On Feb 16, 7:58 pm, GeoLane at PTD dot NET GeoLane at PTD dot NET
wrote:
What depth of cut is safe to take with a HSS end mill of 1/8" dia, and
how fast can you feed in mild stee without breaking or quickly dulling
the end milll?



On Sun, 17 Feb Mechanical Magic wrote:

Speed for mild steel no faster than 120 ft/min, but since you will
probably be using a squirt of cutting oil, maybe 60 ft/min. A 1/8"
endmill is .033 of a foot in circumfrance. 60/.033 = ~1800 RPM.

DOC 1/4 of diam = .032"

Feed .0005" per tooth, two flute cutter = .001"/rev. At 1800 rpm =
1.5" per minute, that works out to one turn every eight seconds.

When I hand feed, I use a two handed motion, (grabbing on the dial),
one hand rotates about 20 degrees, then other hand 20 degrees,
repeat. By making the changes often, it seems to even out the motion
for me Easier if you have round wheels instead of a crank.

That's where I would expect to run.
Dave

Excellent. Thanks Dave. That's the kind of detailed advice /
experience I was hoping to get. Thanks also to the others who
replied.

RWL