Hey there! Im a CNC router rookie and I have some aluminum cutting questions. I’m getting a 12" x 24" piece of aluminum from Home Depot to make a mock up. The thing Im cutting out will be approximately 10" x 14". thickness of aluminum is .019". I also want to cut out some text as part of the design.
What bits/settings would you recommend? Thanks!
Check out this thread. Aluminum cutting questions - #2 by JoeN
My reccomendation is drillman1 on ebay. The local store for drillman1 is Sparktech.
Your thickness could be cut probably in 1 pass with an al cutting endmill at probably 50 ipm? I don’t know your design. I’m guessing you should use blue tape/super glue/activator as your hold down. youtube
Hi Joe!
I apprecaite your response. I ended up going to Sparktech and getting a bit from there. The one thing I’m a little confused by is where to get the database for the bit so I can import into VCarve. Where do I go to find it?
What brand is the bit? You may be able to find a file on the tool’s website, but I’ve often just grabbed the big Amana database from toolstoday and found a roughly equivalent bit to use their settings. https://www.toolstoday.com/t-cnc-software-library
Here’s the page
Amazing thank you for sharing Adam! This is the bit I got is an LMT Onsrud, diameter 3/32", single flute, 63-603.
The guys at SparkTech mentioned something similar: If I cant find database for the exact bit, find something similar. Is there any part of the dimensions of the bit that needs to be exact?
Also if it helps, im using Fusion 360.
I think pretty much just diameter and # of flutes “need” to be exact
“need” in quotes because all the settings are adjustable based on material, depth of cut, etc etc.
Try the tool setting for one of these bits: Amana 51372-Z, Amana 51472-Z, Amana 51472
I appreciate all the insight Adam! Another question I have is about coolant. The piece of im cutting is only .019" thick (a thin aluminum piece from home depot to cut mock ups). I read that other thread you sent a link to and didnt see much about running coolant. Any info on how to do that? Ill be using the small CNC machine. Cutting out the shape of a bird wing.
I wouldn’t worry about coolant. Your feeds and speeds is more important. The material probably won’t get hot enough to care.
We don’t use liquid coolant on the CNC machines. If you want, you can use wd40, but with the correct speeds you shouldnt needed.
In theory, you could use air for cooling and chip clearing. We will have a new magnetic base set up for that near the mill soon. I wouldn’t object to it being borrowed for the CNC occasionally, except that there is no convenient compressed air near the small CNC.
Awesome! thanks again!! One last question and hopefully I can move on from rookie status. Im going to go with the database from the tool Adam suggested above (Amana Tool 51472). What sort of spindle speed and feed rate would you recommend cutting at? According to the other aluminum thread, sounds like having spindle speed and feed rate on the slower side of things is better than faster.
I would like an air drop near the router so we can attach a pig tail air line for chip clearing. We could instal a simple chip clearing blower on the router head. The user would connect a pigtail airline from the wall to the spindle and dial in the air volume when needed.
Anyway! I want to thank you all so much for all the help and suggestions. Learned a lot! I ended up using the database for the Amana Tool 51472 (as suggest earlier in this thread) and had it 60ipm feed rate. Also, there were a few spots where the bit didnt cut all the way through, so it was suggested to me by someone there to drop my Z by 1 millimeter and did the trick! Thank you all again!!
