That is so clean and the chips are so nice, I am going to invest in some of those endmills. Best Ad I have seen!
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Shoot I do have a er11 setup coming but datron seems to be limited on 1/8" and 1/4" endmills. Any other company suggestions?
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Yes, I use kodiak end mills most and very much recommend them for price relative to quality. They ship quickly too.
Datron is the highest end single flute I know of and is rated to run insane RPMs. So a perfect fit for palm router based cnc’s. The ER collets aught to let you mate up the metric Datrons fine. If not, Elaire Corp sells a metric set for Makita and Dewalt brand routers. I prefer the Precise Bits collet set for Dewalt (though I don’t think they sell metric any longer).
SpeedTiger is a quality tool at a very good price too. Amazon shipping to boot. If I need to rough something out or am at risk of damaging a tool, I use a SpeedTiger.
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Thank you!
I am looking to do some more speed tests and I would like to know the endmill is not holding anything back in aluminum.
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Okay now I am very impressed. I don’t think I have used the 1/16" for anything other than drilling, and here you are taking down the aluminum.
Are you getting your feeds and speed from a calc or are you progressively stepping up your own feeds and speeds? I am so impressed with your cuts you are inspiring me to do some more speed tests.
I have been using this one, FSWizard, but have been noodling around with the pro version and the other cnc cookbook version. For me the other two seem to only include tool deflection which is nice but don’t seem entirely neeeded?
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No feed calcs just yet, though I just (this last night) purchased a license to Millalyzer. Been meaning to get more technical and now starting down that path.
Learning by failing. And trying again. Watching more YouTube such as NYCNC, Winston Moy, etc. Trying again, and failing. Reading more V1 Forum, Machinery Handbook, etc. Trying again, and failing. Brauns CNC MPCNC was the guiding inspiration for milling aluminum.
For success dry milling aluminum it seems that
- Chips must be cleared,
- FeedRate must be high,
- Adaptive Optimal load must be between .2 - .5 of bit size,
- Heat imparted into stock must be monitored.
- Endmill design and coating have a material impact on all of the above.
I feel this is unnecessary to say but as means of full disclosure: I tighten the belts quite tight (beyond recommended specs), I run all steppers at 2amps (except the Z @1.4amps), 24v Power Supply, X-Axis Stepper 92 oz. in., Coolerguys 120mm (120X120X38) High Airflow Waterproof IP67 on full to cool the board… not many mods/spec changes, but all are for max torque, speed, and power. Steel XY and now Aluminum YZ plates (though not essential).
This NYCNC video is an excellent primer on the issues a LR3 will confront.
Tool pressure, Material Removal Rates, Bit selection, harmonics… so much to learn!
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I’ve stopped worrying about deflection. The only thing I care about now is adequete tool pressure to take a meaningful chip and if the bit breaks. That’s a lot of leeway to work with.
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I am still a big fan of trochoidal with aluminium. You can go full DOC with as much speed as your CNC can deal with without beginning to swing.
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For those of you interested in purchasing Datron end mills, which are almost entirely metric, you can use imperial precise bit collets. Manufacturer tested.
Hi,
I just tested 3mm, 4mm and 6mm shanks. The results:
3mm shank in 1/8" collet - very tight clamping OK
4mm shank in a 3/16" collet - did not work. threads on nut bottomed out before clamping NO
6mm shank in 1/4" collet - very tight clamping OK
We initially made some metric collet for the router families that we support but they did not prove to be very popular. We did not produce more once the initial batches sold out.
Please let me know if you need any more information.
My best regards,
Ron Reed
http://www.thinktink.com
http://www.precisebits.com
SKYPE: thinkntink
tel: 1-719-488 9640 (USA)
fax: 1-866-453-8473 (USA)
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I will have to take a look but I think that is going to be different for each type of collet. I have 4 different brands and some have very little room. Some have a bunch of room for clamping.
The downside to testing this is if you spin an endmill your collet is toast at that point and usually needs to be replaced.
Elaire sells correct sizes for most routers and is even willing to make what you need if they don’t offer it. For $20 that is a pretty safe bet. For anyone with an ER collet system getting the correct one is pretty cheap.
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I bought a 1/8 from Elaire as well for the Maikta. Pretty neat. 
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Mmmmm, sapphire side plates!
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I don’t know that they’re better per se, but they are at least as good, and don’t have humidity issues in the summer. Long term, they aren’t going to degrade or warp, and they still look really good.
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i guess i will take this route, 1/2 inch aluminium here cost an arm and a leg ant you have to buy 1/2 sheet minimum.
would you say Seaboard would work well too?
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Yeah was just going to ask. Where do you even get a sheet of 1/2" aluminum? I can get it already milled for much less money, but that’s not in the spirt of the license (or machine).
i don’t know in the U.S. but here in the Dominican republic you can get a 1/4 inch 6061 al. sheet for $71,136.3 dominican pesos, at the exchange would be $1,281 USD the 1/2 inch is the double of that
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did you used 1/2" or 3/8"?
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That is actually 12mm. it was laser cut on a 120W CO2 laser. While the laser isn’t mine, it wasn’t an exchange for money. It was a friend at a sign shop who did it as a favour. (They get bored of doing letters and rectangles all the time, and appreciate doing something interesting now and again. Some of my project spin-offs that they’ve done are building arcade replica machines, a 3D printer, and some fancy woodwork. I almost have them ready to build a ZenXY for their showroom…
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