Warning: switched from coolant to air blast on my lathe and the difference was night and day

After years dealing with gummy chips and constantly cleaning out the same part, I finally tried an air blast setup last Tuesday on a 304 stainless job and it cut my cycle time by 40% without any of that sticky mess.

3 comments

3 Comments

morganmartinez11h ago

Wait, 40% cycle time reduction? That's insane. I mean I knew air blast was cleaner but I didn't think it could change the actual cutting speed that much. Was that just from not having to stop and clean chips every pass or did you actually push the feeds and speeds harder too? Because I'm sitting here imagining a 304 job that normally takes an hour suddenly being done in 36 minutes and that just sounds like magic to me.

theas2812h ago

I saw another machinist try this last year and I was skeptical but now I get it completely.

wendy_lee488h ago

I saw the 40% number too and honestly I thought it was a typo at first. 40% is just nuts. I mean I knew air blast was cleaner but I didnt think it could touch the actual cut time that much. Ive been running 304 all week and every pass I'm stopping to dig chips out with a hook. If I could just skip that noise and let the machine run I'd probably hit that same 36 minutes easy on some jobs. Im gonna try this tomorrow on a 3 hour run and see if my numbers match up.