Anyone do a lot of small diameter endmill work on their Brother Speedio S700X?

countryboy1966 · Oct 14, 2017

In the final stages of pulling the trigger on a Brother Speedio S700X.

I'm going with the 16K spindle....

Most of my work is in 6061 Aluminum and some minor work on stainless and Grade 5 Titanium.

With that said:

I have parts that require a lot of final pass profilling work with a .062 Diameter end mill. I realize 16K really isn't enough spindle to maximize but I want to keep my machine versital for other work I do.

Wanted to see if there is anyone out there using their brother S700x with 16K spindle for small diameter milling work and if so, how is it working out for you.

Finegrain · Oct 14, 2017

Yes, I do that, it's fine. Of course 27k would be better for that size, but you give up a lot of versatility with the 27k spindle, not to mention the significantly higher cost.

Regards.

Mike

Comatose · Oct 14, 2017

I do work down to about .025 diameter end mills and .01 drills on one of my 16k speedios. It works okay. That said, if I was buying a machine specifically for work that small, I'd go with the 27k spindle for sure. Why not go for the 27k? It's significantly more HP than the 16k, so it doesn't really give up much torque. The biggest downside (other than the extra cost) is you can't get the 27k in through coolant.

But the 16k spindle is fine for profiling with a 1/16" bit.

The biggest problem with the speedios for small milling work is that in the high accuracy modes they don't corner very fast, and with the high accuracy modes off they'll allow gigantic tracking errors around corners which will snap off small endmills. That's customizable though, so you could build your own small endmill semi-finish mode.

countryboy1966 · Oct 15, 2017

Other than the price difference, I'm not sure if the 27K spindle will do my other work. Probably should since its mainly aluminum material removal.

I'm turned off of going to the 27K spindle because of the longevity of the spindle even if I don't crash it.

2outof3 · Oct 15, 2017

countryboy1966 said:
Other than the price difference, I'm not sure if the 27K spindle will do my other work. Probably should since its mainly aluminum material removal.

I'm turned off of going to the 27K spindle because of the longevity of the spindle even if I don't crash it.

So far, we are seeing about 5 years on the 27k for those that work it hard. About 7 years for the 16k. The 27k is actually cheaper than the 16k CTSI spindle when it comes time to replace. It is about a wash for life expectancy and cost.

mkd · Oct 15, 2017

Comatose said:
I do work down to about .025 diameter end mills and .01 drills on one of my 16k speedios. It works okay. That said, if I was buying a machine specifically for work that small, I'd go with the 27k spindle for sure. Why not go for the 27k? It's significantly more HP than the 16k, so it doesn't really give up much torque. The biggest downside (other than the extra cost) is you can't get the 27k in through coolant.

But the 16k spindle is fine for profiling with a 1/16" bit.

The biggest problem with the speedios for small milling work is that in the high accuracy modes they don't corner very fast, and with the high accuracy modes off they'll allow gigantic tracking errors around corners which will snap off small endmills. That's customizable though, so you could build your own small endmill semi-finish mode.

Real experience with no koolaid drinking. seriously good post.
not trying to sound condescending, just lots of glowing Brother reviews on PM. appreciate an honest take.

eaglemike · Oct 15, 2017

There might be a reason for glowing reviews. My 700 is only a 10K high torque. I did buy the "increased look ahead" option. It works pretty sweet. I usually don't feed a 1/16" end mill over 200 inches a minute, on my parts at least. I do limit the non-cutting feed moves in high speed machining to 300 inches a minute. Could maybe go faster if I increased the link clearance a little. My 500 is also only a 10K. I've used down to 1/16" but don't do it often, thus the 10K, and high-torque dual contact has been handy.
These machines are easy to work on. Support is great.
OP, even though I don't have a 16K, I hope this helps a bit.
(BTW, the 450 and 650 are also incredible machines)

