Lab 3: Machining Operations

MME 231D
Dr. Kahn
December 1, 2014
Brandon Mueller
Erik Schmitt
Joshua Listermann
Steven Parker

Abstract
There were two parts to this lab. First a part was machined using the CNC lathe to observe how
changing depth of cut, cutting speed, and feed rate affected process tolerances, surface finish,
chip thickness, and power usage of the machine. After that, work was done on the manual lathe.

The same variables were changed to observe how the temperature in the tooltip changed and how
surface finish and process tolerances were affected. When machining a part it can be shown that
increasing the depth of cut causes an increase in the max temperature, an increase in the
roughness, and a decrease in the process tolerance. Increasing the velocity will cause an increase
in the max temperature, a decrease in the roughness, and no change in the process tolerance.
Increasing the feed rate will cause an increase in the max temperature, an increase in the
roughness, and a decrease in the process tolerance.
Introduction
One of the best advantages of machining a part is the high quality surface finish that it
can provide. There are several factors that affect the surface finish of a machined part. In this lab
it was investigated how a change in depth of cut, velocity, force, and lubrication effects the max
temperature of the tool, roughness and process tolerance. The surface finish is measured as the
roughness of the part found by using a profilometer. This is affected is various ways, but one of
the biggest influences on surface finish is the type of chips produced. Cutting processes that
produce continuous chips will produce a better surface finish and thus are generally more
desirable.
While the properties of the produced chips may not seem important as they are removed
from the part being made, they do tell us a lot about the quality of the machined part. For
example, continuous chips are an indicator of a good surface finish, high cutting speeds or high
rake angles. However a continuous chip can lead to tangling of the chip which requires time to
clear from the cutting tool. Continuous chips are strain hardened due to the shear force cutting.
To find the temperature of the tool tip during the cut, a thermocouple was inserted into
the tooltip and calculated a voltage that was transferred into a temperature. Knowing how the
tool tip temperature changes is important, because if the tool gets too hot then it experiences
excess wear and it needs to be replaced sooner which means spending money and time on
replacing the tool in the machine. Using a tool life curve for a general guideline, one can make
the logical assumption that by increasing the cutting speed, the tool life will decrease due to the
increased forces in the tool.
A key part of any manufacturing process is keeping to the given tolerances and making
sure parts will fit together with the given tolerances. To maintain these tolerances, the tool must

be kept in good shape; if a part is machined using a tool consisting of crater or flank wear, then
the tolerance of that process will no longer be met. In tight fitting parts this can be crucial and
could mean the finished part needs to be remade or reworked, which means more money and
time spent due to the wear of the tool. Tolerances can also be affected by variables in the
manufacturing process such as feed rate, cutting speed, and depth of cut. So by maintaining these
variables and keeping them in check, one can get the most use out the tool as designed speeds
and cuts.
Findings & Discussion
In the CNC experiment, the variables changed were feed rate, spindle speed, and depth of
cut. Before starting the experiment, groups were each assigned a G-code program which would
alter one variable in the machining process in three different sections. The code had to be
modified in the machine to work with the size of the rod provided. During the machining process
the power consumption of the machine was measured, and chips were collected in each section
so the change in chip geometry could be examined. After all machining was done the surface
finish and diameter errors were measured. All groups data were gathered and the results
compiled into Table 2. The results from this section were in line with the predictions made
before starting the lab.
Table 1: CNC results
Zone 1

Zone 2

Zone 3

Change in % power

13%

17%

20%

Avg Chip Thickness

.02475

.03133

.03083

Surface Finish

100 in

90 in

90 in

Important data recorded from CNC experiment, only selected relevant data is presented
Some results were fairly trivial, like increased chip thickness from increased depth of cut,
or increased power from increased velocity. Other results werent so obvious, like the effect on
tolerances. As the depth of cut increases, there is a decrease in the dimensional accuracy of the
final diameter due to the higher forces required to shear the material. The higher forces in the
cutting process increases vibrational chatter in the machine and workpiece leading to a rough
surface and inaccurate tolerances. Feed rate increases the roughness of the part as more force is
required to cut the greater amount of material. This is from the increased cutting force needed at

higher feed rates, which causes the same issues as an increased depth of cut. If part is rougher it
means the overall diameter isnt perfectly consistent. So increasing the feed rate of the machine
could be another source of error in the dimensional accuracy of the part. Some error may exist in
the measurement of the chip thickness due to the erratic nature of measure chips. Also, only two
groups reported that coolant was used in the CNC process, so to more accurately report the effect
of coolant on the process more data would be needed.
Measuring the temperature of the tool tip was the the main goal using the manual lathe.
Based on Figure 1 in the Appendix, the highest temperature reading was due to the doubling of
the depth of cut. The control peak temperature was read to be
cut had a temperature of

F while the increase depth of

F. More force is applied to the tooltip which creates more friction

as there is a larger shear zone thus resulting in a larger temperature reading for the tool.
Increasing feed rate and increasing velocity both experienced a higher tool tip temperature than
what the control group did. Adding the lubricant to the process dropped the max temperature to
which was due to a smaller amount of friction that was in between the tooltip and workpiece
and the lubricant directly taking some of the heat away from the cutting area. The use of cutting
fluids also play a direct role in improving the length of the tool life because of the decrease of
temperature.
Increasing the depth of cut had a direct impact on the effect of roughness and process
tolerance; the surface roughness was increased because more force was required to make the
depth of the cut which in turn created a poorer surface finish than what was desired. The
increased force seen can cause deformation in the tool or part, or chatter may arise in the process
In turn with the surface finish decreasing, the process tolerance will also decrease because the
amount of force required is very large.
The surface finish of the control workpiece was 89
a surface finish of 27
roughness of 230

and the coolant case ended with

. The surface finish of the increase in feed rate had the highest
which was measured using the profilometer. Other comparisons of the

surface finish for each variable changed can be found in Table 5 in the Appendix. Increasing the
rotational velocity of the piece and feed rate of the tool increased roughness because the the tip
is moving at an accelerated rate. Adding a lubricant to the the workpiece while being cut ended
up creating a smoother surface finish because the lubricant removes most of the frictional forces
that will allow a smoother cut with a better tolerance for the dimensional accuracy. In appendix,

