I have never found Taylor's equation to be particularly helpful. However a great part of what we do is design special tooling such as saw blades, router bits, etc., for specific applications such as plywood plants, MDF plants, sawmills and so on. To make Taylor work, in my understanding, you need to establish a couple of reference points. Then Taylor gives you a formula that lets you approximately derived values by interpolation or, perhaps, extrapolation.
In my world we look for an optimal solution based on current materials, both the material being cut and the material used as a cutter head. In a situation, such as a Boeing plant, where you are using an identical cutter head material with different grades of aluminum; Taylor could have some value once you know how the different grades aluminum perform.
Another consideration is the fact that at this level of machining a good operator needs to be sensitive to variations between parts of what are supposedly identical pieces of material and variations with in a particular piece of material
Another factor that I find limits Taylor's usefulness is the desire on the part of the plant operator to make improvements without making changes. Cermets have a higher lubricity than carbide and can show dramatic improvements in cutting life if they are run faster. However any gain in cutting life may be more than offset by the difficulties of increasing the feed in a sawmill, for example.
Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.
Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.
