Video: trochoidal slotting in aluminum on shapeoko 3

[truher (Joel Truher)]

Hi everybody,

I thought you might enjoy my attempt at trochoidal slotting on the Shapeoko 3; this is 6061-T6 aluminum, 0.250 thick, 0.250 2-flute carbide stub end mill, full axial engagement, 0.01 radial engagement, maximum possible feed rate (200 ipm but acceleration-limited, not sure what it really is), 16-18krpm, so 0.00625 nominal feed per tooth, actual chip load 0.0025. i should probably raise the radial engagement since the tool speed is lower than requested. anyway, it’s nice not to have to police the chips continuously, and to spread the tool wear over the full depth of the cut. rough cut is fairly … rough, so i do a number of slower finishing passes, 20 thou total (more than necessary). anybody else doing this sort of thing with the Shapeoko 3 (or 4 or pro)?

joel

[HeuristicBishop (Tyler Sowers)]

I’m trying to work out some similar parameters on the Nomad 3. Except with a 1mm diameter two flute.

So far I’ve managed about 1.5mm doc with a 0.3mm radial engagement in copper… feels like you’re blowing me out of the water

Videos like that make me want just a bit more power.

[neilferreri (Neil Ferreri Ω)]

@truher

anybody else doing this sort of thing with the Shapeoko 3 (or 4 or pro)?

Here’s a good thread.

Lets share some tool paths - 3d aluminium machining

Hi guys, I feel it’s been a while since I posted anything useful so I wanted to expand on @Vince.Fab topics around machining aluminium along with peoples use of fusion 360 and adaptive tool paths. I appreciate many will be inspired by the shiny aluminium parts that have been floating around here as late, with many curious of how best to use fusion 360 for 2 sided and more complex milling operations… With that in mind I have pulled out one of my old files that needs a number of different milling…

If you search for aluminum on the forum, you’ll find there are plenty of examples.
What CAM program are you using? Lots on adaptive toolpaths as well.

[truher (Joel Truher)]

thanks for the link! lots of interesting stuff there.

re: my project, what I’m doing is trying to maximize the linear rate of through-slotting in 0.250 plate, while minimizing the risk of chip welding, and maximizing tool life, thus the full DOC. finish is unimportant.

I’m using fusion. I think I should be able to take more (double?) radial DOC because the machine can’t deliver the full feed rate. i suspect that the stepper drivers should be able to detect stalls, and use that to set an alarm, but I don’t see anything like that in the firmware.

[neilferreri (Neil Ferreri Ω)]

@truher

i suspect that the stepper drivers should be able to detect stalls

Do you have the stock controller? If so, the drivers can not detect stalls.

[truher (Joel Truher)]

huh. that’s a bummer. is there a different common grbl controller that does?