Table 2 shows the complete effect of each of the changed parameters, consisting of increase
speed, feed rate and lubricant.
Another objective in the lab was to compare and contrast the calculated tool tip
temperature to the theoretical temperature using the equation given in class. The equation for
Tool temperature can be calculated using the following equation:

Where E is the modulus of elasticity, V is the cutting speed of the tool, to is the depth of cut, k is
the materials thermal conductivity constant, p is the density of the tool, and c is a materials
specific heat capacity constant.
The tip of the tool is the part most affected by the temperature, as expected. The
temperature then gradually decreases away from the tip of the tool. The smaller the tool tip
temperature the greater the tool life due to lesser tool wear when dealing with treated inserts.
With the exception of the beginning and ending of the cuts, the forces remain relatively constant
on the tool tip. Only when facing an object will the tool tip temperature be affected by the
changing cutting speed. Also, one will have a higher temperature when cutting workpieces with
a larger diameter.Some possible things to be aware of when the tool tip is at an elevated
temperature is the wear on the tool and effects that could cause an error in the cut.

Appendix
Table 2: Results from the Turning Quality Experiment on the CNC lathe
Variable

Effect on Power

Effect on Chip

Effect on

Effect on Process

Thickness

Roughness

Tolerance

Increase DOC

Increase

Increase

Increase

Decreased accuracy

Increase V

Increase

no change

decrease

no change

Increase f

Increase

Increase

Increase

Decreased accuracy

Add Coolant

Increase

No Change

Decrease

No Change

Increases the depth of cut will increase the power, chip thickness, and roughness while
decreasing tolerance. Increasing velocity increases power, decreases roughness, with no change
to tolerance or thickness. Increasing feed rate increases the power, thickness and roughness,
while decreasing tolerance. Adding coolant will increase power, decrease roughness, and have
no effect on thickness or tolerance.
Table 3: Results from the Cutting Temperature Experiment on the manual lathe
*Answer was difficult to conclude due to conflicting data before groups.
Variable

Effect on Max

Effect on Roughness

Effect on Process

Temperature

Tolerance

Increase DOC

Increase

Increase

Decreased accuracy

Increase V

Increase

Increase

Increased accuracy

Increase F

Increase

Increase

Decreased accuracy*

Add Lubrication

Decrease

Decrease

Increased accuracy*

Cutting on a manual lathe produced results of when the depth of cut is increased, the temperature
and roughness will increase while tolerances will lower. Increased velocity increased to
temperature, roughness, and tolerance. Increased feed rate increased temperature roughness but
decreased accuracy. Adding lubricant decreased the temperature, the roughness and increased the
accuracy.
Table 4 - Sample data point for temperature vs. time graph (Figure 1)
Change in..

Vel

Feed

Lube

DOC

Control

Time (s)

Temp

Temp

Temp

Temp

71.17

85.57

68.12

83.98

74.34

20

95.21

106.44

67.99

106.57

93.38

40

108.03

118.16

84.23

133.18

100.46

Temp

60

112.18

128.17

85.94

151.12

107.06

80

116.21

136.11

88.01

162.11

110.23

100

121.09

141.24

88.99

171.26

110.96

120

125.37

142.09

89.97

184.94

112.06

140

128.66

143.07

92.16

195.31

113.16

150

129.27

145.14

92.90

195.68

114.01

Data taken from the complete graph in Figure 1. Shows the increase of temperatures in the
tooltip for each of the four variables plus the control workpiece.

Table 5 - Results of manual lathe measurements from each group who varied one of the four
possible variables. Data is taken from each group who provided a change in variable and is not
averaged.
Feed Rate

D.O.C

Velocity

Coolant

Initial diameter (in.)

1.939

1.7535

1.974

1.903

Expected final
diameter (in.)

1.8995

1.6735

1.934

1.863

Measured final
diameter (in.)

1.9042

1.6715

1.936

1.861

Diameter error (%)

0.25%

0.10%

0.10%

0.107%

Surface finish (in.)

230

137

133

27

Measured peak tool

146

197

132

94

These numbers sum up the percent error, surface finish, and peak tool temperature based on feed
rate, depth of cut, velocity, and if coolant was used. Depth of cut and velocity had the lowest
7

error while increased feed rate and the highest error. Using coolant had the best surface finish
while increased feed rate had the worst. Coolant also had the lowest peak temperature, while
increased depth of cut had the highest temperature.

Figure 1: The relative temperatures for each of the change in variables during the lathe cut

This graph shows how changes in parameter of the cutting process changes the temperature of
the workpiece relative to a control piece. This graph shows that an increase in depth of cut

increases the temperature the most, using lubricant decreases the temperature, and increasing
velocity increases temperature the least.
References:
"Aluminum 6061-T6; 6061-T651." Aluminum 6061-T6; 6061-T651. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct.
2014.

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