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Pro tip: swapped to a 2-flute endmill for aluminum and it ran way smoother
I was fighting chatter on a batch of 6061 parts last month, running a standard 4-flute at around 8000 rpm and getting this awful vibration that was ruining surface finish. Decided to try a 2-flute endmill I had sitting around, just to see what would happen, and the difference was night and day. The chip evacuation was way better, no more clogging up the flutes, and the cut sounded clean like butter instead of that grinding noise. I bumped the feed up a bit to around 50 ipm and it cut cycle time by about 15% too. What feeds and speeds do you guys run for 2-flute vs 4-flute in softer metals?
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christopherh791mo ago
Man, are we really acting like swapping a 2-flute endmill is some kind of breakthrough? It's literally the standard recommendation for aluminum, I feel like this is basic stuff you learn in your first month running a CNC. Yeah chip evacuation is better because of the bigger gullets, that's literally how geometry works, it's not some hidden secret. And 50 ipm at 8000 rpm in 6061 is honestly pretty tame, I wouldn't call that a huge win for cycle time. I'm not saying it didn't help your part, but let's not act like you discovered fire or something.
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sean_green441mo agoTop Commenter
That 50 ipm at 8000 rpm number hits different when your spindle is a little worn or your machine isn't a brand new VF-2 though. I've seen plenty of guys on forums act like anything under 100 ipm is a waste of time but then they're running a machine that costs more than my house. Its easy to talk big when you've got a 30k Haas with torque all the way down. But yeah its not exactly rocket science, a 2 flute in 6061 is like using a Phillips head on a standard screw, its the default move. I just think getting your tooling dialed in is part of the everyday grind and not something to write home about.
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