I primarily use single flutes for 1/4", and often for 1/8". 2 flutes still works great for 1/8" and below. I do use 2 flute for 3/8", but I reduce RPM quite a bit and have usually removed material before hand. I only use 1/2" endmills for surfacing.
We have bee busy with production in the shop so not many prototypes happening (which is what I like to share)
Here are some of my go-to bits for all prototyping and production parts, note I only slot with a 1 Flute but the others like the 3/8" spiral are workhorses with adaptive material removal and leave an amazing finish on the final passes.
SpeTool 3 Flute Carbide End Mill for Aluminum Cut Non-Ferrous Metal Upcut CNC Spiral Router Bit, 3/8In Shank, Extra Long 3.5 Inch
https://a.co/d/gaXwIgm
SPEED TIGER Solid Carbide CNC Spiral O Single Flute End Mill - IAP1/4"Diameter
https://a.co/d/cpn1BWJ
SpeTool Carbide End Mill CNC Router Bits 5/16" Diameter
https://a.co/d/9Qwr3nV
SpeTool 5PCS Carbide Singe Flute End Mill Set, 1/8" Cutting Diamter 1/4" Shank 1/2" Cutting Length
https://a.co/d/gcjFMMc
Yonico Solid Carbide Single Flute Upcut End Mill Router Bits CNC Spiral O Flute 1/4-Inch Diameter 1/4-Inch Shank
https://a.co/d/arEdLI5
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I do also buy some specialty bits, but these are what I use 90% of the time, unless I need a backcut, etc.
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What do you use for collets / collet nuts?
I use all these collets:
10pcs/set ER20 Spring Steel Collet Set for CNC Workholding Engraving Milling Lathe Tool 3mm, 1/8"/4mm/5mm/6mm, 1/4", 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 1/2"
And a couple extra 1/4" and 1/8" Collets
And these ER20 Nuts
I run carbide stub drills to predrill or drill for tapping and run 6mm, 4mm china single flutes from ebay for slotting and boring then Wexwe DLC coated 3f for most other roughing and finishing.
I have a few Lake shore carbide Zrn 3f in 1/8", 3/16", and 1/4" that work great but cost 2x what the DLC mills do and perform mostly the same.
I also have a 1/8" and 1/4" C3D single flute as backup.
For facing large area I run the 1" 3 insert face mill from Bush machine tool but I might get a different insert face mill that uses bigger inserts so I can run my PCD inserts for perfect mirror finish. Although I do get a great finish from the Bush tool and it’s more me chasing perfection and not a necessary change.
Those collets are very cheap and likely have lots of run out. The collet nuts do not seem to be balanced. The reviews on them agree with my first two statements.
You can get nuts that are balanced to 18k from PWNCNC and 20k from PreciseBits. For collets you can get them from either PreciseBits or Maritool. PreciseBits sells collets with a TIR of 0.0004"-0.0001" and Maritool sells them with 0.0003".
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I get the same low cost collets Mr Fox uses in his video and they have been both affordable and running true.
I got really nice 24k balanced er20 nuts for $13 each from Avid cnc
https://www.avidcnc.com/balanced-er20-collet-nut-p-476.html
I also ordered the same ISO20 tool holders he recommends but won’t have any input on those until my ATC gets here and is setup.
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21.6cm^3 mrr on a dreanique dlc coated 3fl 6mm
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32.40cm^3 dlc coated 3fl 10mm 45 degree helix.
24,000, 1.8mm doc, 9mm stepover, 2000mm/m with 5mm lead ins. If you guys do not have it yet, Millalyzer is a golden tool to have when setup right. It was almost spot on for what I could get out of this 10mm after inputting my thoughts on the 6mm cuts I posted here above. I feel like the hdms cut maximum is going to be somewhere in the range of 390-450w of actual cutting power given how much delfection im getting now. The above cut is 407w with mql mist going and 526w with no mist. Im not sure it would be able to handle the shear temps very long without mist not taking into account the extra delection your going to have. Gonna drop my 10mm 3fl roupging feeds down to 1.5mm doc and keep the rest. The machine was much happier there. The nasty resonsnce you hear is the gopro camera clipping in and out. Its no where near as bad in real life but it is very loud.
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Could you please show how you set up your machine, tool, and utility for this? What version of Millalyzer are you using?
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That’s beautiful! Is there a return on making these for others?
We make lots of custom parts for builds, variations of this shifter is one of them
A good amount of that vibration also comes from the stock overhanging the vise and having no end support.
If you are getting deflection try increasing the Doc and reducing the Woc and you can get a good boost in Mmr.
You will be using more of the cutting edge, reducing radial loading, and get those cuts done in 1 step down vs 3.
10mm tools are almost 3x thicker than 6mm and can be pushed a good bit harder.
Perhaps try 10mm Doc, 1.75 Woc, 2540mm pm feed for around 44.5cm to start and you can probably increase the feed rate a bit depending on how it sounds.
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What are you guys running for g-code senders? I plan to start with Carbide Motion, but was going to try out G-Sender too. It seemed to support multiple work offsets easier, which I see a few of you are using.
Im running carbide motion, I want to switch to io sender shortly.
Been busy prepping for and going on a trip to CA. Prototyped our new roof rack mounts with the HDM and wood slats on the PRO XXL… love these machines
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You’re missing a sticker or two, You may want to swing by Carbide 3D’s office and Kevin can help you apply them.
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lol… my crews nickname for this car is “stickers” so it could always use more. lol
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