Who Changed the Program?

Most people operate their machines using the same feeds and speeds they’ve always used – that is, it’s a carbide cutter so we run that at xx m/min with a feedrate of xxx mm/min. In most cases this method gets the job done. However, when minor adjustments are made through a program, or perhaps you are proving out a new job, or even trialing new cutters, the actual cutting conditions become all the more important.

Introduced into 11.17 software in 2003, the Haas control will allow the user to record the number of flutes/inserts the tool has in a new column next to the tool length offset, this data is then used by the control to automatically calculate the surface speed and chip load and these are displayed in real-time on the Current Commands display. Thus when the operator is varying a feedrate or spindle speed according to the way the machine is operating, the effects of these changes are easily determined to ensure the cutting conditions remain within the recommendations of the tooling manufacturer.

The syntax of each function is shown below and as always if you have any questions or comments our Applications Dept. would be pleased to help.

FLUTES column added to tool offsets

A column has been added to the tool offsets page to store the number of flutes on each tool. When the machine is new, the number of flutes on each tool will be set to two. Also, the number of flutes for each tool will be set to two when the ORIGIN key is pressed while this screen is displayed.  The number of flutes is used in the calculation of Chip Load.

Surface Feet per Minute (Metres/min.) and Chip Load

Surface Feet per Minute (SFM) and Chip Load are now displayed on the Current Commands page. 

SFM is calculated as the current RPM times the effective tool diameter times PI, then divided by 12. N.B. Setting 40 selects radius or diameter for the tool geometry.

SFM is displayed as fpm (feet per minute) or mpm (metres per minute), depending on setting 9. 

Chip Load is calculated by dividing the feed rate by RPM times the number of flutes to get the size of each flute’s ‘bite’.  This is displayed in inches or millimetres typically a few hundredths.