Cutting Aluminum

[kubotaman]

Well I have read a number of posts in regards to cutting aluminum. I tried it for the first time today. I was asked by a friend to cut three holes in .5 aluminum to a total of .1875 by 1.75 inches in diameter. I cut at .005 per pass. I didn't want to use any coolant since it would make a mess. I used a .75 diameter Hersaf cutter. I cut at 5000 rpm and a rate of .5 IPM. We didn't use any dust collection since I figured the cutter would expel most of the chips. It absolutely cut like butter!!! No heat what so ever and we both were super pleased. Just wanted you to know how pleased I was!!!

[knight_toolworks]

you want the rpms higher around 14k

[kubotaman]

Only thing I can say Steve is it cut perfect. With the slow feed and low RPM it never created any heat what so ever.

[myxpykalix]

daryl
all i can say is........

[knight_toolworks]

Only thing I can say Steve is it cut perfect. With the slow feed and low RPM it never created any heat what so ever.

almumum requires higher rpms and slower cut rates. you were only taking off .005. if you have 6063 or harder alminum you can take off sometimes .1 in a single pass with the right bit.

[kubotaman]

Steve to tell you the truth I can't tell you what grade aluminum I was cutting. Just that I was pleased with the outcome. Since it was my first time I really wanted to be safe.

[knight_toolworks]

I understand. if you take really light passes it does not matter too much. I screwed up enough on aluminum. using single flute O bits makes a big difference in how fast and how much you can cut in a pass. but the rpms are important for good aluminum cutting.

[mitch_prest]

if this was your first time and it worked.. then good for you... if you were going to do a hundred of those pieces then you might want to rethink the speed etc... but for a one off all you want is not to see the aluminum melt or your bit get stuck and snap off...