Anyone having to make beyblades?

Hello, all,

Last night I had some difficulty milling some .062" sheet steel with a 1/8" 4-flute solid carbide end mill. It was a continuous cut at full width and cutting through the sheet in one pass. That should have been within the capabilities of the cutter. One problem is I'm limited to 2720 RPM by the 1J head on my Brdigeport, and I know that is way too low a surface speed. I broke one cutter at (I think) 3 IPM (that would be ~ .0003 inch/tooth.) I slowed down, and got about 1/10th of the job done when the next cutter broke. I saw it was filled with melted steel - never seen this before with steel, only aluminum! But, the cause was obvious, local heating of the workpiece. So, I slowed down some more, and kept a continuous air blast on the cutter and work, and got the rest of the job done at 1 IPM, or .00009 inch/tooth! UGH! That tool showed severe wear, but it was still cutting, right to the end.

What am I doing wrong, and what kind of speeds, etc. would you use on such work? Would doing it underwater (ie. flood coolant) solve the problem? My sump needs to be cleaned, and I didn't want to take the time right then.

Oh, the tool size was determined by the notches that needed to be cut, which were about .135" wide. I would have used a larger diameter cutter if I could have.

Any and all suggestions appreciated!

Jon

post a picture , I will make one for my kid too

Pretty cool but getting hit in the face with a regular plastic beyblade can hurt like a bitch. An out of control aluminum one could cause some damage.

Two comments:

First... come up with a new name as to not suffer the Wrath of Hasbro Lawyers... since they are metal, How about SLAYblades? :-)

Secondly. I would suggest not handing out any of these 'tops' to the kids you make them for. Place them in the street so the kids can 'find' it, and when asked by lawyers or emergency room personnel where he got it, he can honestly say he FOUND it in the street.

How about a brass one? The weight alone would blow any mere aluminum beyblade out of the ring!

James, Seattle

The ones I have made are just smooth, I made one with a groove to put a rubber band into and it works good. No protruding parts on mine, wouldn't want someone to get hurt.

Hello, all,

Last night I had some difficulty milling some .062" sheet steel with a 1/8" 4-flute solid carbide end mill. It was a continuous cut at full width and cutting through the sheet in one pass. That should have been within the capabilities of the cutter. One problem is I'm limited to 2720 RPM by the 1J head on my Bridgeport, and I know that is way too low a surface speed. I broke one cutter at (I think) 3 IPM (that would be ~ .0003 inch/tooth.) I slowed down, and got about 1/10th of the job done when the next cutter broke. I saw it was filled with melted steel - never seen this before with steel, only aluminum! But, the cause was obvious, local heating of the workpiece. So, I slowed down some more, and kept a continuous air blast on the cutter and work, and got the rest of the job done at 1 IPM, or .00009 inch/tooth! UGH! That tool showed severe wear, but it was still cutting, right to the end.

What am I doing wrong, and what kind of speeds, etc. would you use on such work? Would doing it underwater (ie. flood coolant) solve the problem? My sump needs to be cleaned, and I didn't want to take the time right then.

Oh, the tool size was determined by the notches that needed to be cut, which

were about .135" wide. I would have used a larger diameter cutter if I could have.

Any and all suggestions appreciated!

Jon

I was brushing on cutting oil, and the air was splattering it all around. I have sometimes cut dry with carbide, but I knew this was going to be a difficult cut, so I used oil. I'm guessing that if I had the flood coolant system up, it would have helped quite a bit.

I've had some accidents with 1/8" carbide cutters before in 1/8" aluminum, and was astounded at what abuse the tool could take without damage. Before I had the coolant turned on, I had a 1/8" carbide end mill take off at full depth (1/8") through the aluminum at 40 IPM. Not only didn't it break the cutter, it made about as clean a cut as when working normally, ie. about 5 IPM and .065" depth. So, I was quite surprised that the same tool couldn't take 3 IPM in .062" steel. It snapped it off clean at the collet, indicating massive side force.

Jon

--Not sure how this got appended to a different thread, but it sounds like you're not lubricating the cutter...

--Did you use only air to lubricate the cutter? I'd suspect that's the problem. Next time at the very least get a (pump spray) bottle of soluble oil and squirt it on the cut. Better yet: go with a spray mister.

No, I was cutting something that looks a little like a 60-tooth gear. It is actually a tach pickup for my lathe, and the 60 teeth convert pulses/second to RPM for a ratemeter that reads out in Hz. Cutting it sudeways with a saw would have required a dividing head, and I haven't CNC'd that, yet.

Jon

Could you have used a saw on a small arbor? Just a thought.

All the more incentive to buy/make one then.

Since it's just sheet I wonder if you can't file the notches in it..?

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

Sounds as if the material itself may have been flexing/vibrating and slowly destroying the cutter. The runout of the cutter is also very critical with the small cutters. Did you check it by any chance?

--Trouble with oil is the chips can pack up, even tho the cut is lubricated, hence the side load. That and waaaay too low an rpm I suspect..

I was running it in an R-8 collet. I have had no problem with runout, well under .001" The material was not flexing or vibrating much at all, I couldn't feel hardly any more vibration than on the rest of the mill.

Jon

I HAVE a dividing head. But, it is manual, right now.

It has 60 evenly spaced notches. I'd hate to file all that by hand.

Jon

Pffbbt. Big whoop. Faster than filing it. :^)

Dave Gingery has you drill and file 32 teeth for the gear which feeds the work between strokes. I guess my time is simply too cheap..

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

Hmmm....well, why not use a small 60 tooth gear?. If its too thick, cut it down.

Diesel tackometers use an electronic pick-up positioned about 1/16 from the ring gear.

Just asking.

Some of Gingery's designs and instructions are definitely aimed at people who have way too much time, and not enough money. It reminds me of those stories of Afghan gunsmiths filing a complete AK-47 out of chunks of metal. Whew! I try to avoid these kind of projects, although hand-refinishing my Sheldon 15" lathe bed was certainly one of those!

Jon