Travis
(Travis)
January 1, 2017, 10:50pm
1
Hello can anyone tell me how fast the nomad can cut 1/16 thick Aluminum along with carbon fibre if I can.
markwal
(Mark Walker)
January 2, 2017, 12:32am
2
I cut at 8 in/min at a depth of 0.01 inches, so it’d take me 7 passes to cut through. So just a little faster than 1in/min net. I haven’t done any carbon fiber.
2 Likes
Travis
(Travis)
January 2, 2017, 2:33am
3
Thank you Mark. but can you tell me if you mean 8 inches a minute?
markwal
(Mark Walker)
January 2, 2017, 2:35am
4
8 inches per minute is how fast the tool moves across the surface (feedrate). It’ll take 7 passes to get through 1/16 inch, so to make an 8 inch long cut, it’ll take 7 minutes.
2 Likes
Travis
(Travis)
January 2, 2017, 2:42am
5
Great thank you mark most of what I will be cutting is 2in long by 1 in wide.
mikep
(mikep)
January 2, 2017, 10:43pm
6
Lubrication, chip clearing, and coated mills are the difference between a new mill every part, and using the same endmill for dozens of parts. Makes a huge difference. The exact aluminum alloy is important. 6061 isn’t too bad, but there are some other alloys that are almost impossible to get a decent finish on.
Travis
(Travis)
January 2, 2017, 11:35pm
8
Mikep can you some suggestions on the aluminum and specific and endmills
Travis
(Travis)
January 2, 2017, 11:38pm
9
Thank you for the link and video Apollo
mikep
(mikep)
January 3, 2017, 1:15am
10
There are a number of threads here on the forum that do a better job than I can:
(this one is a little more shapeoko specific, you’ll be limited to 10k RPM on the nomad spindle)
Mark has pretty much covered it but I can add something to this.
All I cut is Alu,mainly T6,I use a combination of a 3mm 2flute 45 Helix cutter at 16000-17000 Rpm with a .17mm DoP with a feed of 400mm/min,Alu I find favours a thin and fast approach rather than the Ron Jeremy Deep and Slow,I finish with about 200-250 mm/min,similar to Marks approach.
It also depends on what you are asking it to do,I do a lot of thin panel work so my technique is focused towards that,I have to work around panel …
Hello fellow Nomad-onauts and Shapeoko-ists,
I’ve been trying to figure out how to improve the life of my tooling, specifically the 1/16" carbide flat end-mills, when doing extensive work in 6061 aluminum.
The repeated case of failure I’m experiencing is aluminum welding on to the tool, leading to it eventually snapping due to rubbing instead of cutting, but when I try to take more aggressive cuts that are still within the rated 0.07HP/50W we have with the stock Nomad883 spindle, the axis moto…
I’ve posted a couple of photo albums, one is primarily the un-boxing of my Nomad but at the end of the album there is some of information on my initial attempts at cutting aluminum.
Nomad883
The second album is about my latest tests and results, there is a also a youtube link to a short, unfortunately vertical oriented and dark video in the descriptions as well.
Nomad Cutting Aluminum
I’d be happy to hear any comments or answer any questions.
There is also a good chunk of stuff from Apollo (with video):
I saw an Aluminum test file on Instagrm and it looked like a nice challenge for the Nomad, so I machined a sample, and wanted to share the results and settings used to machine a 3d file into 6061.
Here are the MeshCAM toolpath settings and some pointers to hopefully save you some time and cutters.
This was cut dry with the .125" ball for the roughing pass and .0625" ball for the finishing and pencil passes.
Run time was around 5 hours.
3D 6061 ALuminum 125 063.tps (2.1 KB)
[image]
[i…
There’s a bunch here in the wiki that is a good general reference:
Learn about the Shapeoko CNC Routers. They're fast, accurate, and reliable so you can make amazing projects to keep, give as gifts, or sell.
1 Like
Travis
(Travis)
January 3, 2017, 1:25am
11
I will be doing charms about 2x1 in langth and with