[Eric Olson]

I have a customer who wants me to cut .06" sheets of aluminum. Our mill is not designed for this type of work so I'm wondering if there is an acceptable spindle speed and feed rate that would work.
I have no fluid coolant, air or mister. I have a Alu-Power 21601TC
1/8x1/4 2FL.REG.SE.STR.H-42 bit to test with.
I tried a spindle speed of 2500 and a feed rate of 10ipm, but I got some pretty rough edges. Would a different setting work better to provide a clean edge or is it just not going to work without coolant?

Thanks,

Eric

[Geof]

If it is pure aluminum you will probably find it very difficult to get a good finish and even some of the soft aluminum alloys are difficult to machine. In any case your speed is far too low and you will need coolant/lubricant. Try some cuts at higher rpm with coolant just brushed along the line of the cut.

[RCaffin]

I have a customer who wants me to cut .06" sheets of aluminum.

If that is bending quality aluminium, it won't be easy to get a good finish.
You definitely need a cutter designed for aluminium - 2 flute with lots of clearance. HSS, not carbide too.
Use lots of air to remove the chips. High pressure air, not liquid coolant.
Coolant is irrelevant as such, but you should use a light oil mist solely to stop the aluminium from sticking to the cutter.
Let the chips fill up the cutter and you will be dead in the water so fast.
Holding the sheet metal down is not easy either, but don't let it flap.

Cheers

[LeeWay]

You might consider adding a small high speed spindle to the head. I cut this aluminum sheet often, but have a jig specific to the parts I need.

Initially I cut them with a trim router at a fair speed with three passes. High speed, low DOC with coolant. It worked great for this part.
I'll show a video link.

Now we just use the mill head instead. It is a lot slower at 6600 RPM, but still gets the job done.
Edges aren't as nice as they were at high speed, but these parts needed tumbling and powder coated anyway.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fswDGVjeZPc&list=UUgVqAqgSRp2PKxFWrgDppCw& index=9]Milling aluminum sheet - YouTube[/ame]