Thanks. I really wanted to hear the sounds his machine makes while cutting heavy so I can tune my speeds and feeds by ear a little better. I’m running a china 6 mm single flute carbide 2d adaptive at 1800 mm/min 2mm doc .8 mm step over with my dewalt router at 4-5 on the dial with stock belts, HDZ, Saunders machine works aluminum bed with the upgraded cross braces and the SMW 1/4" mod vise milling 6061 but I want to compare the sounds.
I don’t have my air blast set up yet so I use a few drops of Tap magic aluminum cutting fluid every other pass. The parts stay cool as does the end mill. I’m a quadriplegic and run my machine from my wheelchair and I know for a fact that a lot of heat goes into the chips as I have had many find their way down my shirt collar.
I had a nice enclosure but had to have the lid removed because the SMW cross braces combined with the HDZ made my machine to tall for it and once I add my 1.5kw spindle it will be even taller so I’m waiting until my machine is fully upgraded before designing another.
I do still have all the videos but will need to do a youtube video with them all put together if you want. Not a problem if that would help!
Its sounds like you have a pretty nice setup and ide like to ask how much you like the mod vise? Also cutting dry isn’t a bad thing if you want to save the trouble of manually applying tap magic. The Richard WD-40 drip can might also be easier to use but any oil gets messy.
As far as the sounds go, bad ones will show up as chatter in your finish usually. Your floor finish is a good indication of vibration. How do you cam your aluminum cutting? I feel its good practice to set chipload above a minimum value (0.001") and use realtime feed adjustments to vary the load based off the sound of the cut.
Pleas do upload to youtube I would love to see the videos.
I love the mod vise. It clamps so tight I could probably lift the machine by the clamped work piece and that’s just using the serrated side of the SS jaws. It’s super low profile gives you a lot of z clearance. I bought the SS reversible jaw inserts, a spare set of soft jaw blanks, and 3 sets of talon grips “keep in mind it needs 2 sets as a minimum if you plan on using them and they are stupid expensive”. I will be buying another mod vise in the future but just with the SS inserts as 4 sets of talons cost more than the vise.
You will have to use the SMW bed or make your own adapter plate to use it.
After 3d adaptive roughing with no finishing passes. Machine time was around 35 minutes. The first block from the left was over an hour with the stock z running Winston’s speeds and feeds from his single flute Youtube video. After the upgraded HDZ and aluminum bed I cut the machine time by over 60% running higher DOC, WOC, and almost double the feed rate.
I covered the bed with a spare aluminum plate and other scrap wood to make cleanup easier. The orange 3d printed part was an old dust shoe I made that has a embedded nut on the tool lock button side so I can tighten a bolt that holds the lock in so I can change bits. Being a Quad with no finger function makes holding a wrench and the button by hand impossible. So I had to make a way.
I was able to put the stock XL back into commission for feeds and speeds testing in aluminum. This was mainly to test out cam for a remote job.
ModKita
Finished the back side machining and all the parts came out great. Not bad for a dude with no finger function.
I thank you Vince for posting your speeds / feeds as they helped me push harder and greatly reduce machine time and get great results fairly fast.
What do you think about a new thread called
IN THE CUT- Proven speeds and feeds for aluminum
There can be 2 separate threads
One for Nomad users and one for Shapeoko users
A place for users to get proven feeds and speeds for various aluminum cutting so they don’t have to search a bunch of threads or figure out speed calculators. I see problem cutting aluminum threads often and feel a in depth chart would help so many users and save many end mills “after all end mills have feelings too”
I’m thinking basic levels along the lines of end mill size / type -flute count with 3 levels Minimum , Medium, Maximum depending on the machining strategy being used AKA adaptive, contour, pocketing, finishing, DOC, WOC, how much stock to leave to have a enough material left to do a proper finishing pass without rubbing and what setting the router should be set to.
Nah, just lurking there now and then when I get pop-up notifications. To be honest, these past few weeks I have been going there more frequently in the hope of catching a new glimpse of the Nomad3
@Vince.Fab dude congratulations on that job I love both John’s Saunders / grimsmo and especially their business of machining podcsst. What makes this even cooler is they were talking about you on it will try to dig the episode out and link it, well done Vince!! Go forth and spread the word of SO3
And everyone else cause the tag feature is weird lol. @bpk9p4 I will be in charge of all hobby machine content and customer requests for special feeds and speeds for all different kinds of materials. Right now ProvenCut is pretty light on the hobby side so that’s where I get to nerd out on.
Right now the machines are
PocketNC V2-50 5axis
Tormach Xstech router
Bantam pcb mill
Bantam Desktop mill
(Hopefully) a Nomad 3
Wazer waterjet
And of course an
MDF bed Shapeoko with Z plus
SMW fixture plate bed Shapeoko with HDZ
@Able that’s an awesome video on how to do a “poor man’s steep and shallow”! Ive started to use the same techniques on those types of surfaces, works awesome!
And…I’ll just leave this here. Cause everyone else is having full linear fun and I gotta stop being lazy. Let’s dial in the motion system and keep pushing those limits!
Griff
(Well crap, my hypometric precursor device is blown…)
770
Intrigued by the whole “fixture plate” vs waste board approach for hobby machines. SMW approach to an integrated package of accessories at a reasonable cost is quite tempting.
