Affordable Tool for Mirror Surface Finish! WW249

Mirror surface finishes are tough to achieve because of the multitude of factors that come into play. As a layman, I'm trying my best to get acquainted with the subject from a scientific standpoint. We found a tool called the YG-1, that has given us the closest to mirror finish that we've gotten yet! No only is the YG-1 extremely affordable, you don't need a distributor to get it. Let's compare two different cuts and test the Ra on a profilometer. Finally, we'll look at the YG-1 cut under the microscope so we can try to understand the physical manifestation of speeds and feeds!

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[makerlifeco]

always the greatest respect for someone who can geek out on their craft with such enthusiasm!

[mikelang]

I've been extremely impressed with the performance/value of the YG1 V7A plus 6 flute end mills. Performance is as good as end mills costing twice as much.

[robinb.]

Hey John nice video😊
In our toolshop we only use yg1.
Also the endmills for hardmilling are amazing.
Best regards from Switzerland.

[shiro-rm]

I would have liked to see the cutting edges of both tools compared under the microscope, maybe next time

[zfotoguy]

Fascinating to see under a microscope what the cuts look like. I love it!! The very first thing I saw when you showed the scoped picture was the anomalies. I hope you do a follow up video explaining what causes that or at least your theories. Thanks for the videos!

[seelenschlucht]

It's amazing how much you go into detail and what kind of tests you run. I can't imagine that i would learn nearly as much in school.

[DjRjSolarStar]

When I was putting together my home shop, I started off with YG1 because they were affordable and not made in China. I get excellent surface finishes with their HSS endmills in aluminum, not to mention the cutting power and chatter are greatly reduced compared to no-name or chinese brands. I also exclusively used YG1 Alu-Power at my old job on Maho CNC machines cutting 6061 all day long. Our 3/4" endmill lasted over a year of 40 hour work weeks running 3500 rpm, Valcool, and averaging 50 ipm.

[prodesign]

Love this stuff. It's good to hear you break down the physics of the cut. Hope all's well out there in Zanesville!

[adaptedmachining]

I've been using these lately as well. They are fantastic. The YG-1 USA headquarters is only about half an hour from me.

[richardmustard]

I have been using Alu-Power end mills for maybe 8 or more years and convinced my shop that I work for to run them about 5 years ago. Love them and a great price.
They make a great V7 for hard to machine metals that's awesome also.

[DiagMTBchannel]

the irregularities look to be cyclic, it could be due to the spindle servo, you command a constant speed and when you enter cut the servo ramps up the power and might "overshoot" then compensate but be slightly too slow ramp up power again etc... just a guess ;-)

[murrayedington]

The E5E88 Series cutters from YG-1 have lapped edges. If you compare them with a standard carbide tool under a microscope, they are like chalk and cheese. And they are lethal. My hands have healed now.

[itsDGW]

I use the YG1 everyday in the shop and I can say this the endmill I use the most. You can do just about anything with it on aluminum. The hardest I've pushed it was a 1.5 depth of cut, 1/8 step over, 8k rpm and 100imp in the HAAS VF2ss I work on. Absolutely amazing.

[joshuawentworth]

Would love to see what surface you get from that tool in the Haas

[traviswiebe]

SFM can make a big difference, while the tool diameter may not change the surface finish (on light finish passes), the lower sfm especially at that low of a feed rate in a material that soft could have a very pronounced effect, I'd be interested to see this again with each tool running the same sfm, instead of the same rpm.

[JF]

Much prefer this channel over many other CNC's out there. Much better teacher!

[pcsmachineworks]

Been running these for a couple of years now, you should see the finish in a Haas with a heat shrink holder at 15K RPM! The edges also seem to last a lot longer than some of the other tools on the market and usually the core is thicker than a comparable endmill so they perform much better in the extended length versions. The cyclical variations in the surface finish remind me of the cnc converted bench top machine I have in my basement. Prior to installing AC servos, the stepper motors would leave a finish like this when "micro-stepping" between motor poles. After AC servos, the irregularities went away, and I do have a Tormach 770 head mounted on the machine.

[TabletopMachineShop]

Awesome! I used to use YG-1 Alumapowers on my Taig because they're so sharp that they drop the amount of horsepower needed (which is pretty important on a Taig!) It's definitely one of those endmills you can't grab by the flutes though :P

[beefsquatchable]

my guess on the inconsistency in the feed marks would be from chip evacuation causing the cutter to slightly chatter from material getting in the way of the cutter and the surface.

[gradyfarrer]

980 sfm vs 1309 sfm
I mean...come on...a CNC channel couldn't come up with a 1/2" endmill for a fair comparison?