minimonster | CNC milling a knife blade out of O-1 steel

** This machine is for sale www.kijiji.ca/... **
Material:
Starret O-1 flat stock, annealed condition.
Cutters:
Kyocera 4mm 3 flute titan AX end mill for roughing
0.27mm width of cut. 7mm depth of cut. 30000rpm. 4600mm/m.
Kyocera 3mm 2 flute TiAlN ball nose for finishing
0.1mm depth of cut. 0.076mm step over. 36000rpm. 10000mm/m.
Feeds settings were done with the help of Sandvik's online tool recommendations, and then toned down because we are of course not using their tools. Spindle load was about 350W for the heaviest rouging so the machine has a lot more to give, although it needs a wider vise.
Adjustments for future: minor chatter in helical moves outside the vise clamping area. Wider vise should be used. Finish pass should definitely be run with coolant. Machine is currently restricted to 10000mm/m. Full speed of 30000mm/m will unlock a lot more efficiency. Likewise the spindle running at 50000rpm instead of 36000rpm will allow better surfacing.
Temporary JMC integrated servos leave a surprisingly good finish on this steel when a logical cutting strategy is used. New higher performance servos will only improve it.