Is anyone using 0.5mm or smaller cutters for Aluminium or brass on the Nomad.
If so what sort or feeds & speeds are achievable
Not sure if you have seen this, but they talk about speeds and feeds with micro endmills using a Nomad.
I mainly cut wood with a shapeoko so my knowledge with this limited, but I hope this helps.
It becomes very challenging with a 24k RPM spindle with anything below 1mm because you cannot maintain the recommended minimum surface speed of 100m/min for Alu. Alu and Brass have the highest cutting speed requirements of common materials.
With a 40k spindle you get 88m/min on a 0.7mm cutter. Anything smaller than that is a real problem.
The trick is to gradually step down cutter sizes so the smallest cutter is doing the minimum work possible to keep rubbing and heat down.
You will also be fighting runout and slop of the standard N3 spindle and regular collets.
So with the default spindle I would say not really feasible to use 0.5mm on Alu. You would need to upgrade to a very low runout 40k+ spindle.
Do you have the option of using a metal with lower recommended surface speed such a mild steel or carving in wax and casting?
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