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Ran my rougher at 120% feed on 6061 for one part and scrapped $340 of stock in 4 minutes
I had a rush job last Tuesday, 40 aluminum brackets for a conveyor guard at a shop here in Wichita, and the customer moved the pickup up a day on me. Instead of reprogramming or running the finish pass slower, I bumped the feed override to 120% on the roughing cycle to save maybe six minutes per part. First three parts looked fine, chips were coming off nice, so I walked away to grab a coffee. Came back and the spindle was screaming, the insert had chipped, and the tool was pushing instead of cutting. All three brackets were undersized in one pocket and had chatter marks you could feel with a fingernail. I ended up scrapping them, which is about $340 of 6061 down the drain, plus the insert, plus the 40 minutes of cycle time I was trying to save. What I learned is that feed override on a rougher is not a free speed knob, it stacks up with tool wear and coolant flow and depth of cut until something gives. The inserts had about 25 minutes on them already and I never checked. Now I write the tool life on the setup sheet before I touch the override. Anyone else get burned bumping feed on an already worn insert, or is it just me?
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