My first aluminum 3D cut

[mccoy178]

Hello all,

I have wanted to make a 3D aluminum cut for a long time. I just could not wrap my brain around pass depth's, cut speeds, and cooling. But I was very conservative and it worked out.

Details:
The Items:
1. I am creating a Blue Moon kegorator for my home and I have wanted these for the sides for some time.
2. The block is 6061 aluminum .75"x22"x25".

Design:
1. Aspire was used to turn the 2D object into the 3D object.

The Cutting Process:
1. I used a .25 end mill upcut bit for the 3D roughing. Cut depth was .004/pass, spindle speed was 9,000rpm, and feed rate was 2" per sec. Clearance was .004 and .1" for the outside border.
2. A .25 ball nose was used for 3D finishing. Cut speed was 2" per second and I used a 4% overlap.
3. WD40 was used as a coolant and you can see my clay wall that contained the liquid from spilling. A gallon of WD40 was $16, and I used it as needed.

[mccoy178]

Here are some final photos.

The small tabs are still attached. The next step is to encase it in cherry that has a thin boards and an inset on the back side for blue led's to be hidden by.

[phd1658]

Impressive, Ben. I keep thinking I'll try aluminum some time, but seems like every project I do leads to ten more. It's still on my "to do" list

[mccoy178]

Here is the Cherry holders. I need to get the led's installed to see if it works as intended.

[mccoy178]

There must be an easier way to upload with an iPhone.

[mccoy178]

Two more pics.....

[mccoy178]

Last photo.

[gundog]

Nice job and my favorite beer.

[mccoy178]

Thanks! I'm a big fan as well. I put in the LED's to see if I had enough overlap to avoid seeing them. It worked out quite well. Next is the lettering.

[mccoy178]

Here are the 3D corian letters.