Relative to milling – a multi tipped cutting passing through material. For this discussion we shall assume a parallel, flat bottomed cutter.
Spindle Speed – cutter rotating speed in RPM – revolutions per minute
Feed – the rate of travel of the cutter in the machining envelope, this could be through fresh air as a rapid traverse or through material during material removal
Surface Speed or Cutting Speed – the speed of a point on the circumference of the tool or how fast each cutting edge passes through the material
Chip load – the thickness of the chip removed by each cutting edge, a product of the RPM, the feed and the cutter diameter
Material removal rates – the depth of cut by the width of cut by the feed rate will give you the volume of material removed per minute
It’s all about getting the job machined most efficiently – minimising cycle time, tool wear, machine wear and power consumption – with appropriate resultant accuracies and finishes.
Tool variables – material, geometry, rigidity
HSM toolpaths and chip thinning
A – theoretical chip load
B – chip load in HSM shallow depth of cut
Smaller cuts can actually reduce tool life, with a shallow depth of cut if the depth is less than the edge radius (particularly with insert tooling) then you will get rubbing.
CADCAM Resources 