Thread: Anyone familiar with Destiny Tool end mills?

I have got a job coming up that is going to require machining out some very large pockets in big stainless steel plate up to 3/4" deep. Going to remove roughly 200 pounds of material if my Inventor model is correct, so naturally I am looking for some good endmill choices. I have always been a big fan of Niagara Stabilizer endmills but thought I would look what other options are available.

I remember at the IMTS show walking through the tooling building and the guy from the Destiny Tool "attacked" me to get me to come to his booth, so naturally I was skeptical but after looking at his endmills there and taking a catalog I am curious as to what they can do, particulalry for this job. Was just curious if anyone has ever run the Raptor DVH or Raptor 3/6 endmill?

Destiny Tool

Only can speak for aluminum, only one small stainless part so far - very happy with them.

In my (limited) experience, Destiny tools have been really great on brass and aluminum. I've been using the Viper series and for whatever reason, they just chatter less than anything else I've used. My only complaint is that their tool selector webpage for the Viper series has been busted for 2 years straight. Maybe it's my browser.

You may find this to be interesting reading. There's a link to my video showing 288 inches per minute, dry. Skip ahead to the 2:50 minute mark:

More fun with aluminum, 1/2" end mill, .012 per tooth.. dry

The tools aren't cheap but I don't know anything else that can sustain a .012 chip load per tooth.
288 ipm at 8K rpm.
.750 axial doc
.187 radial
40.4 cubes with a 1/2" tool.. that's scootin right along.

For stainless and steels I've had good luck with the IMCO Powerfeed 4-flute for slotting, and the 5 flute Powerfeed for profiling.
I had a guy bet me I couldn't slot with a 5-fluter so here's the video I made to demo it taking some abuse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iVRr...eature=related

Originally Posted by exkenna

For stainless and steels I've had good luck with the IMCO Powerfeed 4-flute for slotting, and the 5 flute Powerfeed for profiling.

Moved well over 1/2 ton of 13-8 with Imco's from ExKenna (Curtis). I was doing pretty well, then had to hit some A286 and 321 and wasn't having a good time of it. Called Imco tech, had to leave a message and they ACTUALLY CALLED back within the hour.

I was on the phone with them for almost an hour, they got me through the A286, and the 321 and I picked their brain on the 13-8 and some other stuff (the tech guys actually test the stuff). Double to tripled my depth of cut, eliminated some finish passes, it was quieter. I had 13 hours on one endmill and 14 on another, and I could have put them things back in the package and got a refund and nobody would have been the wiser.

Good tools, good prices (think 1/3 of comparable Hanita prices), great knowledgeable tech support(best I've ever called).

I've tried quite a few endmills, and I've settled on the Imco's, I'm pretty happy with them.

We use Destiny for a wide range of Alum grades 2024-7075 performance is excellent. We also ran their tools on St. steel and Titanium. Quality, performance and tool life was always great. Just my 2 cents

The imco power feeds will outperform the destiny 3/6. The imco 5 flute powerfeed is a decent endmill, their endura line which is supposed to be better then the powerfeeds for heat resistant alloys is NOT something I would use for roughing. It makes for an ok finishing tool, but it sends a rediculous amount of vibration through the machine, and I don't mean chatter. Tried them on three different Matsuuras and one Haas with the same result. I pulled them out and gave them to a shop down the street and they had worse luck then me.

Can't say that Hanitas perform any better then the imco power feeds. DeBoer tools' Tmill blows everything out of the water that I have used to date in tough materials. I'll be giving iscars new em's a try along with MA Fords to see if they can over take DeBoer, I love trying new tools.

I used an endlill from a company called Dura-Mill. It was called Whisper-Kut.

It is a 3 flute end mill that just halls ass in 17-4 stainless. Before Whisper-Kut, I used a cutter from OSG and the Whisper-Kut out performed the OSG 5 to 1.

The whisper-Kut was a little more expensive, but the performance and longevity made it actually cost less.

Originally Posted by Steve Seebold

I used an endlill from a company called Dura-Mill. It was called Whisper-Kut.

It is a 3 flute end mill that just halls ass in 17-4 stainless. Before Whisper-Kut, I used a cutter from OSG and the Whisper-Kut out performed the OSG 5 to 1.

The whisper-Kut was a little more expensive, but the performance and longevity made it actually cost less.

How come you chose a 3 flute over a 4 ?

Originally Posted by dstryr

How come you chose a 3 flute over a 4 ?

Whisperkut end mills come in 3 and 5 flute varieties (or at least they did when we last purchased some).

Most manufacturers still make 3 flute end mills for deep slotting certain gummy grades of stainless. I haven't used one in years. They've pretty much been succeeded by 4 flute variable helix designs, especially in larger diameters.

If you're not using a 5 or even 6 flute tool when profiling.. you're losing money.

Originally Posted by Corym

Whisperkut end mills come in 3 and 5 flute varieties (or at least they did when we last purchased some).

4 flutes as well. Duramill is right up the street from us. They come test their new tool designs on our machines all the time. When I have a job that requires alot of stainless milling, I use their Whisperkut as well.

there GREAT! first choice.
I use the extended reduced shanks end mills with rads all the time for profiling and surfacing.

what grade of stainless are you cutting?

Destiny makes a great tool for stainless, though the DVH seems to be the better for slotting/roughing.

If you have thru-spindle coolant, there are even better choices though.

Use a 6-10 flute for profile finishing, just keep the 10-fluters out of sharp corners.

Originally Posted by jamesu229

what grade of stainless are you cutting?

Most likely will be 304.

Thanks for all the replys gentlemen, I will definitely look into IMCO and maybe try a couple of each on this project as it will require slotting, ramping and profiling to rough and finish the pockets of these parts.

I do have one concern though. We are going to attempt to run this on our Fadal. Is it possible that our machine is not rigid enough to get the full potential out of these endmills? Or is it really technique dependant, i.e troichoidal as apposed to a full slot or HSM apposed large radial cut?

Originally Posted by JMWorks

I do have one concern though. We are going to attempt to run this on our Fadal.

Depends on how you maintain it. Tool retention up to snuff? Gibs and Straps adjusted. Thrust bearings in good shape? Backlash adjusted correctly.

Maintained correctly they will take as much as you can throw at them. Not maintained they can be giant pieces of floppy wet noodle. A couple $100 and a day of maintenance will give you an almost brand new machine.

Originally Posted by Bobw

Depends on how you maintain it. Tool retention up to snuff? Gibs and Straps adjusted. Thrust bearings in good shape? Backlash adjusted correctly.

Maintained correctly they will take as much as you can throw at them. Not maintained they can be giant pieces of floppy wet noodle. A couple $100 and a day of maintenance will give you an almost brand new machine.

Other than the machine is getting a new Z-axis ballscrew as we speak, it has been well taken care of since we got it a few months ago and other than the z-axis the previous owner hasn't caused any noticeable wear anywhere else, and it has a brand new stack of bellville washers in the spindle to hold the tool in.