Insert Based Endmills

[Chaz]

I am considering this. Cutwel are doing a 'free' holder if you order 20 inserts. Around £150 landed cost. Not cheap however this might be more efficient than buying endmills in the longer run.

https://www.cutwel.co.uk/milling-too...y-ams-s-series

Thoughts? Suitability on a high speed spindle setup? From the supplied chipload per tooth, I should be pushing around 20K RPM and north of 6000mm/min (assuming I can power this much of cut).

Thanks

[magicniner]

I assume you read this -

https://www.cutwel.co.uk/FileDeposit...Alpha_Mill.pdf

?

[Chaz]

I assume you read this -

https://www.cutwel.co.uk/FileDeposit...Alpha_Mill.pdf

?

Nope, hadnt seen that. Will review.

My question was more around practicality / suitability and costs vs standard end mills (and not as much about S&F).

[magicniner]

After you check the range of feeds and speeds in the document fit your requirements simply consider the insert replacement VS re-sharpening costs, the tools are great if they fit your machine's parameters.

[Chaz]

After you check the range of feeds and speeds in the document fit your requirements simply consider the insert replacement VS re-sharpening costs, the tools are great if they fit your machine's parameters.

Thanks. I wonder if they are more resilient to mistakes or similar. Carbide clearly snaps, this might damage an insert, as long as the main holder remains undamaged / straight, it should be good to go with new inserts.

The idea of spending £150 and then not getting a lot of use from it worries my wallet. Of course, I am not expecting it to be idiot proof but its easy to make a mistake.

It would also be good if anyone that has gone down this route suggests its the best thing since sliced bread, its a waste of money or its just the same as buying endmills and replace them as they wear / break.

[spluppit]

Chaz one of the most important bits of information is the material you are wanting to machine, you do not mention this in your post. What is the main material you wish to cut? I know you are also asking about drilling Mild in another thread. Is this the hope that can machine mild on your machine? These style of cutters need power to use even with high speed paths.

Don't forget Cutwel has a tech team. They should be able to help you with some power advice. Its worth asking if they have had any alpha mills returned they might let you try out, something they can be pretty accommodating with. I have several of these alphas they work is about all i can say, they are not outstanding or spectacular in my view but they work, I personally think that rpm on your machine with of these cutters will be a disaster, chatter city central, You may get a better results playing about but i think you will simply not have the torque to run is slow enough to cure chatter problems. I could be wrong, often it's trial and error even for people like me.

These modern cutters are very, very machine dependent. It's not unknown that you throw away the cutting data and start from scratch. Some cutters work better on certain machines than others for odd unknown reasons that you cant always quantify.

Also remember that these style of cutters can use a very negative rake edge styles with is very square and sometimes slightly rounded cutting edge, this means more power is needed. Positive rake= less power, negative rake= more power required. This is where solid carbide, Powder metal comes into its own with crispy sharp cutting edges.

I'm pretty well versed with the cutwel ranges and use a lot of them. You would be welcome to have a chat one evening and you can get a hands on user run down.