[diyengineer]

Thanks for the advice rlockwood! So zrn is the cats meow on aluminum?

[rlockwood]

Yes, although unless you can exceed the sfm limits of uncoated, or have poor lubrication (not running coolant, etc) there's realistically not a whole lot to gain from Zrn either.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[diyengineer]

I guess a noobie mistake, some of the carbide endmills don't have Weldon flats, yet I put them in set screw holders and vise versa. I'm going to order up some hss endmills with Weldon flats to use with the setscrew type . Pics to come tomorrow.

[tbaker2500]

I guess a noobie mistake, some of the carbide endmills don't have Weldon flats, yet I put them in set screw holders and vise versa. I'm going to order up some hss endmills with Weldon flats to use with the setscrew type . Pics to come tomorrow.

At this horsepower, you can get by without weldon flats and use them in ss holders without any slippage.

[diyengineer]

Good to know. Just didn't wanna find out the hard way. I ordered up a set anyways along with high speed steel endmills, in coated for test purposes.

[diyengineer]

Well second noob mistake, I assumed the shank diameter was the same as the cutter diameter like the carbide endmills tormach sells. Guess again, they seem to love 3/8" shanks and will neck down to 1/4" or up to 1/2". Atleast I have plenty extras as I will use 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" to initially get use to this mill and programming it. I checked out maritool, they offer a large range at goodies as good prices. I'd like to stick to one supplier for awhile until I figure out the easiest way to keep a tool library synced up between my cam program and Mach 3. I'll go with maritool next.

[diyengineer]

[tbaker2500]

Enviable holder count!

[Steve Seebold]

They show a //G on label for brand and made in Korea for origin.
Don't have enough experience to tell how good they are but they cut and do the job!
Easy to add to order when you buying other tools.
What I'm doing right now, I will get tired of looking at them before they wear out.

Hope this helps

I use a 3 flute end mill from //G in Korea. It's called Alu-Power. In 50 plus years of machining, it's the best end mill I have ever used for cutting aluminum. I get them from a place called Raptor End Mills in Santa Ana, CA. Cell phone 714-757-1994. Owner is Scott Smith. He's hard to find, but if you call after about noon, you'll usually find him in his shop. He sells a lot of end mills out of the back of his truck, and he works well with cash.

[Hirudin]

I just did an impromptu end mill test. I got some pretty bad chip weld on a Lakeshore Carbide 1/2" rougher/finisher (link) last night and I ended up chipping one of the cutting lips while removing it. Tonight I decided to try a different tool so I loaded up a Niagra Cutter 3-flute uncoated carbide end mill (link). It seemed to do well enough while doing a helical entry but as soon as it started cutting with the sides of the cutter it started squealing like a stuck pig. I hit e-stop and re-zeroed my part. Then I loaded up a Maritool 3-flute DLC carbide end mill (link) and restarted the program. It didn't do the entry, of course, but once it started cutting the squealing started again. I hit e-stop again, re-zeroed the stock, and loaded up a Shars 3-flute ZrN coated solid carbide end mill (with 40-thousandths radiused corners) (link). Let me tell you: this thing cut beautifully! No squealing, just purring. It left the absolute best *bottom* surface finish of any tool I've ever used on my machine. It's smooth like glass, and this is after doing a ~22 mm (<~7/8") depth roughing cut! It's superior feeling/looking even to anything I've been able to achieve with the SuperFly.

Now, I hate to get ahead of myself too much... To the best of my recollection I've only used ONE Shars brand tool and I've only used that tool ONE time. It's entirely possible that I lucked out and got some kind of perfect end mill, or it happened to have absolutely no runout, or maybe the radiused corners made all the difference. I don't know... I do know my next tool order will be through Shars though. I recorded all this on video. It came out a little dark but I plan to stitch it together and upload it to YouTube (tomorrow (hopefully)). I felt I would be doing a disservice if I didn't share my experience ASAP. Attached is a screenshot of the tool sending some chips flying.

[rlockwood]

Now, I hate to get ahead of myself too much... To the best of my recollection I've only used ONE Shars brand tool and I've only used that tool ONE time. It's entirely possible that I lucked out and got some kind of perfect end mill, or it happened to have absolutely no runout, or maybe the radiused corners made all the difference. I don't know... I do know my next tool order will be through Shars though. I recorded all this on video. It came out a little dark but I plan to stitch it together and upload it to YouTube (tomorrow (hopefully)). I felt I would be doing a disservice if I didn't share my experience ASAP. Attached is a screenshot of the tool sending some chips flying.

Runout is probably insignificant, considering how much deflection likely occurs.. I'd bet they're from the same source as the nicer Accupro ZrN coated endmills, which i've also found are a great performer. Its likely though, that the slickness of the ZrN, mixed with the stability of the higher helix made all the difference in the world. With flood coolant, the others might have performed more favorably. I always say there's no purpose in a coating in aluminum, but that goes out the window without proper coolant.

[slowtwitch]

I use a 3 flute end mill from //G in Korea. It's called Alu-Power. In 50 plus years of machining, it's the best end mill I have ever used for cutting aluminum. I get them from a place called Raptor End Mills in Santa Ana, CA. Cell phone 714-757-1994. Owner is Scott Smith. He's hard to find, but if you call after about noon, you'll usually find him in his shop. He sells a lot of end mills out of the back of his truck, and he works well with cash.

I use the same end mills and I'm very impressed with the results. I get mine on Ebay .....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-pcs-3-8-YG...item51b8adf21c

[Steve Seebold]

I use the same end mills and I'm very impressed with the results. I get mine on Ebay .....

3 Pcs 3 8 YG 1 Alu Power 3 Flute Carbide Endmill for Aluminum | eBay

If memory serves me correctly, I pay about $35.00 fit a 3/8 YG Alu-Power end mill and the ones I get have a coating on them.

[Hirudin]

I finally put together that video I promised...
High Helix, pleased to meet you! 30º, 38º, and 45º helix endmills run back to back - YouTube

I bet rlockwood was right: I now think the higher helix made the most difference.

[rlockwood]

I bet the others would survive longer in a highly rigid setup being fed at very high rates.. Just a hunch

[diyengineer]

Sounds like the squealers feeds and speeds are off? That 3 flute is impressive though!


Washington state

[diyengineer]

How does the stub versions perform on thinner plate?


Washington state