I’m trying to figure out what values to plug in for two new tools that I’ll be using on a project under Spindle Speed and Default Toolpath Settings.
Any assistance or resources for deciphering the documentation would be greatly appreciated. The stock being milled is aluminum.
There are several methods that one can use. I put “1.0” in for the feed rate, plunge rate, step over and depth per pass. I tend to use end mills for multiple materials so any data I put here is very often wrong - so I make sure the values are totally insane.
I do this because all of these values can be overridden in MeshCAM as part of the job.
My roughing speed will be quite different than my finishing speed. My pencil finish speed will be different than both of those.
There is no one number one can put here that will work in the general case. You can make a really long name to quality it’s use - 6061, [rough/finish/fine finish] - and have multiple entries of the same end mill differentiated by name.
My approach is to ignore all of that and deal with the setting on the job basis. YMMV.
The one thing I cannot - as yet - override (easily?) is the RPM. I adjust this for each job. A pain. I often set this to 10K RPM and hope that I have a good solution for the material in the job (and I do not have to change it).
Setting the Feeds and Speeds (F&S) for a material and end mill will require knowing what “aluminum” is? Are you talking about an alloy (which one?), pure Al… what? Is it 6061 or 6075?
Are you going to use some form of lubrication or mill it dry?
Next we need to know the machine - Nomad 883.
Next we need to know the tool - I see the link.
Now we’re ready to consider F&S tradeoffs.
It’s worth taking the time to read and learn about F&S and understand the concepts and formulas. It’s not THAT hard. Really.
Regardless, a good thing to do is purchase (or rent) G-Wizard, an awesome F&S calculator.
If you like, we can Skype or phone and I can help you (offline).
The Nomad 883 is an 0.07 HP mill. Be sure to set the derating for small mills/routers and don’t use any aggressive roughing (hogging).
I don’t have G-Wizard with me right now (I’m in court waiting to be interviewed as a juror!) but when I get the chance (and nobody else beats me!) I can come up with some numbers for you. For an uncoated end mill that small, the numbers are going to be pretty small (slow).
mark
P.S.
Please see:
and learn about end mills.
I strongly recommend that in the future you purchase coated end mills (e.g. ZrN, TiB2) for milling Al and Al alloy - less heat, less wear, faster machining.