I am having trouble obtaining a nice, smooth surface finish on carbon steel using an indexable fly cutter with my mill (pictures attached). The surface is very rough like sand paper and I can't figure out how to get a smooth finish. The fly cutter's cut diameter is 4in (2in radius) and I've tried running it at 600rpm starting with feeds from 2 Inches per minute up to 16 ipm, and then at 1300rpm with feeds from 6 ipm to 30 ipm and still no success. I tried depths of cuts from .002 to .010. I have been cutting with no lubrication and. I'm looking for what is causing this rough surface finish and how to possibly fix it.
My observations are: I don't hear any chatter, I haven't seen any sparks, cutting insert is brand new and I don't see any signs of ware after use, my mill is sitting on 4x4's (vibration?).
My machine's limits are 160-600rpm (low) and 1300-4600rpm (high) with feeds from 0-34 ipm in the x-axis only (all other axis's are manually adjusted). The mill is Kent USA KTM-5VK.
I'd like to point out I am a novice in the machining world so I apologize if any of my terms seem odd. I am excited to learn as much as I can from you all and I appreciate all those who see this post and provide information. Also, can we please keep this discussion on this topic and avoid any unnecessary comments/off-topic discussions.
Thanks!
Cody
My observations are: I don't hear any chatter, I haven't seen any sparks, cutting insert is brand new and I don't see any signs of ware after use, my mill is sitting on 4x4's (vibration?).
My machine's limits are 160-600rpm (low) and 1300-4600rpm (high) with feeds from 0-34 ipm in the x-axis only (all other axis's are manually adjusted). The mill is Kent USA KTM-5VK.
I'd like to point out I am a novice in the machining world so I apologize if any of my terms seem odd. I am excited to learn as much as I can from you all and I appreciate all those who see this post and provide information. Also, can we please keep this discussion on this topic and avoid any unnecessary comments/off-topic discussions.
Thanks!
Cody