CNC tool crib - DoESLiverpool/somebody-should GitHub Wiki

Tools are expensive and easy to lose track of. Please number then and record their history as they get used here.

Record who bought them, for how much, where from, catalogue number and any feeds and speeds information provided by the supplier. We want to make sure that when we find a tool we like, we can get it again.

Collets: We have five: 8mm, 6mm, 1/4inch (easily confused), 3mm, 1/8inch=3.175mm (easily confused). You must use the correct collet size and tighten it firmly. DO NOT USE IMPERIAL COLLETS ON METRIC SHAFTS -- even though there is only 5% difference in size, it will jam.

T7 5mm Flat

Diameter 5mm (flat), Collet 6mm, 2 flutes, Alu Power, Cutwel: E5522050 Bought by @goatchurchprime 11 December 2018 for £13. Aluminium: RPM 10000rev/min, Feed 1000mm/min, Vc 155 m/min, fz=0.050 mm/tooth (up to 2.5mm deep cutting)

2018-12-31 4 hours cutting at 0.2mm stepdown on full width cuts. Feed reduced to 560mm/min due to noise before it broke. Is capable of G83 drill cycle pecking of 5mm dia hole. There is some wear at the flat tip in the form of shallow notches on the two blades.
2019-04-03 4 hours cutting at 0.15mm stepdown on full width cuts on 10mm aluminium, unknown grade used for hang glider clips. Hexagon insert for recycled plastic injection mold cut today all the way through.
2019-04-04 Tool Dead after Arthur forgot to turn on compressor. Snapped in two after swarf build up in the tool, within a couple of seconds on changing the spindle speed directly on the router. 0.2mm stepdown was working well up to that point. I would say made it about 80% of the way through before failure.

T2

Diameter 3mm (flat), Collet 6mm, 3 flutes, Alu Power Bought by @magman2112 in 2018

T8

Diameter 6 (flat), Collet 6mm, 4 flutes, HSS Chinese writing

2020-11-22: (@plastictactics) Initially pushed the tool too far with 1mm stepdowns, though with those settings achieved two small pockets and facing operations as a test. On longer cuts the tool overheats and gets clogged with aluminium. Experienced a lot of smearing action even after optimising the feed/speed with tiny or few chips -under the impression that 4 flutes is not suitable for aluminium. I assume it has been blunted a bit after various clogs and many hours cutting so although it is still in the tool crib I will also buy a cutwel E5H22060 (6mm 3 flute) for larger aluminium cutting.

T9 (2x)

Diameter 3 (flat), Collet 3mm, 1 flute, Alu Power 1x bought by @magman2112 in 2018, 1x bought by @norru in Aug 2019 One of the T9 appears to be missing since 2019-09-14 (or @norru was not very good at searching in drawers)

2018-01-06: used to quietly drill 50 helixed holes diameter 5, speed 800, spindle 16000 in 10mm thick aluminium.
2019-08-05: cut a bracket out on speed 800, spindle ~17000, off a 5mm thick aluminium sheet. G-code generated from FreeCad and @goatchurchprime's Kinetic postprocessor.
2019-08-11: more instances of the same bracket, about 1/2 hour worth of continuous flawless cutting.
2019-08-12: cut from a 1.5mm aluminium sheet, 0.1mm plunge depth, spindle ~7000 rpm, speed 350. Cutting really nicely. Aluminium fully taped down with screws. Air pump on.
2019-12-23: I have found the only remaining T9 snapped in half, and no report of it anywhere (@norru)
2020-11-22: (@plastictactics) There was a cutwel E5E47030 bit which I assumed is this tool. It cut a 4mm deep adaptive pocket beautifully in Grade 6082T6 aluminium (https://www.1stchoicemetals.co.uk/product/6mm-3/) until it snapped on a retract operation - will need to spend more time looking at the toolpath to see why it collided. Adaptive clearing 'stepover' was 0.5mm, speed about 17000. Have two more on order to replace this and have one spare.

T10

Holz Alu/Kunsstoff 1mm tools, original with Kinetic-NC machine

T11

Brass coloured rasps 1/8" collet

T12

Full set of 10: 0.8-3mm PCB engraving bits, 1/8" collet

T13

HSS 6mm diameter, long, 4 flute, 6mm collet 4 remaining, one damaged on shaft.

T14

2 blade, table flattening, 3/4" cut diameter, 1/4" collet stored in wood.

T15

Case of V-grooved cutters, 1/8" collet, 30 degrees (one unused) for copper or brass.

T16

Case of nearly flat drill bits, 1/8" collet, various diameters for drilling holes in circuit boards.

T17

Case of ball-nose cutters, 1/8" collet and diameter, probably for brass.

Feeds and speeds

my calculations here a 2-fluke 5mm Carbide tool should cut aluminium at 1577mm/minute with the spindle set at 15524rpm, and a 3mm 1-fluke Carbide tool should cut it at 1314mm.minute with spindle 25874.

RPM[rev/min] = Vc[m/min] * 1000/60/(3.14 * tooldia) * 60
Feedrate = RPM * fz[mm/tooth] * numflutes
Vc is velocity of cutting blade as it hist the material (controlled by RPM and tool radius)
fz is the width of each chip (controlled the forward motion between one blade strike and the next).

Broken tools

T1 4mm Flat

Diameter 4mm (flat), Collet 8mm, 1 flute, HSS-E, Cutwel: EL612040 Aluminium: RPM 18000rev/min, Feed 950mm/min, Vc 226 m/min, fz=0.053 mm/tooth Bought by @goatchurchprime 11 December 2018 for £13

2018-12-28 1 hour cutting swan necks full width at 0.2mm stepdown. Stock came loose on second part and vibrated, heating up everything and melting slivers of aluminium onto the tool, which were picked off.
2018-12-31 Tried with 0.4mm stepdown. Terrible noise after 5mm depth, tore everything apart, and finally snapped.

6mm collet

The 6mm collet is damaged. If used, it will lock up in the spindle and cause potential damage when extracted. Discovered jammed, twice, by @norru and @magman2112 in July 2019. Please do not use! The broken collet has been replaced.