Manual Machining

Feeds and Speeds

Follow this link to access a Speeds & Feeds calculator online. Please see the instructions below for a guide on how to calculate your necessary feeds and speeds.

For your inputs, you will need:

1. Units of Measure - For the most part while working in the MAE Machine Shop, you will be using inches. 

2. Operation - You can pick between milling, drilling, or turning. Milling is applicable for the various manual mills in our shop. Drilling speeds will be useful for using the drill press. Turning calculations are applicable for manual lathes.

3. Material - Here you can select the material of the stock you will be performing an operation on. If you're unsure what material you are dealing with, please speak with an MAE Machine Shop staff member.

4. Cutter Material - This refers to the material of the tool you are using to cut into the material. HSS refers to High Strength Steel, which is the most common cutting tool material. The MAE Machine Shop also has carbide tools which tend to have a darker gray color when compared to HSS. If you're unsure about the cutter material, please speak with an MAE Machine Shop staff member.

5. FPM - Also sometimes seen as SFM, refers to the Surface Feet per Minute. This is a measure of how fast the edge of the cutting tool travels linearly as it spins. The calculator will fill this value in for you automatically depending on the stock material.

6. End Mill/Work Piece Diameter - This refers to the diameter of the tool you are using in your operation. For example, an 1/2 inch endmill will have a diameter of 0.5 inches. 

7. That's all! Once you have inputted the values above, you can hit calculate to determine what RPM and Feed Rate you can safely use for your operation. If you have any questions or are unsure about values to use, please speak with an MAE Machine Shop staff member.