I am look at make my own golf putters running 303 ss and was just curious how the machine runs cutting stainless? Also if anyone can point me in the direction of work pieces and bits?
I have had no troubles running stainless on my machine. I feel as long as you have the correct feeds and speeds and tooling to cut stainless you should be fine. I did stress test my machine with a piece of 304 using a 1/2" end mill taking a .200" depth of cut and a .100 radial, 250 SFM and a feed of 26 IPM. I faced off a 4" by 7" test piece and the machine completed the cut with fairly minimum chatter. The noise coming from the enclosure was impressive though.
I would certainly never run the machine that hard for more than that little test. The calculations for that cut were right at what Langmuir boasts the machine can do, and boy they were right.
For work pieces you can buy from McMaster pieces already cut close to the size you might want to start with. The cutter I used in my cut will be way overkill for any work this machine will really take on. Any non Chinese grade carbide with a AlTiN coating should do just fine in stainless so long as you follow the correct feeds and speeds. Leaving those at manufacture recommended and simply adjusting your radial and axial depth of cut for how your machine sounds you should have pretty good success. (Go lighter on your depth of cuts then manufacture recommended, those are usually set for running on full size machines)
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I have not cut any thing on a cnc mill, but I’ve cut lots of 303 on my manual lathe and it cuts like butter. It’s nothing like 304 or 316. I prefer it to cutting mild steel.
It is quite soft and dents easily, though.
Did you ever cut your putter?
So, after that missed putt and you hit your golf cart with it… 
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