Speeds & Feeds Software

[Bob Korves]

Flood coolant performs best, but it is a huge mess, gets stinky after a while, leaves stuff sticky, promotes rust if you do not keep after it, and just is not worth it, IMHO, in a hobby shop. I use cutting oil or fluid, or mist coolant. My mist coolant hardware is from China, cost $13.45 delivered, and does not make fog, it makes droplets. It works great. For what a Fog Buster costs it should be gold plated. If it works well, then fine.
The charts are developed for everything working right at the edge, on big rigid machines, to make a profit. That is important in competitive business. In hobby work, we set the pace, are not likely to make a lot of money at it, and so we set our own pace for our own enjoyment. For me, that means keeping costs down. I do not want to see how fast I can run an end mill, I want to see how long I can run it before sharpening it, with good results.

 

[Boswell]

For me, that means keeping costs down. I do not want to see how fast I can run an end mill, I want to see how long I can run it before sharpening it, with good results.

Agreed !

 

[Doubleeboy]

Flood coolant performs best, but it is a huge mess, gets stinky after a while, leaves stuff sticky, promotes rust if you do not keep after it, and just is not worth it, IMHO, in a hobby shop. I use cutting oil or fluid, or mist coolant. My mist coolant hardware is from China, cost $13.45 delivered, and does not make fog, it makes droplets. It works great. For what a Fog Buster costs it should be gold plated. If it works well, then fine.
The charts are developed for everything working right at the edge, on big rigid machines, to make a profit. That is important in competitive business. In hobby work, we set the pace, are not likely to make a lot of money at it, and so we set our own pace for our own enjoyment. For me, that means keeping costs down. I do not want to see how fast I can run an end mill, I want to see how long I can run it before sharpening it, with good results.

Hi Bob, Could you share the source for the mist set up from China that you are happy with?
Thanks
michael

 

[Bob Korves]

Hi Bob, Could you share the source for the mist set up from China that you are happy with?
Thanks
michael

It looks like this one.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1Pc...57261a5&transAbTest=ae803_1&priceBeautifyAB=0
There are a lot of vendors, and also various sale prices. Mine cost $13.45 delivered from China. It works great. I use 2 liter soda bottles as storage containers for the Kool Mist 77 coolant and water mix I use. There is zero toxicity. It is mixed 32:1, one ounce coolant per quart of water. 2 liters of mixed coolant will last me for about 12 hours of continuous use. I added a brass nut over the tubing between the inlet strainer and the check valve to keep it sunk in the coolant. Getting the coolant flowing is effortless and the adjustments are not fussy. There are separate needle valve controls for air and for coolant. The Loc-Line clone tubing works well, does not droop and fail like much of the import Loc-Line does. The air and coolant lines simply push into both input fittings, and the blue collars are pushed forward to release them.
Edit: You supply your own 8mm (5/16") vinyl air tubing to the mixer.

 

[spumco]

If this is a SW problem with the CNCCookbook software, what would you recommend?

I've tried GW, but I find HSM Advisor to have more realistic and consistent F&S recommendations. Taking your attempted cut for example, and editing the power curve to a 1hp spindle with a max RPM of 4000:

6061 AL
3/4" 2FL HSS end mill
Full slot, .1875" DOC

Recommended SFM - 600
Recommended RPM - 2446
Recommended IPM - 29.35 (0.004 IPT)

This is a .9 HP cut and is 'in the red' on the display.

Dropping the cut depth to 0.100" results in a .66hp cut, which appears manageable with this hypothetical spindle.

Something to pay attention to is how much HP & torque you have at various RPM. My spindle can get up to about 7500RPM, but I simply can't run a 1/2" end mill that fast as the motor has lost quite a bit of torque. If I'm trying to max out the material removal I have to set the F&S software to the highest RPM before the torque falls off and then use that to calculate the chipload. In my case this is about 5500RPM - and at that speed I can take huge chunks with bigger end mills and really plow through aluminum.

I suspect the 750w motor you have may not have all the power on the nameplate, nor does it have that power at all RPM. Find a torque curve for a similar motor and figure out where the torque tapers off. Then use that speed in whatever software you choose to use.

 

[Groundhog]

I've used GW for a long time, mostly because I bought it for a year and it has been free ever since. And I have tool libraries set up - which are a pain to set up in any program and I don't want to have to do it again.
I've learned that I need to set the slider to around 50% when cutting aluminum and 20%-25% for steel. Works good enough for a starting point. But I use it for a lot of the other features, just because they are all in one place. Like screw/bolt data, thread and threading data, geometry, etc.
However, if I was looking for a speeds & feeds program I would probably keep looking.

