Last year we ran a test on the SUPERMILL TOMCAT 5 cutter since it touted feeds and speeds in steel that are normally reserved for aluminum. You can see that review on machining steel with aluminum feedrates here. Since that review, we did a 6 month follow up with the test shop and we’re here to declare that the long term results are in…

In our previous review we mentioned that the cycle time cut in half, but we wanted to know if the tool lasted beyond our test.  Of course the financial bottom line is all that matters in production and in this case was the cost of the cutter worth it to produce parts faster?  The answer is an impressive YES!

The guys at Primary Cutter, makers of the TOMCAT 5, were kind enough to send us a fresh endmill to restart this longevity test with the right program running the right feeds and speeds that were dialed in after the first test.  Let’s let a chart do the talking:

It’s nice to see a company stand behind a product that performs like the TOMCAT 5. For more info visit www.supermill.com.