Plastic rat nesting while milling deep pockets

[Anonymous]

How do you guys handle it?   We make some parts from plastic where I have to ramp 2-3 inches deep and we get so much plastic balling up and rat nesting on the tool its hard to keep the chips clear..

I would love to see a roughing tool path that had periodic dwells just to allow the chip to break and come out rather than non stop stringy chips.  

Anyone have any tricks they are willing to share?

[CRANDALLPRECISION]

What kind of plastic? I fight uhmw a lot and have found using 2flute ball endmills to rough works the best for this.

[Richard.stubley]

Hi @Anonymous,

When you say ramp do you mean helical or profile ramp?

I started using a tapered helical ramp a year or two ago and haven't looked back since. 
It stops the cutter rubbing on the side walls and helps the chips escape much easier. 

[Anonymous]

Everything really.   CPVC and Delrin (Acetal) at the moment, but we do our fair share of HDPE, UHMW, PVC etc as well. 

I will try the ball endmill and see how it goes.  Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I never thought about taper milling.. I will give that a try for sure!