Basically I just wanted to make my first cut in aluminum.
I have a 1/2" piece of stock. I was just cutting a round ring
that was about 3/4" diameter.
I used a YG ALU-POWER 28573/(E5981016) 1/4" 3-flute end mill and I used the default Aluminum Ring.c2d (64 KB)
Carbide Create toolpath setting for a 1/4" #201 end mill.
Stepover = 0.118
Depth per pass 0.015
Plunge rate 10.0
Feed rate 48
RPM 18000
Anyway, as soon as I started cutting, I thought it seemed like
it was moving to fast but I had never cut aluminum before.
By the time it got down to 1/2", I stopped since it looked like a mess. Did not even cut a round hole. Was kind of oblong instead of round.
I stopped the job and the end mill and also the stock was pretty warm.
The bit had melted glob of aluminum inside the flutes. I have attached the C2D file.
I thought that the default settings on Carbide Create were always
on the conservitive side. At least I have read this many times on this community.
Would I have been better off if I used a 1/8" end mill instead of the 1/4"?
Most people cut with a single flute o ring router bit. The 3 flute (aka #201) may not be the best for aluminum. When cutting aluminum you want to avoid heat build up and recutting chips. With a 3 blade bit you will heat up quickly and the chip evacuation is not very good. There is a lot of cookbook advise on the forum for cutting aluminum and you should look some of the recipes up. I suspect your “mess” is the metal/chips melting and forming an ugly looking cut. Keep trying other things because the 3 flute bit obviously does not work.
Is there instructions on how to start the cutter and come in from the side of the material? I understand it’s not good plunging in like we do in wood. I searched but couldn’t find anything on this. I bought single flute bits after reading about that.
I agree with gdon.
When cutting aluminum I use the 278Z single flute for 1/4" or the 102 1/8" 2 flutes (the 102Z would probably be better but I use what I have ).
Single flute and double flutes would do fine in aluminum. any more than that and you start having the issues you ran into. I’m not expert but this has worked well for me.
As for lead-in and lead-out (side you’re coming in and out), I’m not sure Carbide Create allows you to set this (I mostly use Fusion 360 these days, which allows for way more control of the tool path).
Not positive but I think in the Pro version there is Ramping. However Fusion 360 seems to be the go to for machining metal with various methods to cut into the metal parts.
).
