I finally had a 6mm end mill snap yesterday after 4 months of pushing it way too far

Was running some aluminum plates for a client in Portland and pushed the feed rate up to 150% to meet a deadline, and the tool just gave out mid-cut. Has anyone else ever gotten away with running tools way past their suggested specs for way longer than you should?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_williams27d ago

Got a buddy who ran a 1/4" end mill for like two years on aluminum (carbide, but still) until it finally snapped and shot the chunk across his shop. He just kept feeding it harder and harder, always saying "one more part" until karma caught up.

adam18626d ago

That "one more part" line hits close to home man... I literally said that yesterday while my 3/8" end mill was making sounds like a dying cat. Kept bumping up the feed rate thinking I was being efficient, and now I've got a nice little divot in my vise where the carbide decided to take a vacation. Funny how we always push it just one cut too far and then act surprised when physics reminds us who's boss.

jessica33126d ago

Your buddy didn't run that end mill for two years on aluminum, he ran it for two years WISHING it was cutting properly. I've seen guys do the same thing with worn out HSS drills, just cranking down harder on the handle while the drill rubs and smokes and makes that awful squealing noise. A dull end mill that's been pushed way past its life is basically just a really expensive scraper tool at that point, not doing any real cutting. Real talk, that carbide chunk flying across the shop is just the universe's way of telling you to change your tooling more than once every calendar year.