Showerthought: is climb milling really better or is it just the new thing?

I keep seeing guys at my shop climb milling everything on the CNC, even on older machines. Last week I had a job with a 1/2 inch end mill in 4140 and tried climb cut like they said. First pass sounded great, second pass the insert chipped and I had to stop. So I went back to conventional milling for the rest and finished without issues. Am I missing something or are people just repeating what they heard without checking the setup?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.ruby17d agoMost Upvoted

Well, I've chipped my fair share of end mills trying to look cool with climb milling, and it usually ends with me digging a replacement out of the drawer and muttering under my breath. Isn't that just the way, thinking you're saving time only to spend more fixing the mess?

stellaa6917d ago

Ain't that the truth.

abbyg6016d ago

Oh man, been there way too many times. The amount of end mills I've sacrificed to the "save ten seconds" gods is honestly embarrassing. My scrap bin has its own little cemetery for all the snapped tools that thought they were speed demons. It's like the machine knows when you're trying to cut corners and just punishes you for getting cocky. Really makes you appreciate old school conventional cutting after a few dumb mistakes.