Spent a whole shift chasing a weird finish on a simple aluminum part

It was just a basic face mill operation, but I kept getting these faint chatter marks no matter how I adjusted speeds or feeds. Turned out the vise jaw had a tiny, almost invisible burr that was letting the stock lift maybe two thousandths. Took me six hours to find it. Anyone ever have a problem that simple turn into a full-day headache?

2 comments

2 Comments

bennett.finley8d ago

Spot the tiny thing that ruins everything, like @robin_roberts84 said about combo problems. Life's full of those small, hidden burrs that waste your whole day.

robin_roberts848d ago

Gotta ask, was that tiny lift actually causing the chatter or just something you found while looking? I've chased marks before that turned out to be from the tool itself, not the setup. Sometimes a two thou lift on aluminum with a face mill just makes a noise, not a mark you can feel. Could it have been a combo of things, and fixing the burr just happened to be the last thing you tried?