Generic Default
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2016
- Location
- Wilmington / Long Beach
I'm about to buy a bunch of tool holders for a new VMC (new machine day thread soon).
The VMC has coolant and air blast through the 12k dual contact cat40 spindle. I'll be cutting almost all aluminum, mostly large parts. Lots of drilling and tapping in these parts, and a few of them have large through bores.
I'm buying the shortest dual contact Maritool holders wherever possible. The largest indexable tools (facemill, huge T slot cutter, 2" drill) and everything indexable will go in side lock holders to plug the coolant gaps. The rest of the tools will go in ER32, SK16, or side lock holders. If I put the regular endmills in sidelocks, the CTS and air blast will be blocked. If I put them in SK16 or ER32, the coolant will blast through the collet slots (I think, right?)
Is it generally a good idea to be running CTS for all tools, or is flood coolant just as good? My main concern is the CTS union. Do these unions have a service life that gives them a set number of CTS hours, or is it dependent on spindle RPM, ect? For those of you who have machines with CTS, do you run the CTS as often as possible or only use it when necessary? I want to get the best tool life possible, but I also want to avoid maintenance and expensive replacement parts and down time if running things a certain way causes problems that aren't immediately obvious.
I think I have a pretty good understanding of best practices for tooling but I'd like for you to share your opinions and experience and recommendations. If you were in my place, what would you get, and how would you run it? Thanks!
The VMC has coolant and air blast through the 12k dual contact cat40 spindle. I'll be cutting almost all aluminum, mostly large parts. Lots of drilling and tapping in these parts, and a few of them have large through bores.
I'm buying the shortest dual contact Maritool holders wherever possible. The largest indexable tools (facemill, huge T slot cutter, 2" drill) and everything indexable will go in side lock holders to plug the coolant gaps. The rest of the tools will go in ER32, SK16, or side lock holders. If I put the regular endmills in sidelocks, the CTS and air blast will be blocked. If I put them in SK16 or ER32, the coolant will blast through the collet slots (I think, right?)
Is it generally a good idea to be running CTS for all tools, or is flood coolant just as good? My main concern is the CTS union. Do these unions have a service life that gives them a set number of CTS hours, or is it dependent on spindle RPM, ect? For those of you who have machines with CTS, do you run the CTS as often as possible or only use it when necessary? I want to get the best tool life possible, but I also want to avoid maintenance and expensive replacement parts and down time if running things a certain way causes problems that aren't immediately obvious.
I think I have a pretty good understanding of best practices for tooling but I'd like for you to share your opinions and experience and recommendations. If you were in my place, what would you get, and how would you run it? Thanks!