Thanks to Dave, Kremin’s “favorite” sales guy, the Inconel journey continues. The issue Mike has this time; roughing, or the Dynamic Milling of Inconel on our Haas VF2 CNC Mill. The end mills he’s using keep breaking, plus the edges and faces of the part aren’t up to par. To prevent Mike from updating his resume on Indeed, Trevor brought in the MAN: Steve Oszust, Product Development Manager at Fullerton Tool Co. In this video, Steve will once again go through Mike’s original process and make some suggestions on what changes should be made.
https://fullertontool.com/products/end-mills/3125-vmac
Video Transcript:
Welcome back to the next episode of Dave’s Inconel! Today, we’re going to dive into the details of roughing Inconel, with a focus on Dynamic Milling. Steve from Fullerton is back with us, and he will work with Mike to go through some of the parameters and how you should approach Dynamic Milling in Inconel. Take it away, fellas!
Steve, thanks for coming back and helping us out. We’ve been running our regular end mills here, kind of following the typical machinist mentality of what we think sounds good, moving it around. However, we end up with end mills that don’t hold up for even half of a part—they’re pretty much junk. Is there anything you could show us that we could change up or give us more specific speeds and feeds to make this last a little longer?
Absolutely! What I brought in today is Fullerton’s V-MAX, launched in September. It’s been a very successful full end mill line for us. These are five-flute end mills specifically tailored to aerospace alloys, stainless steel, and similar materials. The tools are designed to run full axial depths at between 8% and 10% radial engagement, with increased surface footage and standard to increased chip loads based on radial chip thinning. We have radial relief, varied spacing, varied helix, and the FC21 coating, which is a quad-layer NextGen coating that protects the tool from abrasion and heat. Let’s put them in and see what we can do. We can definitely overcome what you were doing before. Don’t be afraid of it; it’s just a different way of thinking.
So, Steve, why do these specific end mills cut so much better in Inconel compared to what we were using before?
It’s really based on the design. With the full length to cut and full axial depth with limited radial engagement, you ensure that one tooth enters the cut as one exits. We can vary the length of cuts and the tooth count to keep everything running smoothly. You don’t want the cutter to chop. The other tool you were running had four flutes—it’s in cut, it’s out of cut, and it wreaks havoc within the column and the machine. With this one having five flutes, you’ve got one in and one out, breaking the harmonics and keeping everything running smoothly. This keeps the cutter engaged, giving you better part quality, a superior surface finish, more consistent roughing passes, and significantly longer tool life.
What is the biggest issue you see when people are starting to work with Inconel?
I think when Dave took you guys into the Inconel realm, he took you to the next level. People transitioning from regular alloys to aerospace alloys often don’t know what they’re getting into. You have to throw conventional wisdom out the window. You need to gain efficiencies, address the parts correctly, and use the right tooling. You won’t run it with general-purpose tooling; it must be specifically designed. Stainless tools, coatings, edge prep, honing, and the right programming are crucial. You need to ensure you have the right stepovers, radial engagements, and axial engagements. These aspects are so much more important when running a high-end tool and a high-end alloy like aerospace alloys.
How’s it going over here?
Pretty good. I still see an end mill intact, so things must be going all right. We ran that one at his speeds and feeds, then ran another one at mine. His is definitely better and holding up. Yours sucked, and his was really good. Mine’s not here anymore.
Awesome, awesome. It still looks good, with a good impression through its life. How about the part itself? What do you think?
The part looks good. The bottom of it shows it’s not dragging, and the wall is nice and smooth. You can see it’s cutting really nicely.
Alright, I’m optimistic. Are you looking for a new guy? We’ll talk about this later. This can’t be a thing. Steve, I appreciate you coming in and helping out. You provided a lot of great information. It’s a good end mill. I encourage everybody to try it out.
Thanks for watching this episode of Dave’s Inconel. Stay tuned for more coming up!