I did some missile work years ago using some customer supplied Tantalum. It's expensive to make mistakes in. I used speeds and feeds that we typically use on titanium and light cuts and had no issues on the first couple projects. One of the later projects we were supplied with the material in an annealed state and it was miserable. It wanted to gall, tear, ick! It was like trying to machine lead again... of course part of the issue is when your customer either won't or can't tell you the specific properties of what you are trying to whittle on.
The only thing to bear in mind is that it work hardens. Copper machining would be a good example to campare it to, or maybe 304 stainless. You want to feed consistently, not aggresively, and to light a cut is worse than to heavy a cut.
I used mostly very sharp, uncoated carbide inserts in a positive grade. It wasn't that big a deal, other than worrying about the cost of scrapping the parts. If you are trying to drill small holes or grind it though, all I can say is Good Luck! |
