Calculate the cost per piece of a milling operation that is used to machine a pocket of 2"x3"x0.5" (LxWxD). The material being machined is high silicon aluminum. The tool material is PCD.
Assume a labor rate of $50.00/hr and a burden rate of $25/hr. Assume a surface speed of 2000 ft/min. The number of teeth on the cutter is 4. The feed is 0.005 in/tooth. The depth of cut is 0.020". The width of cut is equal to the diameter of the tool (0.5 inches). Assume a 15% overlap between passes. The cost per tool is $50. Use the appropriate Taylor equation/tabulated data in text to determine the approximate tool life. Assume a tooling cost of $10. Neglect setup and loading costs. Assume four parts can be produced per insert. The time required to index each insert = 0.25 min. The tool change time is 0.5 min.
After your calculations, explain two practical strategies that you can use to decrease your cost per piece for machining.