I don’t have to cut aluminium with a jig-saw anymore! I can’t even express just what a victory this is.
Oh, yeah - what is it, right? Cut from 1/4 inch 6061 aluminium, this is one of a mirrored pair of tools to hold the oil pan in a corvette engine while you’re… uh… doing something. I don’t remember what my buddy told me he was doing exactly.
Setup… I was working with what I had on-hand. I’ve got no single flute end mills and no double flute flat end mills so this was cut with a 4mm ball nose HSS mill - 6mm shank.
Estlcam settings:
DOC 1.5mm
Feed rate 18mm/sec (might be just a little high - probably go 15 next time)
Z plunge 0.5mm/sec
trochoidal step 10%
trochoidal width 50%
RPM was roughly 12-15k - I don’t have a PID so I just use the dial on my Makita router and dial it in so I get chips instead of dust.
I’ve got some dimensional wonkiness going on but that’s from the zip ties on the belts being put under load and acting as springs on the belts. A few more uses and they’ll conform to their intended shape better and accuracy will go up. I probably should have done a few more cuts in wood before attempting this but I couldn’t wait. I ran a test cut in MDF (i know…) and then went straight to aluminium. I’ve been bad - I’m going to have to drink beer(s) and think about what I’ve done. Ryan, if you ever make your way to Louisiana (Baton Rouge or New Orleans), I insist that you let me buy you a beer.
