For three years I have been using my PCNC1100 in the low speed range. I was under the impression that cutting aluminum at 1800 RPM was more than enough. And for some passes, it was. However, when doing pockets and 2D contours I was getting a ridiculous amount of chatter which results in the most horrendous finish.
I kind of solved the problem by taking lighter cuts and repeating this a gazillion times.
At the same time, I have been seeing multiple CNC users employing a tool better known as GWizard. It became apparent that perhaps I wasn’t utilizing the right parameters when cutting my materials. Perhaps I too should be using this software offering…
Unfortunately, what ticked me about GWizard was the fact that this was a subscription tool. To me a subscription is paying a yearly fee to get a magazine in my mail box (at a cheaper price and before it hits the book stores) and at the end, if I want to continue receiving the magazine I pay again. The difference between a magazine subscription and a GWizard subscription is that at the end of the year I still have my magazines but I have no GWizard.
And so I decided to never employ this intriguing tool. I decided I was going to “wing it” on my feeds and speeds! What could go wrong, right?
SHAME ON ME!
Luckily, for my cheap ass, the GWizard folks decided to team up with Tormach and offer a version better known as GWizard Lite with a Horse Power limitation, but life support. To me this was the opportunity to enjoy from this knowledge base, so during one of the specials I took the plunge and got GWizared.
Let me tell you something. This tool is not a tool. It is a window into a parallel Universe! In the Universe where you do not have the tool, you will be breaking bits, getting lousy results and wondering why the tell nothing works as it should. In the other parallel Universe, the one where you decided to humble up and let the experts tell you what you are supposed to be doing and how, you will start to get the results you have been wanting, at a considerably faster pace.
I am still not a GWizard expert, but by just using the tool a few times, I have been able to correct so many misconceptions, the software is in essence paid for. Had I gotten it months or years ago, I would have saved on countless mills and drills I have viciously sent into HSS Hades.
And so I have changed my mill from low speed range to high speed range. A quick set of very short experiments have showed me that in fact GWizard’s suggestion is about one trillion times better than my “wing it” approach.
My apologies to Bob Warfield and the GWizard team for not seeing the light any sooner!