Drill and Profile cut aluminum

[Kromet International]

Au contraire mon frere! Many of us do...just not in aluminum

It is after all a light CNC router, and not a milling machine. It simply lacks the mass and rigidity of a milling machine. This is why my Bridgeport CNC weighs 4000 pounds with a 16x12" machinable area.

Something like a Haas Mini Mill or gantry mill would be the proper tool for aluminum milling billet parts. Even a Tormach. Unless you are cutting sheets under 1/4", the SB isn't the right choice for production in my opinion. It's fine for one-offs. Yes it can be used in production this way...but for how long? If your profit margins are wide enough...you can just buy a new one every year

-B

At the end of the day I don't pay the bills so it really doesn't make much of a difference to me. I just want to see the machine running as fast and as hard as possible right to the limits.

[Kromet International]

Can you post some pictures of your setup and what you make?

If you want to see what we do here just go to www.kromet.com.

Our setups are a shunk pin type system where we drop custom fixtures into place.

We have a custom machined 1" table which our shopbot machined. We have installed a 21 gallon coolant tank with custom troughs and a filtration system to separate the aluminum from the coolant. We have installed guarding and light curtains for safety. We are turning the shopbot from a hobby toy into a state of the art machining operation.

When I do get sometime out in the shop I will post pictures of our set up.

[Kyle Stapleton]

Sounds cool.