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Ran my face mill the wrong direction for 8 months and a new guy caught it in 5 seconds
I was hogging out a 6061 plate on my Bridgeport clone, chips spraying right at me instead of away, and I just figured that was how it went. A kid fresh out of the vo-tech program walks by my bench and asks why I'm climb milling steel with a face mill that's set up for conventional, and sure enough I'd been feeding the wrong way the entire time. So is it worth flipping my spindle rotation for aluminum or should I just keep buying inserts in bulk like I have been?
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jessec391d ago
Honestly if it took 8 months for anyone to notice then the parts were probably coming out fine, and if the parts are fine then who cares which way the spindle spins. Inserts are cheap compared to downtime, so buying them in bulk and running hot is way less hassle than tearing down your setup and re-learning feeds and speeds on a machine you already know. Climb milling aluminum sounds nice on paper but it also grabs harder, and a Bridgeport clone with a worn screw can turn that into a shattered insert or a launched part real quick. The kid caught one thing, sure, but that does not mean his way is the right way for your bench and your machine. Keep doing what works until it stops working.
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