17-4 PH SS tooling options

[brudje]

Can anyone suggest "from experience" a good 1/4 to 3/8 roughing end mill to machine 17-4 PH SS???
I recieved a couple of GARR VRX series (latest and greatest) tools that did not work as advertised. The tool is wearing very, very quickly and building up chips very fast. These two things are kind of confusing, as the tools are specifically designed to remove the chips more readily and stay cooler than conventional end mills...

We are switching material from 303 SS to the 17-4 PH SS, and are trying to keep our speeds and feeds roughly the same to try to maintain the same cycle times...

Any input on the number of flutes, geometry, coating, anything would be helpful. I don't want to have to order a bunch of end mills and hope to find the right one...

 

[EdStainless]

What condtion is the 17-4? Annealed or aged?
Either way you have two things working against you.
1. It is not free machining.
2. It is at least twice as strong.

It is going to take a lot of coolant and a ton of hoursepower to get even half the machining rates.

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[brudje]

The material is annealed...We are having good luck with increased feedrates...The theoreticals for chip loading are working out pretty close to what we are seeing at the machine...

 

[EdStainless]

Watch out for the annealed material. The properties may vary quite a bit from lot to lot.
In these tough materials you can eat up all of the hoursepower that you can find.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Rust never sleeps
Neither should your protection

http://www.trent-tube.com/contact/Tech_Assist.cfm