Can a wood router cut aluminium?

[martinw]

Originally Posted by SCHootie What would be the minimum HP rating of the router to be used for Al.

Dear SCHootie,

I use a one and a quarter horsepower hand held router with 1/4" collet. See post #4. I always take really light cuts so power is not an issue for me. I'm more worried about breaking the cutter than speed.

Best wishes

Martin

[martinw]

I mean speed of cut, not speed of cutter rotation.

Martin

[braidmeister]

Martin,
This depends on how stiff your gantry/CNC is. Just to establish a baseline for YOUR machine, I would try setting your Z plunge speed to 30 IPM or less, keeping a small (let's say .25") safe Z-height. I would run the XY between 30-75 IPM, with a .03 to .06" depth of cut. Your router RPM should be around 13,000 to 15,000.

The MOST important thing is to keep the bit cool so that AL doesn't weld to the cutter and gum things up. Use compressed air blowing on the bit. Grab some of the chips coming off of the bit and measure their thickness with a pair of digital calipers. This will tell you your chipload per flute. You can compare this number to the recommended chipload for the tool you are using to see where you are. Keep in mind that chipload numbers are not law and that depending on your machine, you may have to reduce chipload to compensate for machine & bit deflection.

ALSO...contrary to most of the materials you will run on your CNC, AL likes to be CLIMB milled, meaning that if you are doing an outside profile cut, the CNC should be moving the router in a clockwise direction, and counter-clockwise on inside cuts.

-B

[martinw]

Originally Posted by braidmeister Martin, This depends on how stiff your gantry/CNC is. Just to establish a baseline for YOUR machine, I would try setting your Z plunge speed to 30 IPM or less, keeping a small (let's say .25") safe Z-height. -B

Dear braidmeister,

I'm so sorry. I didn't make it clear. I was talking about hand-held routers.

I guess that means that that the X, Y, and Z axes are, well, actually, me.

Probably not an entirely rigid structure!

Thank-you for your advice.

With very best wishes

Martin