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Had a weird chatter issue on a 316 stainless part that drove me nuts for a week
I was running a job for a local medical company, making these small brackets. The finish on the inside radius was just awful, sounded like a bag of rocks. I tried slowing the feed, upping the RPM, even swapped to a brand new end mill. Nothing fixed it. Out of pure frustration, I flipped the part in the vise so the clamp was on a different face, just to see. The chatter was almost gone. My old boss once mumbled something about 'clamp harmonics' and I guess he was right. The way the part was held was letting it vibrate just enough to ruin the cut. Ever since then, I pay way more attention to how the work is gripped, not just the tool path. Has anyone else had a finish problem that turned out to be the workholding and not the cutter?
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spencer_owens581d ago
Man, that's a classic headache right there. It's wild how much the setup itself can act like a tuning fork. I've burned hours chasing tool issues only to find the part was just dancing in the vise. Your old boss had it right, those clamp harmonics are no joke. Solid workholding is half the battle for a good finish.
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