Internal keyway cut on a shaper, fighting chatter near the end

Nov 05, 2026 Last reply: 1 day ago 2 Replies
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Cutting a wide internal keyway is one of those jobs where the setup fights you the whole way, and that is exactly the problem this build is wrestling with. The workpiece is a large, thick-walled cylinder clamped down on a metal machine table, and the cut runs inside its hollow interior, where there is little room to hide from vibration.



The way it is put together is straightforward but interesting to watch. A cylindrical horizontal tool bar reciprocates linearly through the bore, and a cutting tool mounted at the end of the bar slices material on each stroke. Successive horizontal passes along the bottom of the channel form a flat-bottomed trough, and the maker is taking about 1 mm per pass. Metal chips and swarf gather on the inner far lip after each stroke, so there is clearly a lot of material moving around in there.



What stands out is where the job has got to: the maker is about 1 mm from the final depth, and vibration is showing up right at this stage. Plenty of cutting lubricant has already been applied, but the chatter persists. The close-up at the end shows the surface texture and parallel machining marks on the cut floor, which gives a good look at the finish being chased.



The plan from here is sensible in my view: check the insert and try a fresh cutting edge, reduce tool overhang, lower the RPM, take lighter cuts, and look into rubber straps to dampen the vibration. Whether the straps will settle it, or whether a fresh edge alone does the trick, is still an open question.


This is a proper shaper job and I am curious about one thing: how much material is the maker removing on each cut? With a bar reciprocating inside a bore like that, the depth per stroke seems like it would make or break the chatter situation, especially this close to the final size.

The maker has said the passes remove about 1 mm each, and the cut is roughly 1 mm from final depth. On top of that, the plan is to take lighter cuts, lower the RPM, reduce the tool overhang and try a fresh insert edge, plus rubber straps to dampen the vibration. Plenty of lubricant is already going in, though the maker notes it is sometimes not visible on camera.

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