I’m going to guess that @gmack may not be a big fan of that application?
Luke,
Is there anyone you’d recommend in the UK for sourcing decent quality or even tooling plate Aluminium?
Thanks all for replies I have had a quick look for test stock @spargeltarzan I can see some 6082T6 near me is that the same?
Yes, T6 is warm-aged, a heat treatment. Good stuff for machining.
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Jon,
Have you seen the list on the Wiki?
https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Materials#Aluminium
It’s even spelt correctly so we don’t even have the excuse that “I searched for it but…” 
There’s a pretty good rundown of which Aluminium alloys are worth fighting with there.
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Oh, and this from the Empire that drove Alan Turing to suicide for his proclivities…
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@LiamN
Right - 6082T6 ordered
and i looking at 2x of these Single Flute They are solid Carbide Just worried it says nothing about Aluminium, would these be ok?
That I don’t know, none of the Rennie cutters say anything about aluminium, I bought some of the same 2 flute Aluminium bits from APT that you mention in the brass thread but I’m still measuring and 3D printing the prototype parts, haven’t attacked any metal yet.
We’ll have to rely on the folks with more experience for guidance on that…
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brill thanks for all your help tonight
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There’s some good hints in this thread that Julien pointed me to;
And Dan had some good stuff to say about cutting Al here;
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Last tidbit - slotting toolpaths in aluminum in my world is almost pure evil. Adaptive for the win.
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Hard to tell, I think I have a few of these I have only used them on acrylic, pvc and abs.
I only buy in bulk from a local machinists these days. I would scout out ebay for relevant size offcuts for general testing.
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ok all i need now is the postie to bring me my new bits, and pieces. i decided to give it a fair crack and splashed out on a £40 end mill that i can also use in wood this is it Shiny - let you all know how i get on!!
so hopefully with the correct material 6082 T6 and Amana End Mill i might have sucsess.
Cheers
Jon
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Spoiler alert: you will fall in love with single flutes and adaptive toolpaths, and soon you’ll be making giant heaps of chips with a renewed love for Aluminium
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Good Evening All !
Exciting times - my bit came and my 6082 T6 material arrived too. But i lost my nerve around F&S for adaptive test cut.
Mine is pretty much the same as C3D’s one
i am thinking about the following -
does this look OK to the metal heads out there?
Thanks
Jon
Side question, I see you are using climb milling. Would it be better to use conventional? Asking, as I will soon be cutting Aluminum for the first time as well.
Edit: Looking into resources online, it talks about conventional milling can re-cut chips as the chips are evacuated in the direction of the cut. So maybe climb is best for Aluminum?
It’s adequate in 99% of cases, aluminium or not. At least this was my take from this discussion:
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During full width slotting your cutter is climb milling 50% or the time and conventional milling the other 50%
The biggest issue with slotting is chip evacuation and a four flute is pretty much the worst thing you can run in aluminum for that operation. An oil or wd-40 spray/drip would probably have saved the part but IMO the depth of cut was too conservative. You probably could have doubled it to increase the chip size and heat capacity.
Be careful with those style single flutes, the geometry is not as well suited for metal cutting as the carbide3d ones or say a Datron. Chip evacuation can still be an issue even though they are single flutes. I commonly had to reduce feeds/speeds/load sometimes up to 50% compared to a good endmill.
Yes slotting isn’t fun.
But if you learn to do it well you’ll be able to cut anything.
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