Since graduating from Mechanical Engineering studies more than two decades ago, I have continuously worked in the machining industry.
Many times in life, something terrible can also be an opening for something good. In 2020, like many others, the COVID-19 pandemic "forced" me to have too much free time. It was then that I decided to link together all my skills and develop the MachiningDoctor.com website. The main goal is to provide practical, quality technical information for professionals in the machining industry to assist in our everyday tasks.
• The website is a 100% free service and is committed to staying free forever! It is monetized with ads to sustain the operational costs and allow continuous development.
• The website is 100% objective. There is no affiliation with any commercial company in the niche, and it is committed to satay so! Most of the websites that provide somewhat similar data are sub-domains of the major carbide suppliers. In the end, their goal is to sell their products (… which is perfectly ok). Machiningdoctor.com is all about providing pure and objective technical information for the benefit of the users.
Website Structure. The MachiningDoctor.com site is divided into three main sections:
• Machining Calculators.
• Raw Materials.
• Carbide Grades.
Machining Calculators
Speed and Feed
The main calculator on the website is the Speed and Feed calculator. It provides cutting data and carbide grade recommendations for Milling, Turning, Parting, Grooving, and Drilling operations based on dozens of parameters like Raw material, Hardness, Tool Geometry, Stability, Grade selection method, and many more.
The results include Cutting Speed, Feed, and additional data such as cycle time, power consumption, surface finish, etc.
The calculator is constantly being upgraded with new features to add functionality and improve the accuracy and user interface.
Milling
• Chip thinning calculator – Determines the chip thinning factor for different cutter geometries, including Chamfer, Balnose, and Fast-feed cutters.
• Chip load calculator - Provides chip load recommendation for solid carbide endmills based on raw material and cutter diameter.
• Basic calculators Page – Simple calculations and formulas for spindle speed, feed per tooth, feed per revolution, power, etc.
Turning
• Surface finish calculators - A Simple tool to determine the best theoretical surface finish based on the insert's corner radius and feedrate. In addition, another calculator to find out what combination of corner radius and feedrate is needed to achieve a defined Ra.
A set of basic calculators to determine spindle speed, cutting speed, power, etc.
Unit conversions
• Imperial to metric and metric to imperial conversion of machining-related units.
• Hardness Calculator - Instead of the old-fashion conversion tables, Machiningdoctor utilizes a calculator where you can enter the hardness in any unit (HB, HRC, HRB, HV) and get it converted immediately to all the other units.
Planned next
There is always a need for more information, so future functions planned for MachiningDoctor include:
1. A complete set of threading calculators.
2. An insert tool life estimator.
3. A face-turning calculator.
Raw materials
The machining doctor's database currently holds more than 700 raw materials. There are far more extensive material databases on the internet. What makes it unique is that it is focused on data relevant to the machining industry.
• Each material datasheet contains:
• Equivalent standards.
• Chemical compositions.
Machinability
• Cutting speed recommendations.
• Carbide grade recommendations.
Machining tips
• Suggested cutting edge geometry.
• Grade Wizard - Select raw material, application, and stability. Receive from the system the best grade from each major brand to your request.
• Grade Finder - Select brands, material, and application range. Receive from the system a list of all the grades that meet the search criteria.
• Grade Converter - Enter a carbide grade of one brand and get a list of the best equivalents from all the other brands on the database.
• Grade Comparer - Enter a pair of two carbide grades and get a report of the difference between them.
• Brand - Each major brand has a grades page on the website. The advantage is that all the brands are shown in the same format, making it very easy and more accurate to compare.
• Grade Datasheets – Each grade on the database has a Grade Datasheet page that shows:
- Alternative grades from other brands.
- Application range chart.
- Cutting Speed recommendations per raw material and application.
Eric Spencer is the developer of MachiningDoctor.com. Contact him at [email protected]
