Material is 12%-14% Si proprietary Al alloy. If it lives and cuts well in this stuff, it'll blow 6061 away.

I'm a little late to this party but shoot me a PM with your contact info before the end of tomorrow and I'll drop a tool off in the mail for you to test before I deploy again (this Saturday).