Hello everyone, long time lurker here, I think this is the first time I had a question that I haven't seen answered here, but this week I was really thrown a curveball that I hope someone might have some input on. So the material is some kind of quartz/silica type aggregate in a polymer, think composite countertop material. I have to machine various test specimens from this material, and the only thing that will hold up at all are these CVD Diamond coated endmills my coworker has for machining graphite.
My question is does running coolant have any detrimental effect on this coating this would cause them to wear faster than they would without? Also, if anyone has done a similar job and found some parameters (feeds/speeds) or tooling that was a magic bullet, advice would be appreciated.
My coworker is a longtime toolmaker that insists these mills be run without coolant. I believe (and my boss has my back) that this material must be worked under flood coolant at all time due to the silica dust hazard. I suspect coolant or not, they are going to wear unacceptably because WE ARE MILLING ROCKS. We are going to call the manufacturer tomorrow morning, but I'm hoping maybe someone here has some additional insight because if they can be cut with coolant I know engineering is going to try to push to proceed and it has just been a nightmare to work with this material.
If anyone is wondering why I am attempting to mill ROCKS, I am a machinist at a material science company and we are trying to make various standard specimens out of this material (tensile, compression, TMA, DMA, flexure, etc etc). This is my 3rd year in this field if you include 2 years of school, so I am very green and the knowledge of these forums has been and will be very much appreciated.
My question is does running coolant have any detrimental effect on this coating this would cause them to wear faster than they would without? Also, if anyone has done a similar job and found some parameters (feeds/speeds) or tooling that was a magic bullet, advice would be appreciated.
My coworker is a longtime toolmaker that insists these mills be run without coolant. I believe (and my boss has my back) that this material must be worked under flood coolant at all time due to the silica dust hazard. I suspect coolant or not, they are going to wear unacceptably because WE ARE MILLING ROCKS. We are going to call the manufacturer tomorrow morning, but I'm hoping maybe someone here has some additional insight because if they can be cut with coolant I know engineering is going to try to push to proceed and it has just been a nightmare to work with this material.
If anyone is wondering why I am attempting to mill ROCKS, I am a machinist at a material science company and we are trying to make various standard specimens out of this material (tensile, compression, TMA, DMA, flexure, etc etc). This is my 3rd year in this field if you include 2 years of school, so I am very green and the knowledge of these forums has been and will be very much appreciated.