2024723 — The feed rate is the distance a cutting tool covers during one spindle in revolution or the velocity at which the workpiece advances the milling ...

The closest you can get to this is Janka rating and only for like grain structure and integration. It’s a hardness rating created by measuring the amount of force it takes to embed a steel ball to a certain depth in the wood. Again though that’s, only one part of the wood variability. It can be useful if you have good data in a similar wood. You can use it as a ratio to your chipload/feed or pass depth. Won’t be ideal but it will get you a starting number that’s decent IF your original is good.

Shawn, I’m not expert enough to advise you on this. You have to ask yourself whether there will be enough torque or impact force to break the steel. It may have good resistance to wear, but really will be brittle, depending on the grade of steel and the way you hardened it. Case hardening might be a good option. This gives a hard surface with toughness in the core. Some grades of steel will harden by themselves as they cool in air and still have toughness. If the piece is critical, I think you should probably go into this a bit deeper. If a chisel’s cutting edge is not hardened sufficiently or chips, not much harm is done. Machine components may be another matter!

In general, yes. This is due to most 3D work requiring stepovers of less than 10%. Any stepover that is less than 50% will have chip thinning which will make your actual chipload less than typically calculated. As an example let’s say that we are cutting with that 1/4" ball-nose (assuming a 2 flute) at 10KRPM with a 0.004" chipload. This would workout to 80IPM (RPM * Flutes * Chipload). However, let’s now say we are only using a 20% stepover. To cut that same 0.004" chipload we need to cut at 100IPM (1.25x). This gets worse the lower you go where 10% requires 133IPM (1.67X) and 8% where most will recommend a 3D finish pass is 147IPM (1.84x).

Or is that a pipe dream? Maybe it’s not a calculator per say but a ‘multiplication factor’ of wood based on some standard.

As it gets hotter, you will see the bright steel change colour. It will go from silvery to a pale yellow, through brown to blue and then to grey. You have to catch the moment when the oxidation colour you want reaches the cutting edge. Normally a pale yellow-brown colour at the edge of a cutting tool is about right for cutting wood, but different tools may need other colours. A blue colour will leave the steel tough and strong, but not hard enough to keep a cutting edge. Springs are often tempered to blue.

You can case-harden mild steel. This gives it a very thin layer of higher carbon content on its surface. Then you can use it for some light-duty cutting tools provided you don’t grind away the hardened skin when sharpening. To case-harden, you have to coat the metal with a special compound before heating it.

Ordinary low-carbon mild steel is not suitable for most cutting tools. You cannot harden steel of that kind, and it will not keep a sharp edge. To harden steel, the metal must have a high enough carbon content. Mild steel is harder than wood, and a cutting edge on mild steel may last long enough for a one-off job. But if the edge is thin it will just give way under pressure.

You may find that some scrap carbon steel is too hard for sawing or filing into shape. You will have to anneal it to make it softer and workable. To do this, the first step is to make the metal red hot. While it is hot, you can forge it, but don’t try to work the metal when it has lost its red heat or it may crack. You have to ‘strike while the iron is hot’. After any forging work, get the steel red hot again and then anneal it by cooling it slowly. The slower it cools, the better – traditionally the metal was left to cool buried in hot ashes. If using a propane forge, you can just leave the metal to cool in the forge so the residual heat will slow the cooling. You want the whole piece uniformly softened, so try to heat and cool it evenly. It can be worth repeating the annealing process.

For the most part if you are using decent size and quality tools in soft material there’s a large range of “usable” chiploads. That’s not to say you can’t get better results digging into it but it’s more complicated than most assume. I feel it’s also worthwhile to learn a lot of these types of things to add to your troubleshooting and starting points. But not to the point of obsessing over the “optimal” vs cutting and making parts.

