Armor plate, machining

I has been years since I was in a production shop where we got a load of cast armor pistol port doors to mill a gasket groove around a portion of the casting for a gasket to seal against the body of the tank.

Carbide tipped milling cutters. Correct feed and speed, and soluble oil coolant at the time. Sorry I can't be more definitive. It is not something all that new now and others have been there and done that. Just a matter of finding the information.

Tool Bits and Drills for Machining Armor Plate,

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the info, but I believe you have opened more questions than answers. As you already know the link takes me to the DTIC and wherever I go from there to see cost / purchase this document it knows nothing of the Accession Number. I'm guessing you have cruised this site before ~ any tips?

Thanks again

I would look to indexable carbide tooling for a production application.

Try A tool vendor, Iskar, sandvic, lovejoy, ect... A quick call to any of those guys usually points me in the right direction. Tell them the alloy and they will bury you with suggestions.

If I have a new alloy I'm going to be cutting and I know there is money in the budget for a new tool I usually call all 3 of these guys. With a little prodding they will bring me a tool and inserts to "try" even suggest feeds and speeds for me to use after reviewing the application in my shop. Those guys want to sell you the inserts so they are very eager to get the tool holders in your shop!

The tooling that allows the fastest machining is always the most expensive but its a quick return on a big production job. If there is time I will go back to the vendors and tell them how the "best" or fastest tool compared to theres & even give them an opportunity to do better.

One thing to consider is the availability of the inserts. I have had the vendor bring in inserts for me to try and loved them only to find out it will take 4-6 weeks to get more! (I almost never have 4 weeks to wait)

Good Luck,

Thanks all,

I will be using our tool suppliers ~ they are good in this aspect. But like you stated, the give suggested speeds and feeds ~ which are normally on the slow side of the world.

For the first reply, I'm working on IT to let me in "Military" and letting purchasing know that we are in need. Have to start somewhere with white paper

Thanks again, I'll give an update to this thread when we are cutting.

Good day