Had a 1/2 inch end mill snap on me Tuesday in Portland and it completely flipped my view on climb milling

Was running a 4140 part at 2500 rpm and took a heavy cut climb milling like I always did, chip welded to the cutter and it grenaded. Now I'm doing conventional for roughing and saving climb for finish passes, anyone else deal with chip welding on certain alloys?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnson.adam13d ago

Completely flipped my view on climb milling" sounds like you had a religious conversion right there in the shop. I had the SAME thing happen with a 5/8 rougher in some mystery steel from the scrap bin - chip welded so bad it looked like a caterpillar on crack. Now I'm the old man yelling at clouds about conventional roughing too. At least you didn't lose an eye like that guy on Practical Machinist last year.

milabaker12d ago

Oh come on, people lose an eye in a shop every day if you believe the forums (I don't). I think that story gets bigger every time someone tells it. Honestly, climb milling vs conventional is mostly about setup and toolpath strategy, not some life or death revelation. I've had chips weld up on me in climb milling too, so it's not like it's a magic bullet. You probably just hit the right speed and feed combo by accident that day. Just sayin', maybe pump the brakes a little on the dramatic conversion talk.