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Corner Radius Tools?

meowkat

Aluminum
Joined
Aug 18, 2013
Location
IL USA
Greetings, I'm fairly new to CNC machining and modern cutting tool features like corner radii and variable flute/helix.

It seems to me that unless I need a square corner I would use a corner radius tool for basically everything, is that practical or common? What downside is there really to corner radius tools? Cutting primarily aluminum at the moment, and I have a decently large collection of HSS tooling I would like to get some use out of.

Thanks in advance if you have anything to share.
 
Greetings, I'm fairly new to CNC machining and modern cutting tool features like corner radii and variable flute/helix.

It seems to me that unless I need a square corner I would use a corner radius tool for basically everything, is that practical or common? What downside is there really to corner radius tools? Cutting primarily aluminum at the moment, and I have a decently large collection of HSS tooling I would like to get some use out of.

Thanks in advance if you have anything to share.

.
normally a rougher has a corner radius or chamfer so it last longer. a finisher has less corner radius or chamfer
 
No downside unless you need a square corner, but they do add to the cost of the tool. I am assuming you mean corner radius on end mills.
 
My roughers (Destiny Diamondback) have .02" - .03" corner radii, since they see a lot of heavy buried cuts.

My finishers for Al are all sharp corner since they do far less material removal, and I almost always am having to make sharp pocket floor corners.

Regards.

Mike
 
Radius corner downside is cost to make and the chip thinning that occurs at the bottom of the radius on the tip of the tool.
(also add a much higher regrind price tag here)
Upside is strength and resistance to chipping.
A chamfer is an in-between, faster to put on so cheaper than a radius, some chip thin but not going to zero, still a sharp corner at it's bottom .

Despite the weak corner, no rad or no chamfer tools are the most common.
In AL I usually use sharp corners or very,very small rads as this material/cutting tool does not like thin chips.
If crossing holes or interruptions a radius corner will dive and then float more than a non-rad tool leaving a "wave" on the floor.

There is no one rule.
Try it, see if it works better for you and your applications and machine.
Bob
 
aluminum it doesnt matter much. when milling steel as the ipt feed gets higher you reach a point where the corners start breaking off especially if they have no radius.
.
when roughing most go as fast as possible removing as much as possible without sudden tool failures.
.
i often use new end mills with radius corners and they are resharpened with chamfered corners. cant say i ever noticed much difference if any difference
 








 
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