[mmoe]

mmoe,sounds like aluminum would even be pain in your machine,on top of what you listed you have no coolant.
All I had was HSS cutter in ball form.You run that a 10,000 you will be welding.
I only run 1 part at a time,,only 5 pieces.I also finish the part for that side complete.I also only have .125 to hold on to,,and it is not a machined surface on 1 side,just a saw cut.So 1 part per vise.
I find Equal Distance is better compared to splice planar.You have to have such a small step over with splice planar in this configuration.Equal distance cut a little more air,but was real satisfied for the tolerance and fit of the part.I used a .035 step-over.with 75 feed for that.
For the adaptive rough,After the first full cut,I over ride it to 80 ipm jsyk.3900 rpm with flood coolant is highest speed you dare go with a 1/2 ball HSS,,mmoe,I have no idea if you indicating you would go 10,000 or if you would of been screwed and could not run that cutter?
I use to have a couple Carbide Balls,but wore them out in steel,,I may order a Carbide ball today so I can quit fiddle farting around and shave %60 run time or better off the top ? It would be probably worth it as I will bee running this job in a few more months again.Some day I will post my collection of tools,it's crazy the amount I have for a one man show.Sure some of you understand that.

So mmoe,should I feature request a button,,or are we good how it is?My only objection to SBC idea is my inferior laptop pukes when using saved .STL files.It always works,but not fast and certainly without looking like it crashes at first.
That,and it is a little more programming work.I will PM address where to send Crow to if needed


A ballmill for roughing in aluminum (my only point of reference) seems like it would probably gall up quickly even in nicer aluminum
It is a whole new game with flood coolant.Everything you thought you knew about cutting aluminum will have to be changed.Not talking mist/talking a flood.Not talking You Tube video's either,as they usually turn it down or off so you can see.I am talking a FLOOD.SBC has a fire hose on his HAAS I am sure.
without flood coolant and slower speeds available when needed.,it don't matter what kind of aluminum,you will be welding.
On my machine I have 10,000 rpm max with 20 HP.So,if I was using a 1/2 Carbide Ball,,I would go 9000 rpm.I almost always leave %10 off the top rpm,as I hear it is just good practice to not strain your machine.Wife's Tale,I don't know,,but I just put a new spindle in last year that cost over $4000 and I had to pay for it,suks.
JSYK,,,2024 cuts like a butter,,it is my favorite.Softer,but stronger than 6061About 2X the price though.
7075 is almost like mild steel as far as hardness.On the lathe,it can be a right pain in the ass until you get everything set up right.Stringy,stringy chips.It has the most tin content added as far as the basic aluminum's go.7075 is the strongest and it is by far the one that Buffs like Chrome the best.Also resists oxidation (dulling) the best after it is buffed.Also is resistant to scratches.Parts that need strength and Bling I make from this.Also cost 3 to 4 X as much.
Cast aluminum suks for anything but mic plate
6061 is the most common series out there,But beware depending on heat treatment type and specs,,some of it is weak as heck and Wood be better.Thankfully most out there is T6511.This is what I use %90 of the time.
3000 and 5000 series are mostly in sheet form.

I use mostly 2024 aluminum and steer customers away for 6061 and similar as much as possible. As you point out, I don't have coolant, so anything other than 2024 or 7075 cut very poorly unless I can keep the chipload a little on the high side. When you are running 10k-15k rpms, that means some pretty serious feedrates that can look a little on the scary side. When cutting aluminum dry, conventional cuts are complete garbage in my experience, no matter how light I take them, so I really try to keep the tool in an adaptive pattern running climb mill only. I can get a very nice finish off of 2024 without a whole lot of trouble and 7075 machines pretty easily as well with a little bit of WD-40, so I tell my clients that it will save them more in machine time than the additional cost of the material vs. using cast or 6061. I use pretty much carbide only for tools, again due to the way my machine works. Even at the prescribed feeds for the spindle range I can run in, HSS tools just burn up. Some of the coated tools do a good job of preventing the welding/galling in 6061 even when I'm spinning them at 15000 rpms with a light coating of WD-40 on the part surface.

I agree on the spindle RPMs. I never run mine at full speed. Technically, mine should run up to 20,000 rpms, but I never exceed 15,000. Those I have known to run their spindles full speed tend to replace/rebuild them a lot more often. May be a wive's tale, but there is plenty of evidence that says it's better to keep them in a narrower range than they are spec'd for.

I do think you should submit a feature request that full width passes be treated differently. I think they also need to do a better job of identifying those places where it occurs in the "rest machining" conditions. In those cases, you are often using a smaller tool that is more likely to break, so you really don't want a full width pass! Yet that's were I encounter it the most.

Do you know anything about Cincinnati VMCs? I just passed on one a couple weeks ago for $3500, which needed some control repairs (I have no problem doing that myself and have retrofitted many machines now). I just wasn't sure how good the machine is even when it's working well. Haas seems to be the mainstay for most shops, but others like Cincinnati seem to be easier to find a good deal on a fixer. Are there any brands to avoid?