Taking care of the little bits.

I did my homework. I looked up the characteristics of 303 stainless steel. Then I had to do a bunch of rather interesting math. Here is the quote that caught my attention:

“Since Alloy 303 will work harden, it should be machined at reduced surface feet per minute and heavier feeds to prevent glazing at the tool interface.”

Circumfrence of a 1/8 inch diameter mill bit, Pi, surface feet per minute (SFM), number of flutes, feed in inches per revolution (IPR) per tooth, rotations per minute (RPM); all figured to the forth decimal. Phew! My math works out to 3361 RPM and 14 IPM. At least that is a starting point. I was using more like 6000 RPM and 5 IPM. Bad Dog!

If that is all geek speak, that OK. I bet you didn’t know machining was a nerd’s job.

Sometine soon I’ll try the new numbers and see how many more 1/8 inch end mills I can break.