with expert application guidance, the shop now high-feed mills taking 0.020–0.030" (0.51–0.76-mm) depths of cut, feeding at around 180 ipm (4.6 m/min) and plunge mills as opposed to interpolating around part profiles to machine parts faster from solid raw materials.
"We now strive to keep major machining operations to within 30 minutes or less for all our complex parts."
Seco High-Feed milling cutters allow Mikelson to cut up to three times faster compared with conventional machin- ing methods. High-feed milling is the combination of shallow depths-of-cut and high feed per tooth, which results in higher metal removal rates. Also, using plunge milling directs cutting
forces at the machine spindle in the axial direction for greater stability and reduced vibration, contributing to extended tool life and faster metal removal rates.
The two milling techniques are credited by Mikelson with taking “huge amounts of time and tooling costs out of Mikelson’s processes.” In addition, the Seco tools gener- ate better surface finishes, so the shop is often able to eliminate secondary operations/machines such as grinding and honing.
The shop has taken all of its tooling off the shop floor and placed it in dedicated holders. Tools are preset in a toolroom, stored in carts that hold hundreds of tools and holders for each job and are grouped according to part numbers. These carts allow tooling to easily move where needed and free up valuable shop-floor space.
Many of the holders are Seco shrink-fit, and Mikelson said they provide more consistency and accuracy. He added that the holders enhance the performance of Seco tools and