Hi Richard I’ve given some thought to cutter design vs. compacting of
chips and decided work piece material is at fault, not cutter design.
An appropriate lubricant should completely stop chip compaction, or
maybe an air jet to get the chips out of the way so they can’t be
pressed back together.
At one point I emailed a request to Ferris for a custom wax
formulation that won’t compact. The answer I received was, and I
quote:
Ferris Green File A Wax generally machines fairly well. However, it
is very important that you use a sharp open fluted milling cutter,
typically with only one flute for sizes 1/4" and under and two flutes
for larger sizes. The other requirement is that you have an air jet
trained at the cutting area to help blow the chips away so they don’t
get pressed back into the wax by the cutter. A good water based lube
stream will work also. The important thing is that you get the chips
away from the cutting area as they are generated.
If this does not solve the problem using the Ferris Green, then I
would recommend our Master Blue File A Wax which is designed for high
speed machining. You will still have to observe the rules above for
the best results.
Hope this is helpful.
Paul Guinn Technical Director Kindt-Collins
I have noticed that a sharper cutter works better! d’oh! I get a
better edge from HSS.
Do you grind your own cutters?
I once considered grinding a twisting split cutter so the chips
might be lifted up and out of the way, but my grinder isn’t up to it,
and there’s no guarantee it would work as hoped.
I’m now using lubricant with no air jet and ultrasonically cleaning
the wax, and this works well. A drip combined with an air jet might
be ideal (a mister) if one had adequate ventilation, or an
appropriate enclosure with air filter installed. Probably want a
vacuum setup to collect the wax chips! What a mess…
Jeffrey Everett
