Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: newbie Question

Ken Retallick wrote:

> Carbide maybe eventually. at this stage just the standard HSS cutters.

I have basically given up on HSS for most work, and no longer buy it.
I guess I got spoiled and started learning with a cache of old Stellite
cutters. They lasted FOREVER! I thought the WERE HSS, but they
are much better. Stellite is not available much, anymore, but Cobalt
tool steels, like M42 and M57 are very common, cost only cents more
than the HSS tools, and last many times longer.

The Chinese HSS tools sold at a discount by many of the machine shop
supply outfits, in the blue tubes with rubber-stamped labels, no brand
name, are ABSOLUTE CRAP! I won't buy them any more, for sure!
SOme of them look like they were sharpened by hand by a blind man!
And, that is an insult to the blind!

But, even brand-name HSS cutters just don't last very long, compared to
M42 and such cutter materials. Next time you buy cutters, check out the
prices and get some standard end mills in M42. You'll never go back
to HSS. With even good HSS cutters, I can easily see (sometimes without
any magnifier!) edge wear after just minutes of cutting aluminum sheet
panels, probably 6061-T6 or similar alloy. With the M42, I can run them
all day before the wear is apparent with a magnifier. With solid carbide,
the finish on the cutter just begins to shine after a day of work. But, carbide
is not forgiving of mistakes, hitting the fixture or vise, being dropped, etc.
Solid carbide is so cheap, now, that I am starting to use it quite a bit in
the smaller sizes. Tool flex in the 1/8" sizes is a big problem. Try cutting a slot
with a 1/8" HSS cutter at full width, then try it with a solid carbide cutter.
The HSS slot will wander all over the place due to tool flex, the carbide will
be very straight.

Jon