[Lab] first try at cutting aluminum

[bentfork at gmail.com]

How many flutes in that cutter?  If I recall 3 flutes is standard for
cutting Al as it is a pretty soft material

The rpm / number of flutes and speed are all important.  You probably know
this but here is a simple cheat sheet:

http://www.endmilldiscount.com/end-mill/sc-feed-speed.htm

When messing with aluminium there are two tricks I've learned.
 1) Cutting fluid (oil).  You've got to keep the cutting tool cool.
 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)

On 29 May 2011 11:14, Darcy Whyte <darcy at siteware.com> wrote:

>  I tried to cut aluminum for the first time last night. Pictures of the
> results here
> http://mambohead.com/2011/05/first-try-at-aluminum-with-cnc-mill/
>
> I think I had the feed rates wrong. Anybody have any idea why the endmill
> gummed up?
>
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