Scrap carbon steel is easy to find. If you want to harden steel for tool making, springs, files, saw blades, masonry nails, crow bars, cold chisels, woodworking chisels, old screwdrivers, files, plane irons and many other things are made of steel that is suitable for reworking. I have used the tines of an old garden fork and the rings from old ball races. Keep in mind that if you put the tool under significant stress, steel that has or may develop cracks is unsuitable. For example, the valleys between the teeth of a file are weak points where cracks can start.

Turning tools are now rarely manufactured from carbon steel, but it is still used for many other purposes. Even for turning tools, it still works just as well as it did when the old-time turners made their living with it. You can buy high carbon steel in various grades, some suitable for hardening in water and others in oil.

How to hardensteel

Usually you can find recommended speeds and feeds for bits at the manufacturers website. Some even have tool databases of all their bits that you can import into your CAD/CAM software. I have tried CNC Cookbook in the past but now I just use the manufacturers recommendation and adjust it if needed.

When the colour is right, quench the tool again. It is then ready for final clean up and sharpening before being put to use.

I’m not aware of a good one. The closest you’ll get for less than the cost of a kidney is Millalyzer (Link) and it doesn’t have a lot of woods or a way of dealing with most of the below.

How to case hardensteel

Won’t go too much into this for bias reasons. However, I do like that they list chip thinning compensation for the listed stepovers. That will save a lot of people some headache.

To harden steel, you must heat it. You can use a magnet to check that it is hot enough for hardening – when the magnet stops attracting it, the steel is ready. More simply, just get it red hot, which is also the temperature needed for hot forging. The bigger the piece, the more heat you will need. If the item is small, you can harden steel using a burner on a gas cooker. You can use a charcoal fire with a blower to supply air.  You can do a lot with a reasonably powerful blowtorch. Larger pieces of steel may dissipate the heat as fast as it is applied, never getting hot enough. If using a blowtorch, you can stack a few dry bricks to make an enclosure to retain the heat.

Quick question on this subject. do you use different settings when carving a 3D relief. As opposed to flatwork like a sign. an example is a 1/4 ballnose in maple.

@JDog Thanks for the excellent video. (One note: You kept saying “eighteen hundred RPM” instead of 18,000. But we know what you meant.). You don’t mention using a thermal heat gun in the video. That’s an infrared thermometer, I believe. What is the temperature range you’re seeing? What’s an ideal temp for a 1/4" two spiral upcut? (Just as an example.)

Hope that’s useful. If anyone wants me to go more in depth on any of this let me know but I already am running into text wall territory.

UPDATE: Tried it and it worked great. For example, one bit shows a feed rate of 54 ipm for hardwood, 90 ipm for softwood and 126 ipm for MDF/Laminate. The Amana database only has a default preset.

CNC Router with ER-11 collet opens you to a new world of router bits and End Mills not found in your hardware store router. Designed for M2, Maslow, and hobby CNC machines. Features 65mm diameter router, 12-foot (3.5-meter) power cable, 6-speed...

In the last 3 years, Harvey & Company has acquired 15 companies. It has also ... Harvey & Company LLC. 5000 Birch Street, Suite 9200, Newport Beach ...

You don’t always have to harden all parts of a tool to the same degree. If it must withstand stress in use, you can leave the bulk of it annealed, for toughness and strength, with just the cutting tip hardened.

I used to be particular about chip load etc but after burning out three Makitas in a year decided to use setups that are easy on the router. I think that router bit longevity being shortened due to possible overheating is less expensive than replacing routers. So far have had no reason to change this after about 4 months of daily use. I also have one of these mounted on a bench lathe, but it would be simple to put it on a drill press or hand drill. which I use to clean each bit when I change bits. Very quick and very inexpensive. amazon.com/Jewelry-Polishing-Bristles-Polisher-Diameter/dp/B0B5QLVJT3/ref=sr_1_38?crid=U5OFE62M4Y4K&keywords=jewellers+bristle+brush&qid=1707684079&sprefix=jewellers+bristle+brush%2Caps%2C397&sr=8-38

Unless there’s something I’m missing this doesn’t need to be an either or. Depending on where you are having issues (high RPM, or cutting force) you can change the cut to get both a decent chipload and something that the router can handle. e.g. Too much force cut the pass depth, too much RPM scale the RPM and feed.

