Cutting Stainless Steel capabilities

hello
just wondering if anyone uses the Shapeoko to cut stainless steel sheet up to 2mm thick?

Stainless steel is incredibly hard on end-mills so if you are going to try machine it I would recommend trochoidal milling. There is a good video about it from the creator of EstlCAM:

1 Like

hello
thanks for that. to make it clear i am only looking to cut holes in 1-2mm sheet metal - not milling as such. do you think one of these machines would do it?

Yes, and it’s still milling. It’ll take a few passes.

2 Likes

ok thanks. a lot of what we do is mild steel as well so hoping it will be ok

One consideration, for cutting in sheetmetal, a “fishtail” endmill may yield better results — you’ll need to experiment with this.

@ApolloCrowe cut a hole in some stainless to test the bamboo clamps: Bamboo Work Clamps made with Carbide Create. He also cut a stainless version of the titanium frog, but I think that was on a Nomad.

The feeds and speeds chart says slow and shallow with coolant: http://carbide3d.com/shapeoko/feedandspeed/

Kicker will be providing coolant on long and large jobs. For small parts you could use the hot glue to contain a puddle method. For larger space, you may want to rig up a mister or drip system, but then getting MDF wet doesn’t help it stay level.

1 Like