SO3 First cuts in Aluminum

@pdx_curious wrote:

After a great deal of thinking, researching and navel gazing today I made my first cuts in Aluminum.

The material was 0.25" 6061-T6. The test cut was a 0.125" 3 flute ZRN coated carbide endmill (ebay $15 with shipping) cutting a 0.150" slot with a conventional cut 0.040" per pass at 22ipm with 7ipm plunge. There was a full depth 0.005" finishing cut, but it was too shallow to make a visible difference. The cut was very clean at the 6pm and 9pm position on the cutter and rough at the 12pm and 3pm position.

The fourth try was a bit better.

I increased the overall slot width to 0.205" with the rough cut 0.145" wide and a full depth 0.030" finishing pass. The rough cut was the same as before. The finishing pass was a 17ipm climbing cut.

I want to say thanks to G-Wizard. The tutorials and CADCAM wizard were very helpful in my making sense of all the options.

I used Fusion 360 for the model and CAM. My SuckIt dust boot did a remarkable job of keeping the area clean.

The rough pass still looked rough, so I thought maybe I should try a climbing cut. Not a good idea:

Proceeded to cut rough until the bit was clogged with AL (sorry for the poor focus, but you get the idea)

I managed to pry the Aluminum off the end mill and it appears to be cutting fine. It turned out to be an inexpensive lesson.

This was just a test cut. Next step is to rework my first Aluminum project to cut a wider slot and then see how it will work.

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