Just finished cutting out 100 5.5mm diameter holes in a 8"x12" sheet of 1/4" 6061 aluminum. I’d previously done a few clamps that worked out pretty good, (used 3 to hold down this sheet) and I’d had several failures mainly from other undefined aluminum alloys.
I initially was going to drill out and then go back and cut out the finished diameter, but initially trying a 2 flute cheapie 1/8" it didn’t work well at all, gummed up quick. So I found my 274Z 1/8" bit, and went on and did the pocket cutout which worked well. I set up a 5 step pocket, which worked pretty well.
I’m using an old aspire and I really should learn Fusion 360… It would help getting a continuous spiral cut rather than stepped. But, about 45 minutes after I got it set up correctly it was finished. Just have to tap all of these to 6mm. Its for my laser, and will be used to mount parts to be laser on.
I used 25in/min feed rate, speed all the way up on the dewalt. Plunge rate was 5in/min, and .020 stepover. Thanks for looking.
