Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] milling fine detail in metal

Bernard,
I am also in the jewellery industry and cut extensively with micro end mills. We just finished 6 tools that required lettering in S7
tool steel using a .1mm (.0005") flat end mill.
Spindle speed was 15,000 RPM with a 1% chip load and 10% DOC.
The feed was 90mm per min and plunging at 10mm per Min (Ramping at 15 degrees).
Buy yourself a mist system for the coolant/lubricator to at least give the tooling a chance of surviving.
We use EDM as much as possible and try to avoid cutting into hard material with small end mills. Sometimes a job does not allow you
to take the path of least resistance that graphite offers therefore one has to push the limits of tooling to obtain the desired
effect.
We were lucky with the first end mill as it did accomplish three of the tools we were building, however for some unearthly reason,
it took 4 end mills to finish the last three tools. Speeds and feeds were unchanged, so go figure.
Good Luck and Best Regards.
Neil George


Bernard Bryce wrote:

> Thanks Joe,
> 0,005 is pretty Fine... hard to imagine even.
> Just located the MSC website and ill have a look through it later.
> anyone else with experience cutting metal with a 0.02 inch Mill???
> Do I need air cooling liquid cooling or none at all.
> can anyone recommend any good reading on this subject.
> Bernard
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Vicars [mailto:jvicars@...]
> Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 2:50 PM
> To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com
> Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] milling fine detail in metal
>
> You can buy ball end mills down to .005" at most mold supply shops or
> from MSC (page 486). I have never used anything smaller
> than .060 but I imagine you would have to have infinite patience to keep
> from breaking an .005 endmill.
>
> brycebernard@... wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > This is my first letter to this group
> > Over the past few years I have built a small desktop X-Y-Z milling
> > machine. I am currently using it to prototype jewlery in WAX.
> > I am reasonably well on top of the software electronics and mechanics
> > of the system.
> > I have it working to a accuracy of about 0.1mm. To mill wax 0.5mm
> > (0.02inch) broken drill bit works quite well. At this stage however I
> > would like to mill brass (or another suitable metal) Ideally I would
> > like a milling depth of 0.5mm but I can set the machine up to do it
> > in multiple passes.
> > Does anyone know if there are bits available of this size to mill
> > metal (perferrably without using liquid cooling or forced air)
> > I would appreciate any advice on this topic.
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
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> Welcome to CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@...,an unmoderated list for the
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> bill,
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>
>
> Welcome to CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@...,an unmoderated list for the discussion of shop built systems, for CAD, CAM, EDM, and DRO.
>
> Addresses:
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> bill,
> List Manager