 

[MarkDavis]

I will keep using G wizard, with the slider set in the 20-30% zone, at this point in my learning curve I can't afford another program
With the use of G wizard, tools have some life, Vs a lot of broken/burned tools with out G wizard's guidance.
My coolant system is kool mist 77/water sprayed with air from tool not bearing the fog buster name.
I only use distilled water, and my coolant tank is a one gallon plastic jug purchased full of distilled water.

 

[Bob Korves]

I have a slide rule type speeds/feeds calculator that I use sometimes. It is free for the asking from Niagara Cutter. Mostly I do the calculations in my head.:
SFPM x 4 / tool or work (spinning) diameter = cutting speed (rpm)
--------
mild steel, 90 SFPM, 1/2" end mill
90 x 4 / .5 = 720 rpm

2 inch 6061-T6 aluminum, 400 SFPM on the lathe:
400 x 4 / 2 = 800 rpm

These are starting speeds in a hobby shop, adjust as necessary after a test cut... There are also lots of speeds/feeds calculators free online. The numbers can be roughly rounded off, and have to be anyway on machines without continuously variable speed. None of this is rocket science.

When in doubt, start slower. It is easy to raise the speed up if needed. It is not so nice to have to lower the speed and also change out the damaged cutter and work. Machismo is an often poor attribute in a machine shop.

 

[MontanaAardvark]

Flood coolant performs best, but it is a huge mess, gets stinky after a while, leaves stuff sticky, promotes rust if you do not keep after it, and just is not worth it, IMHO, in a hobby shop. I use cutting oil or fluid, or mist coolant. My mist coolant hardware is from China, cost $13.45 delivered, and does not make fog, it makes droplets. It works great. For what a Fog Buster costs it should be gold plated. If it works well, then fine.
The charts are developed for everything working right at the edge, on big rigid machines, to make a profit. That is important in competitive business. In hobby work, we set the pace, are not likely to make a lot of money at it, and so we set our own pace for our own enjoyment. For me, that means keeping costs down. I do not want to see how fast I can run an end mill, I want to see how long I can run it before sharpening it, with good results.

Lots here, but first is your last paragraph. I'm a hobbyist. I don't want to waste time, I can make more stuff if I don't, but I don't need to be as efficient as a professional and my chances of getting a "big rigid machine" like a $50,000 Haas are zero. In the big sense, I'm pretty happy with my G0704 and the CNC conversion I did. I have some nagging little issues I mess with, but it's completely usable. (I'm tired of hitting my head on the enclosure whenever I bend over to look at something on the table).

I'm running a fog buster and it does fine in terms of keeping aluminum from self-welding to the cutter. Not long ago, I cut a deep slot in a piece of 1018 steel, 3/16" end mill diameter and 3/16" deep. I don't recall the cut specifics, but the cut went fine, the problem was it was too deep to clear chips. This is where flood cooling might have been better. The cutter discolored from heating. I think it was from the heat.

But thanks to all about keeping the slider down at around 25%, and to Spumco for the tip on HSM Advisor.

 

[Doubleeboy]

It looks like this one.
View attachment 265202
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1Pc...57261a5&transAbTest=ae803_1&priceBeautifyAB=0
There are a lot of vendors, and also various sale prices. Mine cost $13.45 delivered from China. It works great. I use 2 liter soda bottles as storage containers for the Kool Mist 77 coolant and water mix I use. There is zero toxicity. It is mixed 32:1, one ounce coolant per quart of water. 2 liters of mixed coolant will last me for about 12 hours of continuous use. I added a brass nut over the tubing between the inlet strainer and the check valve to keep it sunk in the coolant. Getting the coolant flowing is effortless and the adjustments are not fussy. There are separate needle valve controls for air and for coolant. The Loc-Line clone tubing works well, does not droop and fail like much of the import Loc-Line does. The air and coolant lines simply push into both input fittings, and the blue collars are pushed forward to release them.
Edit: You supply your own 8mm (5/16") vinyl air tubing to the mixer.

HI Bob, Thank you for the link for the mister on aliexpress, I ordered one this morning. Did you ever do a write up on it in the past? If you did I missed it, if there is one if you could give me a link I would appreciate it.

Thank you
Michael