A question about headstock speed for those who machine parts.

Howdy from Texas:

For those of you who machine parts... I'm thinking of buying a headstock adapter that will increase the spindle speed form 2,400 rpm to 10,000 rpm. I know this can be ideal for when one is milling or turning with very small diameters, but I don't know if it is absolutely necessary for the work we do.

I have a Sherline mill and lathe. So far, I've managed to get by, but I'm wondering if my work would be better with the faster spindle speed. Or, is there no real difference between parts turned or machined at 2,400 rpm vs, 10,000 rpm for our kind of work.

If anyone has experience with the 10000 rpm adapter on the Sherline, your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

What materials are you working with?

I'm using soft metals, aluminum and brass.

there are calculations called speeds and feeds, they are based on the perfect cutting speeds for each material and the size of material being machined. all materials, whether it is metal or plastic based, have an optimum cuting speed as well as what coolant that should be used, also what characteristics should be used when grinding the angles on your cutting tool. it is a science that has been investigated over many years. time served machinists will know all of this stuff, look on the net for more info.

As rgriffs mentioned, there are calculations for feed/speed. I had to buy the 10,000RPM pulley set for the machine work I do, but for me it still isn't enough. For 1/16" and smaller end mills, I have it maxed out and have to adjust my feed accordingly. I regularly use endmills as small as .020" and it's painful how slow I have to set the feed.

I'm looking to find a solution so I can get 50,000+ rpm out of the headstock...assuming the bearing can take that speed.

Thanks rgriff and mike@af for that information. Yes, I'm aware of the feed rate vs materials information, but I was looking more for the kind of practical information from the experience of machining very small parts using very small tools. From mike@af it sounds like the 10,000 rpm pulley set (I'm assuming from Sherline) might work except for the very small items. This is good to know as I've got ball end mills down to 1/64" I'm hoping to use.

Thanks again for the help.