Switched to a 2-flute end mill for aluminum and it changed my roughing speed

I was fighting with a 4-flute for weeks on a job making brackets for a local shop. Chips kept packing and I was stopping every 2 minutes to clear them out. Figured I'd try a 2-flute at the same feeds and speeds just to see. Surface finish was rougher but the cycle time dropped 40% because I ran the spindle at 12k instead of 8k. No chip welding either. Has anyone else seen that big a difference swapping flute counts for different materials?

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jesse_barnes374mo ago

Learned that lesson the hard way after welding a chip to my thumb.

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ivan_perez4mo ago

That "welding a chip to my thumb" line got me thinking. It's wild how we'll put ourselves through all kinds of pain and trouble just to avoid a few extra minutes of prep work. Seems like a lot of life is like that, you know? We skip the safety glasses, rush the setup, and then pay for it ten times over. It's like we're all in a big race to get things done fast, but forget the slow part that actually saves our skin. Ever notice that same pattern sneaking up on you in other things?

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