Products
LMT-Fette is pleased to announce the introduction of the first Solid Carbide High Feed End Mill. Called the HSC FEEDTM, these new cutters feature an exceptionally tough sub-micrograin substrate and LMT’s superior AL2 plus PVD Titanium Aluminum Nitride coating. Combined, these two features offer the best combination of wear resistance and toughness.

Application Area
The new HSC FEEDTM product is primarily designed for roughing and semi-finishing in the die and mold industry. In this application area, materials such as P20, H13, and S7 are commonly a hardness up to nearly 60 Rc. However, the HSC FEEDTM also performs exceptional in both carbon and alloy steels, cast iron, and stainless steel. With its patented bottom radius design, the HSC FEEDTM can rough at chip loads 3–5 times higher than conventional solid carbide, ball nose end mills. This unique capability leads to metal removal rates significantly higher than conventional tools, and noticeable productivity improvements.

HSC FEED’sTM unique, center-cutting design works exceptionally well in a wide range of applications, including 3D contouring, pocketing, helical interpolation, and slotting.

Materials
As stated above, the HSC FEEDTM was primarily designed for use in materials commonly found in the die and mold industry, including P20, H13, S7, and 400 series stainless steels. However, the design has also proved to be effective in virtually any steel application, as well as cast iron. Because of the relatively heavy edge preparation on the HSC FEEDTM, it is not ideally suitable for aluminum, graphite, titanium, or nickel-based alloys.

Advantages
The primary advantage of LMT-Fette’s new HSC FEEDTM product is in its ability to significantly shorten roughing times in the machining of die and mold steels. With chip loads up to .0319 per tooth, and cutting speeds in excess of 650 sfm, it is common to run the HSC FEEDTM at table feeds exceeding 500 ipm.

Additionally, the unique geometry of the HSC FEEDTM leaves less stock in the corner of pockets than a conventional ball nose end mill, thus reducing the number of tools necessary to complete a mold.

Like the HSC Ball Nose End Mills, the HSC FEEDTM is also designed to cut material as hard as 60 Rc. The superior substrate and coating, combined with an exceptionally strong geometry can handle even the most demanding die and mold applications.