Mild steelknife

To harden the steel, heat the part to be hardened bright red hot again, if possible ‘soak’ it in the heat for a bit, then quench it. It’s the rapid change from red hot to cold that will harden the steel. You can use various quenching liquids, but a bucket of water will usually do the trick. Plunge the red hot metal straight in, and swirl it about to cool it as rapidly as possible. If the steel warps or cracks when quenched, try using oil instead of water, or use different steel. Brine sometimes works. If using oil, fire precautions are necessary. Use a metal container, not a plastic bucket. The hot steel will heat and ignite the oil, so have a metal cover handy to extinguish the flames and do it outdoors.

We created CNCExplorer for this purpose. Select bit and material and you can optimize your feeds and speeds (including depth of cut). We hope to have an iPhone app out in the near future, but the web app is available now. https://www.cncexplorer.com

Hi Jim - it’s free for 30 or 60 days – don’t recall which. That lets you evaluate it without committing. We can probably arrange a discount code too

Anybody spend the money to buy a Speeds & Feeds Calculator that takes the type of wood into account. There are such huge differences between the hardness of the different species that it wood seems to require one. There is one for sale on CNC Cookbook. Anyone have any experience with it?

There’s also other machine variables like runout that add and subtract from chipload (feed/speed) in multi flute cutters. Resonance and CNC/tool rigidity would be 2 other quick examples that can’t be completely accounted for in most of the calculators.

2020921 — I have prepared a very quick outline on how to create a simple broiler feed using the very basic feed ingredients needed.

There’s also the issue that any calculator to have better than a quick “start here” number would need to know more about the tool than most ask for. Millalyzer is better at this as it’s looking for tool geometry like rake and helix. However, most don’t and even Millalyzer is missing a lot of them. There’s also an issue of getting those numbers as most manufacturers rarely if ever give them out.

202366 — Speeds and Feeds Calculator for Milling Processes. Written by: Benoît ... Instead of trial and error, use an online feed and speed calculator to ...

Before tempering, clean up the metal with abrasive. You want the steel bright and shiny for this stage. Warm the tool very carefully above, not in, a clean flame. Watch the bright metal surface carefully as it heats up. Let the heat start away from the edge and creep towards it, aiming for a uniform temperature over the part to be tempered. The edge and any other thin parts will heat up too fast if exposed to the heat directly.

To be clear, I don’t know what you’re cutting at, your tool geometries, or materials so you may be hitting a minimum chipload.

How to hardenmild steelwith oil

Thank you for bringing that to my attention… I did mess up where I said eighteen hundred rpm instead of 18,000. I need to add a note in that video about that correction. Its hard to give specifics because these numbers are different with every wood type and every bit size and depending on what time of year it is. !/4EM DC in pine was around 140deg F when dialed in while the upcut would run slightly cooler at around 120deg F. but that was in the fall when my shop was not really hot. I would usually take whatever temp it gives me and make small adjustments to see if there are changes or improvements looking for the lowest numbers. Over time you start to get a sense of what it sounds like and looks like when it is dialed in and you will be able to adjust it without the aids.

«Titan» first made a name for itself in 1995. At that time, the company organized the production of methyl tert-butyl ether in Omsk region, an ecologically ...

This functionally means that the only way to get “optimal” or the “best” settings is to test. Even big production shops with 6 figure machines do and only use calculators or manufacturer data as a starting point. I feel I should point out though that unless you are doing repeated cuts with the same tools and material or are on the margins of deflection/tool strength it may not be worth the time.

Sep 8, 2016 — ... Corner's nightlife scene. The Hole is located in the basement of the Pigeon Hole, Charlottesville's staple breakfast spot. UVa graduate Roya ...

