Machining

Milling: from tooth feed to table feed

Select cutting data for the work material, cutter and setup. The milling reference tables distinguish HSS from coated carbide; their ranges are starting points, not universal settings.

Quantity	Relationship	Units
Spindle speed	n = 1000 · v_c / (π · D_cap)	v_c: m/min; cutting diameter at depth D_cap: mm; n: rev/min.
Table feed	v_f = f_z · n · z_c	f_z: mm/tooth; z_c: effective tooth count; v_f: mm/min.
Feed per revolution	f_n = v_f / n = f_z · z_c	f_n: mm/rev, not mm/tooth.

ORIGINAL TRAINING EXAMPLE

Ø20 mm cutter, four effective teeth

Assume v_c = 100 m/min and f_z = 0.05 mm/tooth. Calculated speed is 1592 rev/min. At a selected 1600 rev/min, table feed is 320 mm/min and feed per revolution is 0.20 mm/rev. A 160 mm straight feed move takes 30 s at constant speed, excluding acceleration, approach and retract. These hypothetical values are not operating recommendations.

Sources

Sources: Fischer et al., Mechanical and Metal Trades Handbook, 2nd English edition, print p. 305 (milling data selection); Sandvik Coromant, metric milling formulas. Original example; no third-edition page equivalence claimed.

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