Tips/Techniques Coolant, the overlooked tool

[little ol' e]

Currently straight helical 4 flute for the most part as they are readily available (and I use them on other things besides Al on occasion).

Ok, I will have a looksee for a 4 flute straight helical endmill without coating.
What grade carbide endmill would you suggest ? Nano, ultrafine or submicron, or would it matter, as long as I'm using coolant ?

I like to see a .02-.025 chip load in 6000 series AL - on a manual miller.... .015-.02 with 7000 series.
Would you suggest a lighter or heavier chip load with uncoated in AL?

CNC,
Same chip load running in the 12k range, the only exception would be, a program that gives us a uniform chip load.
Which type of uncoated carbide endmill would you suggest?
Would the endmill you suggest perform well in both series with a speed, feed tweak maintaining a constant chip load?

Thanks

 

[Former Member]

I'm running about 0.0167 chip load with a 4 flute in 6061, limit is more of a spindle, acme screw, machine rigidity issue.

The second number you should be looking at is MRR which is 0.5 in^3/min max (have done upto 1.0in^3/min. accidentally) for my machine.

I think you'll find some endmills are better than others, I am not brand specific yet, but tend to go to the high end versions.

I took a conservative approach and started slower and worked up. A 12k spindle would allow faster feeds, again machine rigidity is going to be your issue. Keep using faster and more aggressive cuts until you find the limit. I'm guessing about 75ipm maybe a bit more for rough cutting and a 0.05 depth (work up to that number) you are going to generate heat quickly.

 

[PaulL]

I got the solution to that problem ! Lol

View attachment 29874

My solar install at the cabin is chasing that number... And I just have a measly little 7kw backup generator for it. I wonder at its fuel efficiency ;-)