slitting saw use

[brunneng]

I have a question that's been in the back of my mind for several years.

On slitting saws - do you go full depth like a table saw or nibble away like an endmill?

That's one of those - everyone knows but I can't find mentioned in my books questions.

kevin

[Joel]

DOC is dependent on many things, like the cutter width/diameter, material hardness, machine/setup rigidity, etc.
The majority of the time, I have to take several fairly shallow cuts when slitting.

[ERBenoit]

I know of no set fast rules, several factors will determine the best approach. Material being cut, rigidity of set-up, width and depth of cut as well as style of the saw. As with an end mill a saw that will cut the depth and width you want should only be large enough in O.D. to cut to your depth and clear work, saw arbor, etc. In other words, if you only need a 2" saw, you don't want to use a 6" saw. The larger the saws get in diameter to width, they may deflect while cutting. I have made cuts up to 1/2" deep and .040" wide in aluminum, using a 3" saw, w/o incident. Use lubricant and keep cut as clear of chips as possible. Use a saw that has enough teeth to cut the work without "loading" the gullet, (softer materials), yet not so few that the teeth are "hammering" into the cut. Spindle speed and feed rate can be of help here.

[ben78]

Have used an 8" by 1/8" saw to cut aluminium, was probably overkill, had to cut off a piece of 6060 at 45° depth of cut was 2" did the cut in one pass on a big old TOS horizontal shaft miller.

On my little mill drill though I would only take a depth of cut of about 20 thou with the 3" by 20 though saw I have for it.

[Stepside]

1)Conventional mill not climb mill.
2)Enough coolant/cutting oil ect. to wash the chips out.
3)Slow enough feed to ensure the proper chip load
4) lock down any axis that is not moving.
5) If not using power feed make sure to "two hand" the feed for a more uniform feed.

[Rustybolt]

See my reply to Alistairs post above.

[Thrud]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Rustybolt:
See my reply to Alistairs post above.</font>

ditto