Sterling Dump

[Espeefan]

Originally Posted by jbothell

Lynn - Uh...how about "I hope so". Could be an expensive experiment. (Broken or dulled end mills, right?) Taig has max spindle speed of 10,500 RPM. I'm no machinist but plan is to do the math and just slow my feed rate down to achieve end mill manufacturer recommended chip size for 6061 alum. 4-flute end mills help as well. Have to admit I haven't paid as much attention as I should to spindle speed, depth and feed rate so far. I kind of combined math from books with trial and error tests a couple years ago and wrote a few notes on garage wall for approx feed rates and cut depths for 1/16" thru 1/4" end mills and just run the mill at 6500 RPM all the time (Taig has 6 speeds via belt change). (Machinist are cringing, I know). Obviously I will be moving the belt to 10,500 for these 0.015" thru .040" end mills.

Machinist in the group: Tips and suggestions on this welcome!!

Joe

Joe, I'm not a pro either, but what you do sounds about what I do. I usually just go by feel (manual milling, no CNC for me) and how the cutter sounds. If it starts squeeling bad, I know I'm either cutting to deep, spinning the RPMs to high, or something is dull! I almost always spray some light oil onto the material I am working with, by hand using a spray bottle, and the end mill. Especially with aluminum. It machines nicer that way. Aluminum can get a little sticky.

Originally Posted by jbothell

Thanks for the kind words guys. Guess I might be an addict now. I should probably warn you this won't move too fast.

Nate - I was tempted to just move on with that grill...but so much nice work on these boards...just gotta give it one more try for the cadillac version!

Joe

Can't blame you one bit! That's how I feel.