Christian, Dave's numbers look like a good starting point. By the way, it's nice to see someone remember how well kerosene works on aluminum. Seems like more and more folks today are convinced nothing less than some $100 per gallon wonder-goo will facilitate metal cutting. You may also find it necessary to put an airstream on the cutter to keep the cut free of chips. I don't do much cutting with endmills this small, but to scale down from practical experience, I'd say your depth of cut can safely be at half the cutter diameter for a starting point. With experience you may find you can take a deeper cut, but this depends on the material and the specific cutter. One thing's for sure though......nothing will jam chips and break a cutter quicker than a too deep slotting cut. Also, keep an eye on the edge sharpness of the cutter until you get some feel for how long you can run one until it's dull. Some types of aluminum are surprisingly abrasive to cutting edges. Lots of folks will say carbide is the only way to fly, but I've found the toughness and edge-holding ability of cobalt bearing HSS cutters can make them outperform carbide in aluminum in many instances.  |