High Speed Milling

“High Speed” and “Hard” Milling —  what are they AND how do they get me what I want faster, better and cheaper? High Speed milling is machining done at reduced depths of cut, but at substantially higher feed rates; Overall effect – faster machining, better finishes and cheaper less expensive, high quality parts. Metalmite Corporation, located in Rochester, Michigan — just outside of Detroit —  is capable of speeds up to 45,000 RPM!

Then why isn’t everyone doing this? Simple, they can’t! It takes very high quality, technologically enhanced machines and very advanced programming skills and software to do it. Oh yeah, and well trained, highly skilled machinist to put it all together to give you the results you want.

Hard Milling is similar, in that it is done at reduced depths of cut and at very high feed rates, but has the added benefit of machining materials that have already been heat treated to their finish hardness. Hard Milling eliminates the Non-Value-Added process steps required in standard machining. Again, at Metalmite it’s your parts faster, better and cheaper. For the high quality parts needed to not only stay competitive but to grow in our global economy you can count on us. At Metalmite we’ve got you back and we prove it everyday. Come see us, we’ll be happy to show you.

The essence of high speed machining is taking many light cuts at closely spaced step-overs, thus leaving minimal cusps between passes. The goal is to create an as-machined surface that drastically reduces the need for subsequent processing.

Routinely achieving surfaces finishes, as good as 8 to 10 Micro-inches, “Ra” (Roughness No. N4) with hard milling when needed. Because the steel is already hardened, subsequent heat treating, stress relieving, finish machining and grinding steps become unnecessary. More importantly, the process also replaces many costly steps that would otherwise require final EDM’ing.

High-Speed and Hard Milling are now being employed extensively, and those shops not effectively implementing this technology will eventually fall by the wayside in this highly competitive worldwide marketplace.

An overall reduction in production time of greater than 35 percent is regularly achieved—Less Time “in-process” means less cost!
Also, the very fine and smooth finish right off the machine may make it possible to virtually eliminate very costly and time consuming manual polishing and bench work.

The Facts

• High speed Machining involves taking milling passes with smaller-diameter end mills at very light depths of cuts, but taking these passes at high feed rates
• Hard Milling allows them to skip several time-consuming, labor-intensive steps in the machining process.
• Hard milling is a much more reliable, predictable and productive process.
• Hard milling is an offshoot of high speed milling techniques.