Hello.
Starting a production of hpl laminated 12mm birch plywood parts.
The nesting of the parts is real tight, so im using a 6mm tool.
The tool is a 2flute upcut carbide,im going 12m/min 18000rpm, straight through.

The problem is the spots where the tool touches the hpl wear ridiculously fast. I get like 120meters of cut out of a tool. Some of the cut is full width and some is not.

With a diamond tool of this size the machining speed would be ridiculously slow.

Any recommendations on this?

You're running the feed rate at the upper limit according to chip load charts. To find the sweet spot for tool life you also need to consider the machine you are using. What make and model of CNC are you using? What is the acceleration/deceleration times for your machine? If you are using a smaller machine that requires more time and distance to speed up and slow down, you will be spinning the tool far too fast when cornering resulting in heat and tool wear. You may find that slowing down the spindle rpm and running at a lower feed rate will result in less heat on your cutting tools when cornering and longer tool life since the rpm will be closer the appropriate feed rate when cornering. All that being said, it is quite normal to see more tool wear where the tool cuts the laminate due to the abrasive nature of laminate. It may be possible for you to experience longer tool life though with tweaks to your spindle rpm and feed speeds.

Take a look at these posts/articles bellow and see if anything applies to your case.
As the Rob has said, most likely the heating of the bit is what needs to be addressed.

https://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/CNC_Bits_for_Cutting_HPL_Lami
nate.html

https://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Extending_Bit_Life_in_Laminat
es.html

https://www.axyz.com/us/2018/04/23/how-to-cut-high-pressure-laminates/

https://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Tooling_and_Settings_for_Machining_Lam
inated.html

https://www.woodweb.com/forum_fdse_files/cnc/795780.html

I've found that PCD tools are the answer to materials that dull an ordinary edge.Whether you could find one with the ability to cut through your material is a different matter as the online information is a bit limited.

Have you tried a vertical oscillation on the z-axis while cutting? This will spread the wear over a larger area of the bit and may reduce the heat build up.

BH Davis

Thanks for the responses. The machine is a Homag baz.

In 2 of oggies links people recommended straight flute router bit style cutters. I think im gonna give those a go.

Have you tried any of the longer wear carbide spirals or coated tools?

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