Matt@RFR · Oct 16, 2017

16k R650 here. New to Brother, but not to small tools. Your tiny 1/16 tool is a roughing tool for us. We've been down to .015 long reach endmills and .028 through coolant drills (reason for 16k, not 27k for us) with great results in the Brother. Run M281 for everything in this size range to be safe, then start screwing with high accuracy settings. This machine shits on my Haas in every way possible so far.

eaglemike · Oct 16, 2017

Matt@RFR said:
16k R650 here. New to Brother, but not to small tools. Your tiny 1/16 tool is a roughing tool for us. We've been down to .015 long reach endmills and .028 through coolant drills (reason for 16k, not 27k for us) with great results in the Brother. Run M281 for everything in this size range to be safe, then start screwing with high accuracy settings. This machine shits on my Haas in every way possible so far.

I have a Haas super mini mill. Not a bad machine, but the brother 500 kills it. For a 8 minute program in 6061, the Brother is a little over a minute faster, only 5 tool changes, and pretty much just feeding a few end mils around the part. Quieter and smoother. Handles chips better.

countryboy1966 · Oct 17, 2017

Thanks again for the feedback folks. Anyone with a 27K spindle option care to share how well that spindle handles taking heaving roughing passes in aluminum using a 1/2" or 3/8" 3 flute high helix End mill?

BROTHERFRANK · Oct 17, 2017

The 27K spindle is one of my favorites. The pic is of a 6061 test part we machined when the 27k spindle first came out. This part is 10 in x 6 in. The pocket is one inch deep, the outside is machined 1.25 inch deep. it has 58 drilled, chamfered and tapped 0-80 holes. Roughed, finished, faced, drilled, chamfered inside contour and outside contour, tapped (rolled at 8000 rpm) and machined small pockets in the bottom of the pocket. Total cycle time 4 minutes flat. We used the Hanita 1/2" rougher with 1.25" LOC. Part # TC6A0R13005 off the top of my head. We run the rougher at 12k rpm (Hanita recommended), 1.25" Axial DOC, .25" radial DOC, 240 IPM in a side lock end mill holder. I like it a lot!

mkd · Oct 17, 2017

BROTHERFRANK said:
View attachment 210389
....... 12k rpm (Hanita recommended), 1.25" Axial DOC, .25" radial DOC, 240 IPM in a side lock end mill holder. I like it a lot!

WITH A 30 TAPER?!?!?! :eek:

i'm genuinely impressed.

BROTHERFRANK · Oct 17, 2017

Here is a link to a video of a Brother roughing 6061, 1/2" rougher, 1.25" DOC, .300" stepover, 10K rpm (max on that machine) and 200 IPM as I recall.

Brother One Minute Pocket Cut Programmed by CADCAM - YouTube

gkoenig · Oct 17, 2017

BROTHERFRANK said:
Here is a link to a video of a Brother roughing 6061, 1/2" rougher, 1.25" DOC, .300" stepover, 10K rpm (max on that machine) and 200 IPM as I recall.

Brother One Minute Pocket Cut Programmed by CADCAM - YouTube

That would be even quicker if someone set the non-engagement feed rate to machine max feed rate (or even 2x feed).

BROTHERFRANK · Oct 17, 2017

gkoenig said:
That would be even quicker if someone set the non-engagement feed rate to machine max feed rate (or even 2x feed).

You are right. That was beta version of Dynamic milling. Didn't have the option of different back feedrate yet.

Search

Largest Manufacturing Technology Community on the Web

Search

Anyone do a lot of small diameter endmill work on their Brother Speedio S700X?

countryboy1966

Hot Rolled

Finegrain

Diamond

Comatose

Titanium

countryboy1966

Hot Rolled

2outof3

Titanium

mkd

Stainless

eaglemike

Stainless

Matt@RFR

Titanium

eaglemike

Stainless

countryboy1966

Hot Rolled

BROTHERFRANK

Stainless

mkd

Stainless

BROTHERFRANK

Stainless

gkoenig

Titanium

BROTHERFRANK

Stainless

Similar threads