Basic aluminum questions

LowRider CNC Troubleshooting
1

Hi!

I have started to try out aluminum and I have not prepped at all really. I have some old aluminum sheets at home. Unknown type, and I have my basic endmills

Here are my settings:
Climb mill (I am using Fusion)
Downcut 3.175mm end mill (I have no upcut yet)
Feed rate 10mm/s
RPM dial 3 on my Katsu
DOC 0.25mm

And this is the result:

image
image3024Ă—4032 3 MB

image
image3024Ă—4032 2.51 MB

Is above result because I do not use an upcut bit? Or should I change something else? The sides are really fussy.

Sorry but this post is really not that prepared and so are not even my aluminum journey. But hope u can help me some :slight_smile:

Ryan’s video suggest feed rate 3.5mm/s and “full RPM”. I do not know what router that is :slight_smile:

/ Oskar

2

I am a big fan of trochoidal milling for aluminium without cooling: Feed, Speed & Bit Selection for Aluminum - #3 by Tokoloshe

3

You really do need to use an up cut bit to prevent galling and smearing in aluminum.

4

Okey. I am glad that u tell me this. Then I will stop trying with my downcut bits and order upcuts!

5

With trichoidal it shouldn’t matter if you go full depth. Upcut would definitely be better though.

6

So this took a quick turn. Apparently I do use an upcut bit. Sorry :joy:

So… hehe. What settings should I change…? since I am using an upcut bit :sweat_smile:

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image3024Ă—4032 1.75 MB

7

Not much Al experience here, but that can be that your chip loaf is too light. Slowing down the eouter more, or speeding up fred may get uou better results.

With wood, that kind of rough edge is tearing the surface. With aluminum it’s re-cutting the chips, melting them and having them weld themselves to the edge.

Cooling, or air blast can help, too.

8

You really should try trochoidal. Here is an extensive explanation in English:

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