How many flutes in that cutter? If I recall 3 flutes is standard for cutting Al as it is a pretty soft material<br><br>The rpm / number of flutes and speed are all important. You probably know this but here is a simple cheat sheet:<br>
<br><a href="http://www.endmilldiscount.com/end-mill/sc-feed-speed.htm">http://www.endmilldiscount.com/end-mill/sc-feed-speed.htm</a><br><br>When messing with aluminium there are two tricks I've learned. <br> 1) Cutting fluid (oil). You've got to keep the cutting tool cool. <br>
2) Compressed air. Keep the work area as clean as possible with a regular blast of compressed air. (This may not work well with 1 in a CNC setup, i've only done manual mill work)<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 29 May 2011 11:14, Darcy Whyte <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:darcy@siteware.com">darcy@siteware.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> I tried to cut aluminum for the first time last night. Pictures of the results here <a href="http://mambohead.com/2011/05/first-try-at-aluminum-with-cnc-mill/" target="_blank">http://mambohead.com/2011/05/first-try-at-aluminum-with-cnc-mill/</a><div>
<br></div><div>I think I had the feed rates wrong. Anybody have any idea why the endmill gummed up?</div>
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