Got handed a 'pro tip' from a guy who'd been running Haas machines for 20 years

I was at a shop in Phoenix last month picking up some scrap material, and this older operator saw me fighting with a face mill on a part that kept chattering. He walks over and says, 'Flip your insert upside down. Seriously, try it.' I thought he was messing with me, but I was desperate since I had already blown through two parts. So I flipped the insert, cranked up the feed rate, and the cut came out smooth as glass. He explained it changes the effective rake angle and stops the harmonics. I had read about that trick online but figured it was some old wives' tale. Has anyone else tried running inserts backwards in a pinch, or am I just lucky that it worked that one time?

2 comments

2 Comments

coleman.jamie16d agoMost Upvoted

Flip those inserts and see what happens, it's not just some hack from the old days. The geometry shift really does break up the chatter because you're changing how the tool engages the material. I've done it on a couple roughing passes where I was about to scrap the part and it saved my butt every single time.

theas9415d ago

That trick only works if your machine isn't rigid enough, @coleman.jamie.