When does the textbook milling chatter chart mislead?
research/infra-chatter
Zero-order milling stability lobes against semi-discretisation and time-domain simulation for a one-mode tool: exact at slotting, but at 10% up-milling the limit is up to 3.3 times too high at some speeds, and in down-milling the zero-order chart predicts no chatter while the tool goes unstable below 0.9 mm; the best spindle speed raises removal rate 5 to 18 times.
What it found
A one-mode, two-tooth milling tool (benchmark values recalled from Insperger and Stepan, not a measured FRF) is analysed three ways: the Altintas-Budak zero-order solution, a semi-discretisation Floquet solution, and an RK4 time-domain simulation with a true delay. The zero-order minimum depth matches the closed form (0.311 mm for slotting) and agrees with the Floquet limit at 50 % up-milling, but at 10 % up-milling it overshoots by up to 3.3 times at some speeds (minimum 0.787 against 0.669 mm), and in down-milling at 10 and 50 % immersion the mean cutting coefficient is negative so it predicts no chatter while the Floquet limit is 0.65 to 0.88 mm. The Floquet multiplier and the time-domain run agree on stability at all 30 test points. Choosing the best spindle speed raises the stable removal rate 5 to 18 times over the minimum stable depth. No public tool-tip FRF was reachable: all tool constants are assumed benchmark values.
A figure from its own output
Paper, code and results
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Produced with AI assistance (Claude). Results are from the code in this repository and are simulated or stylised unless the abstract says otherwise; nothing here implies affiliation with or endorsement by any lab, researcher or company cited. MIT licensed.