Yep, you should have done a HSM slot about 3/8" wide with the 1/4" cutter and you would have had little trouble. I try to avoid a conventional full width slot in aluminum where possible. lube definitely helps or is required.
I don't think rigidity of your machine was the issue. Just remember what you learned from the experience. Then apply it next time. . . Jim On 2/23/2017 9:27 AM, Todd Zuercher wrote: > It is a pretty big heavy machine (about 12,000lbs), one just like this. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U6HtvfKUYg > > Part of the problem was I was just slot milling everything, didn't want to > make more mess milling bigger grooves than I had to. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Chris Albertson" <albertson.ch...@gmail.com> > To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" <emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2017 12:45:05 AM > Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Milling Aluminum. > > Yes, WD40 works well on aluminum. I'm betting your wood mill is not > nearly rigid enough to cut metal. > > What most people did early on was use a manual Bridgeport type knee mill > with hand cranks. Doing this it is easy to see and feel how it works. > With my small mill I use an order of magnitude slower RPM and a lot slower > then 120 rpm. > > The other thing is that with wood you can make a deep 1/2" wide slot with a > 1/2" bit. With metal you'd cut one side of the slot at a time with a > smaller than 1/2" bit > > On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 8:08 PM, Todd Zuercher <zuerc...@embarqmail.com> > wrote: > >> Yuck, if I don't ever have to mill that crap again it will be too soon. >> Started out dry and trying to mill .12 deep per pass. 1st try (1" long ramp >> in) tool ramped in to full depth nicely and then promptly snapped, 400imp >> @18krpm is too fast. 150imp went about 2 inches, gumming up badly. Half a >> dozen bits later, having some success with a .06" cut depth @120imp and >> soaking it with WD-40. >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Roland Jollivet" <roland.jolli...@gmail.com> >> To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" <emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> >> Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2017 3:17:27 PM >> Subject: [Emc-users] Milling Aluminum. >> >> Why don't you just get someone to water-jet cut, and carry on cutting wood? >> >> >> On 21 February 2017 at 17:34, Todd Zuercher <zuerc...@embarqmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> I am a wood worker in a large wood working CNC shop. But I need to mill >>> some aluminum for a project (a jig for another process in our company) >> but >>> I know next to nothing about milling such material. What I need is to >> cut a >>> large grid out of a 5ft x 10ft sheet of 1/4inch thick MIC6 AL. The >> machines >>> I will have to do this are large wood working cncs with flat vacuum >> tables. >>> We normally cut flat sheet material like MDF or plywood on a MDF >> fall-board >>> (vacuum sucking right through the fall-board (holes, no jig tape, just >>> porous MDF) These machines have no provisions for coolant Just compressed >>> air blast and dust/chip collection (big centralized dust collector >> system). >>> I will obviously have to disable the dust collection, because I'm pretty >>> sure the local farmers who pick up our dust won't appreciate AL shavings >> in >>> their cow bedding. The machine I am probably going to use has a 12kw >> 24krpm >>> spindle. I would like to mill this with a 1/4" 2 flute carbide end mill. >>> Should I use an up or down spiral cutter? What feed speed and RPM would >> be >>> appropriate? What depth of cut per pass? Do I need to arrange some sort >> of >>> mist system for cooling? What to use and how much liquid in the mist? >>> (Don't want to cause problems with the MDF fall-board or vacuum hold down >>> system.) The grid is only going to be about 2 inches wide, with 12 >> windows >>> in the 5x10 frame (a lot of wasted material). At this point the plan is >> to >>> set the milling up with lots of bridges to hold the grid to the scrap >> then >>> go back and trim those off with a final finish pass. >>> >>> -- >>> >>> ======================================== >>> >>> Todd Zuercher >>> mailto:zuerc...@embarqmail.com >>> >>> ======================================== >>> ------------------------------------------------------------ >>> ------------------ >>> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most >>> engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Emc-users mailing list >>> Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net >>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users >>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------ >> ------------------ >> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most >> engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot >> _______________________________________________ >> Emc-users mailing list >> Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------ >> ------------------ >> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most >> engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot >> _______________________________________________ >> Emc-users mailing list >> Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users >> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
