nathanisenor (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

i love the air tank used to clear the chips lol, its sweet

warpedmephisto (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

Before you try flood coolant (can get messy) you might want to try just brushing or spraying on some type of light lube for use in aluminum. WD-40 actually works great in aluminum.

warpedmephisto (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

Yep, 1/4 HP with 10k max rpm. I do plan on upgrading to a 3/4 HP variable speed DC motor in the near future though - at about the same or less rpm.Generally, yes, higher RPM for smaller cutters and lower RPM for larger cutters(to keep the surface speed the equivalent).Also, from my experience I generally feed small cutters less than large cutters - generally in the form of a lower feedrate. A little cutter will snap if you load it up as much as a large cutter.

telle80 (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

How many HP is in the motor? 1/4 HP? The max RPM for my Sherline is 2800 RPM.As I have learned you should go with low RPM if you have a big cutter, and high with a smaller cutter, right?Also the feed should be greater with a small cutter? And lesser with a big one?Started to cut aluminium a couple of days ago, so I'm really a newbie. But I have vaccation now so I will keep cutting for a couple of weeks more... :)

telle80 (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

Ahhh okey... :) ... thanks for the advises! Well I have only tried carbide once, and it was a pretty deep cut, maybe that's why. I guess that the grinding noise will be redused with some liquid cooling.Actullay I broke my 1/4" carbide cutter with a VERY deep cut. I had forgotten that I should start the program 10 mm above the stock and instead started 0 mm above. That resulted in a 12 mm deep cut and a cutter that was flying with great speed in the wall. Will never do that again... :)

warpedmephisto (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

Ran out of room in the above comment...In the video both are carbide cutters, first is a 3/16" Atrax 2-flute EM, second is a 1/8" Atrax 2-flute EM. I used to use Niagara HSS cutters for this operation, but they wore out too fast and cost too much.I'm most certainly underfeeding the cutter (compared to ideal feedrates for both HSS and carbide) but you have to give up something on a small machine - it simply can't take a huge bite. I get around that with higher RPM's and slower feeds.

warpedmephisto (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

You can definitely use carbide in aluminum, but it likes to be run at about double the speed of HSS (hard to do on our small machines). I used to use all HSS until I realized that quality US made HSS cutters were about the same price as US made carbide cutters that last about 3-4 times longer. Also, carbide cutters have a LOT less tendency to flex and cause chatter, especially with smaller dia. cutters. It takes some toying around with to get the speeds/feeds right.

warpedmephisto (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

Yeah, there's definitely a learning curve that comes with it. Don't feel bad about the broken cutters, that just shows you're determined and haven't given up. :-)The program I actually hand coded rather than using my CAM software (well, before I knew how to use it well enough to actually program stuff).

telle80 (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

Yeasterday I was trying to cut aluminium with a carbide cutter (2 flute, 1/4"), but it was a very bad noise and the finish was very poor.Are you supposed to cut aluminium with carbide? If I use my HSS end mills there is almost no noise at all and much better finish. What type of cutter are you using in the video?

telle80 (December 31, 1969 at 5:59 pm)

I have just started to cut my first aluminium, and what I didn't realize was that you have to know alot about materials, feed and speeds, etc. The CAD/CAM part is no problems for me, I know computers well, but the other stuff is a bit tricky. I can tell you that I have broken a couple of end mills... :)By the way, very nice code! I can see that you are using full speed all the time when not cutting. Very nice!