3. Tuna Thin Ring – If you're going offshore, grab our Guy Harvey x Groove Life Tuna Ring. This stunning silicone ring boasts the dark metallic blue with ...

In the same strain tool geometry will effect where your best cut will be as something like a tighter helix changes things like tear out chiploads, cutting forces, and what direction those forces are in.

If you are using scrap, old steel is often the best choice because some modern steel alloys may not respond well to these basic heat treatment procedures. One way to tell what you’ve got is to touch the steel on a grinder. Lots of bright bursting sparks like a child’s ‘sparkler’ firework mean it is probably high carbon steel. Try a bit of mild steel such as an ordinary nail for comparison. It will also make a lot of sparks, but there will be fewer bursters. What the metal was used for before it became scrap is a clue – if it was an item intended to be subject to a lot of stress, the metal is probably high carbon steel. But there is a continuum of carbon content – to be sure, test-harden a piece before making the tool.

To create a cutting path in the plane or in space, an interpolation between the different CNC-axes is also necessary. ... Circular interpolation: a circular path ...

Heat treat low carbonsteel

It’s sometimes useful to know how to harden steel. Although it’s possible to do woodturning with very few tools, I can never resist trying something new. I buy tools, but often I make my own. Back in the days before factory-made tools were available, turners knew how to harden steel and temper it. They made their own tools out of high carbon steel, or got them from the local blacksmith. Of course, the best way to harden steel and temper it is to do it properly, using modern methods based on good science and metallurgy. This requires the right steel for the job, with careful control of temperatures and timing and the rates of heating and cooling, and quenching methods that suit that steel. Acceptable results for many purposes can usually be obtained using the cruder methods described here. But most people would probably agree that modern high speed steel cutting tools are best, particularly if they are to get a lot of use.

After quenching, the steel should be glass-hard and a file will just slide off it without cutting. Don’t try too hard with the file, the hard metal will soon make it blunt.

If you want to do any hot forging, you will need something to use as an anvil, a hammer, vise and heavy pliers. You may also need a hacksaw, angle grinder, file, bench grinder and a drill press. To work thick steel, you will need heavier tools and a forge.  If it’s hot enough, it’s surprisingly easy to bend steel using a vise or wrenches, or to hammer it into shape on an anvil. You can forge high carbon steel and ordinary mild steel in the same way.

@RockingMallet Joshua, thanks for the heads up. Funny, because I’ve used SPE tools a lot; cheap and easy to get on Amazon (which I hate to use so much but I’m not a patient person and returns are so damn easy…).

There’s multiple issues with wood and correct chiploads (feed and speed). Since it’s a grown material it starts off variable and get more complicated from there. For a few common examples, woods cut differently with changes in grain structure, material integration, and moisture content. Some of those change it a lot like Rosewood or Ebony that integrates silica into the wood or very tight grained wood vs wide grain with the same hardness.

If you make two pieces of steel white hot, you can weld them together by hammering. Hotter still, the metal will burn and spoil. But these temperatures are harder to reach with the sort of equipment described here.

Can you case hardenmild steel

@Enginerd Chris, I’ve uploaded the Amana database and it’s a great place to start but it doesn’t take into account the type of wood.

When cooled, the annealed steel should be soft enough to saw or file. Check that all parts are soft, then carry out whatever further operations you need. Shape the tool, including rough grinding the cutting edge.

I made a video about this to help explain chip load a bit better in simpler terms. The main take away should be that testing for bit temperatures is the key to getting the perfect chip load. Pause the project a few min into the cut and see how hot the bit is. I use a thermal heat gun to shoot my bit temps. Make adjustments until you have the coolest temps and that will be the best chip load possible. Link to the video. Beginners Guide To Feeds Speeds & Chiploads - YouTube

BTW, when you sign up for an account, the text I entered was white on a white background. Couldn’t see it at all. Should be a relatively easy change for you.

