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The before and after on my spindle after switching to thru-coolant holders was insane
I was running a 3/8 endmill in aluminum for 6 months with standard holders and burning up tools every 150 parts. Swapped to a high-pressure coolant setup with sealed holders last month and just hit 850 parts on the same tool with zero wear. Has anyone else seen that big a jump in tool life from just changing the holder?
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taraanderson1mo ago
Have you checked if your coolant actually reaches the cutting edge on standard holders? I see this claim a lot but I'm not fully convinced it's always the holder alone. On aluminum especially, chip evacuation is what kills tools, not overheating. High pressure coolant through the spindle definitely helps push chips out better than flood coolant, but if your standard holders had a decent side lock and you dialed in your feeds, you might have gotten similar gains. I ran a job with 1/4 endmills in 6061 and went from 200 parts to 600 just by adjusting my chip load and adding an air blast, no special holders needed. Sometimes the holder is just the easiest variable to blame.
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robertb471mo ago
Oh man, you hit the nail right on the head. I had almost the exact same thing happen with some 3/8 endmills in 7075 a couple years back. I was convinced I needed through-tool coolant holders, but then I just bumped up my chip load a little and pointed an air nozzle right at the cut. My tool life tripled just from that and changing my stepover, no new holders needed. It's way too easy to throw money at a new toolholder when the real fix is just tweaking your speeds and feeds or getting the chips out of the way. Did you mess with your radial engagement at all on that 6061 job, or was it purely chip load?
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