Sterling Dump

[Blender]

Nice grille. What did you use to bend the grille after it was cut out?

[Heavy Metal]

Originally Posted by Blender

Nice grille. What did you use to bend the grille after it was cut out?

Blender - I have a little 24" box and pan brake. Just have to finesse the curve into it. Takes some time.

Originally Posted by ihbuilder

Joe , I got better results slowing the spindle down and a light spray of wd-40 . I know your doing it by way of cnc and I'm in the cave yet by hand but I think the principle would be the same . no ? my issue is getting my big mill going so I can play with it and see how it works with my amateur programing skills BTW , from where I'm sitting , the grill look great
IHSteve

Originally Posted by will916691

running at 10,500 rpm that endmill is going to heat up fast you really need some coolant the math for speeds and feeds is tricky it may look good on paper but not work so well in the real world I would try and cut your spindle down and your feed down as well and see what that does for you also some oil to keep your work cool would sure help also how well is you part clamped down? if you tap on it in the center does it sound hollow? did the sound of the cutting change before it snaped? just want to make sure its not a issue with chatter
Will

Steve/Will - Snuck in some time to mill an alum part tonight. Using a .125 flat endmill, slowed down the spindle to 6500, increased the feed to 8IPM and reduced DOC to .02. Cut was looking not-so-clean but not looking like trouble. It was just on the verge of chatter at 10IPM so I think I had everything just about right at 8IPM. I hit it w/ some WD40 and **** if the cut didn't clean right up nice. Rest of the part cut real clean...just hit it w/ some WD40 every now and then. Makes a **** of a mess and doesn't clear away with my cold air chip blower...but sure cleans up the cut. Hoping a mist coolant system will have same effect as the WD40. Ordered one last week. They are pretty cheap. Thanks guys for tips.

Joe

[Juganought]

I love the Aeromax, it's a sexy truck. You have made it sexier, I now definitetly have to aquire one. Can I have a grille made please?

[tc1cat]

With the speeds and feeds you are trying to run, you really need some form of coolant/lubricant on the endmill and part. 10K rpm on any type of end mill in metal needs to be cooled. If the aluminum doesn't heat up and grab the tool, the endmill will fill up with metal and then break. Must cool the metal and endmill and try to remove the metal chips from the tool and tool path. Coolant does make a mess but it is the only way to do high speed machining. You should actually flood the end mill with coolant for these speeds and feeds.

Lynn

[Heavy Metal]

Originally Posted by tc1cat

With the speeds and feeds you are trying to run, you really need some form of coolant/lubricant on the endmill and part. 10K rpm on any type of end mill in metal needs to be cooled. If the aluminum doesn't heat up and grab the tool, the endmill will fill up with metal and then break. Must cool the metal and endmill and try to remove the metal chips from the tool and tool path. Coolant does make a mess but it is the only way to do high speed machining. You should actually flood the end mill with coolant for these speeds and feeds.

Lynn

Thanks Lynn. I keep reading that these miniature endmills need high RPM but I think I was having the exact problem you are describing w/ grabbing and flutes filling, etc. Particularly w/ 4 flute. I am now running around 4300 RPM even w/ .0625 end mill and I installed the cool mist system which I think is helping too. I did run 10,500 with mist coolant on the super miniature .015 and that went really well for cutting another Sterling S logo. Had some decent results all around cutting another grill today but still ended up chipping flutes off the .0625 which I think was due to feed rate too fast when plunging to next level on pockets. I thought my CAM software had the feeds slowed down for plunging to next level but it was same as horizontal cut so pretty confident I can finally have some clean passes on this part if I figure that out. Thanks again for taking time to share your thoughts on this stuff....helps a lot. Joe