Sometimes you need more accurate tempering, for example if you need a larger piece evenly tempered. You can do this by heating the item in an oven at a set temperature, or in oil. You will need a thermometer for these methods. They remove some of the guess work, and allow for soaking at the proper temperature, which may give better results.

Heat treatingmild steel

If I want to harden a driveshaft endpiece that needs to be as wear-resistant as possible but will never be subjected to sharp impacts, can I skip the annealing stage entirely and use the part in its fully-hardened, brittle state after the quenching stage?

Can A36steelbehardened

There’s also an issue of potentially needing a different chipload if the rake in the ball is not aggressive enough to match the side flutes of the cutter.

Out of my own curiosity, have either of you measured the runout on these. There a few versions we’ve seen of these ER11 router and we can never seem to get any real data on them.

If you let the metal get too hot during the tempering you will have to repeat the hardening stage. You can repeat the annealing, hardening and tempering without harm to the metal. But too long at high temperature can tend to burn out the carbon from the surface layers.

Woodcraft is another great source for woodworking tools, and they have a free woodworking catalog right here that you can request. The catalog is not as big as ...

The freshly hardened tool will be brittle. If you were to use it in this state, the edge could chip or it could shatter. For most purposes, you must heat it one more time to temper it before use. Tempering takes away the brittleness. It makes the metal tougher, but softer. The higher the temperature reached during tempering, the softer and less brittle the steel will become. Each tool has its own optimum compromise between hardness and toughness.

Dolls House Brass Flute Miniature Music Room School Instrument 1:12 Scale · Description · Reviews · Write a review. Your Name.

A simple forge burning solid fuel or propane is not hard to improvise. There is video on YouTube about making a simple but very effective propane forge. I made a coal forge that burned anthracite and worked 7/8 inch bar without too much trouble. More recently I made a little propane forge using just two insulating fire bricks and a blowtorch, and was able to bend steel strip of about 2 inches width and 3/8 inches thick.

@RockingMallet Hey Joshua, thanks for that link. What I like about it is that it takes into account the depth of cut and the stepover as well.

Usual preface, I’m with PreciseBits so while I try to only post general information take everything I say with the understanding that I have a bias.

i have some SPE bits and their website has a downloadable tool database that goes directly into fusion 360. pretty awesome. pick the tool, the type of wood and it presets all the numbers based on their manufacture recommendations. has worked really well. that doesn’t mean i haven’t edited some of the numbers but their numbers have worked 95% of the time without any changes.

I used to be particular about chip load etc but after burning out three Makitas in a year decided to use setups that are easy on the router. I think that router bit longevity being shortened due to possible overheating is less expensive than replacing routers.

Be careful with these. There’s multiple issues but a quick summery would be that they are almost all making machine and material assumptions or giving conservative numbers. That not necessarily wrong, and to create a chart like this there’s not really a lot of options, it can lead to issues though. E.g. if they tested to get the numbers with an industrial machine those numbers will straight up break tools in a deflection limited system. The conservative ones, as long as they aren’t too conservative (rubbing) should be fine to use. You are probably leaving cut quality and tool life on the table but that may be worth the trade if you are doing one offs or short runs. Keep in mind that this will become less true as you get into larger tooling. There’s an assumption that as the tooling gets larger the machine gets more rigid. So you can get into areas where you’re machine limited even on the conservative numbers with larger tools.

While you can use heat as a sort of litmus test it’s not the most important part of hitting a minimum chipload. The real issue is that if you are not taking a large enough bite (chipload) you are not “cutting” but “rubbing” or “grinding” the material out of the way. Not only does this generate heat and reduce tool life but also increases the cutting forces (worse for the router) and produces a poor quality cut.

@cyberreefguru Hey Tom, I’ll give it a try. It’s $14.99 and I’ll provide a review here for all who may want to consider it. It looks like it could have good information and, hell, I stood here and asked for it.