Broken end mill almost ruined my Friday shift at Ace Machine

I was running a production job on our Haas VF-2 at Ace Machine last Wednesday, cutting 6061 aluminum for a customer order of 50 brackets. About 25 parts in, I heard that sickening snap sound and found the 3/8" carbide end mill shattered, probably from a chip weld I missed burping. Had to stop, re-fixture the last good part, and re-run the entire program with a new tool, which added 2 hours to my day. Anyone else ever have a crash like that from a tiny chip buildup?

2 comments

2 Comments

verar2113d ago

Ngl, that's exactly why I started paying more attention to the smaller details in everything, not just machining. It's wild how one tiny thing you overlook can snowball into a whole mess, whether it's a chip weld or forgetting to double check a deadline.

loganl2213d ago

Yeah, a buddy of mine had a similar thing happen on a lathe... a tiny little chip got caught under the insert and it shattered the whole tool holder. Cost him like three hours and a lot of cussing at the machine.