End mill for EN16

Advert

New Replies

Report Bug

Help/FAQs

End mill for EN16

This topic has 11 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 7 October 2019 at 22:53 by old mart.

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

Author

Posts
6 October 2019 at 22:19 #432167
Andrew Evans
Participant
@andrewevans67134
Hello all, I am doing quite a bit of milling of EN16 steel with a vertical milling machine. HSS end mills are going blunt very quickly, I also have a 2 flute 16mm Glanze insert end mill. Can anyone recommend some end mills that will give a good surface finish and last a long time? Any advice is appreciated? Andy
Advert

6 October 2019 at 22:19 #26884
Andrew Evans
Participant
@andrewevans67134
6 October 2019 at 23:07 #432171
Emgee
Participant
@emgee
Hi Andrew

You should get more useful life from carbide tooling on that material, if you can get the correct inserts for the Glanze tool that would be equally as good. Make sure the chips are blown away from the cut so they don't interfere with the process.

Emgee
7 October 2019 at 08:22 #432188
Andrew Evans
Participant
@andrewevans67134
Thanks Emgee – I will see what is available and give it a go.
7 October 2019 at 11:43 #432207
SillyOldDuffer
Moderator
@sillyoldduffer
Normally I don't flood cool but EN16 gets the full treatment. It's demanding enough to need extra care. Lots of lubricant and continual swarf clearance.

Another tip is cutting tools last longer when they cut rather than rub. With tougher materials, it's intuitive to back off but that may not be the best strategy. Try being more brutal, using more of the cutting edge per cut, and avoid rubbing like the plague. ( If the mill is a small one, it may not be possible to take cuts heavy enough to maximise tool life.)

Most of my end-mills are HSS but I keep a couple of carbide types for roughing out 'difficult' materials. By using HSS to finish, I reduce the time they are exposed to scratchy jobs.

I only have a little EN16 because a job once needed to be hardened. Not good to machine and I found it difficult to get a good finish on it. For ordinary work it's on my 'avoid' list.

Dave
7 October 2019 at 11:59 #432210
Anonymous
I don't recall milling EN16, but I've just made the drive pins for my traction engines from EN16T bar and it turned with no problem, albeit using insert tooling. But I drilled and tapped 5/16" BSF holes using HSS tooling with no issues. I certainly wouldn't worry about milling EN16. If the OP has a problem then I'd suggest it's either with the cutters (which manufacturer) or speeds and feeds.

Andrew
7 October 2019 at 12:51 #432220
Andrew Evans
Participant
@andrewevans67134
Thanks Dave and Andrew

Feeds and speeds is probably an issue. For the 2 insert 16mm endmill I am running about 1200 RPM and 70 mm/min with a cut depth of 0.5mm and less than half the diameter of the cutter engaged – is that just too cautious? This is on a Seig KX3 CNC milling machine. Ideally I would like to use flood coolant but the job is quite high off the table and unless I build a cabinet it will make an awful mess.
7 October 2019 at 13:26 #432229
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
Are they just facing cuts? if not can you alter the path so that you get to use more of the side of the cutter by having a deeper (height) pass that has a shallower (horizontal) depth of cut. that would save wearing out the corner while the rest of the insert remains untouched. The chip thinning this would give would also allow for a faster feed.

You are right at the lowest end with those feeds and speeds

Edited By JasonB on 07/10/2019 13:33:06
7 October 2019 at 14:32 #432239
Anonymous
Speed seems ok, if a little slow. But the feed is way down, especially for inserts. The obvious question is where did the inserts come from? I don't have any Glanze mills, but i have a couple of their boring bars. The bars are ok, but the supplied inserts went straight in the bin.

Personally I'd bin the insert cutter and just use a plain carbide endmill.

Andrew
7 October 2019 at 21:05 #432309
old mart
Participant
@oldmart
I would get indexable tools for your mill, this one is 12 mm for APMT11 inserts (1). The inserts are double ended and would be a lot cheaper to run than buying solid carbide end mills. The shank can be cut shorter if required with a hacksaw.

I have just seen that you are already using indexable inserts. I would be inclined to run at 4000rpm at least with these. The ones that you are using are first generation if they are TPUN and not exactly suitable for a cnc mill.

**LINK**

Edited By old mart on 07/10/2019 21:08:37

Edited By old mart on 07/10/2019 21:12:41
7 October 2019 at 22:21 #432320
Andrew Evans
Participant
@andrewevans67134
The inserts I am using are Iscar APKT 1003PDR IC908
7 October 2019 at 22:53 #432323
old mart
Participant
@oldmart
Good, you have the up to date inserts. You might try some of the cheap Chinese ones from ebay, they have improved a lot in recent years. For roughing steel surfaces, you cold get try and get tooling which uses round inserts, you can turn them a little at a time, and get up to 8 goes per set. I recently got a 40mm shell mill which uses 4 of the small APKT inserts, it had a 22mm arbor fitting.
Author

Posts