Tools for threading and face-grooving 6061-Al on lathe

[SRT Mike]

Help me out here...

It seems 99.999% of inserts are for steel, iron, Ti, etc. Precious little for Aluminum.

I found TMX has a nice line of positive inserts for aluminum. But only for turning. In my part I need to do a face groove - the groove OD is 2.13" and 2.0" ID, so the width of the groove is only .065", or about 1.65mm. I haven't seen anyone selling inserts made for grooving aluminum, and from my experience of using regular coated carbide used on steel to cut AL, they cut horribly, so I am not too keen to try an insert to groove this AL that's not an insert designed for the job. It seems .065" is a tiny size when I look through the catalogs - hardly any tools small enough. This is a groove for an 1/16" width o-ring, so I'd have thought there would be TONS of tools for it?

I also need to turn an ID thread and an OD thread. Again, I don't see anyone making inserts specified for this job. Would the gold colored (I think TiAlN) carbide inserts that are usually used on steel work OK for threading Al? Threading is much less a cutting operation than facing or something, but in some ways a precise cut is even MORE important to getting a good thread.

Thanks

[ironDigit]

ther is a company in the US specializing in hss insert cuttingtools being linked to here on the zone a couple times.
Sorry i can't seem to find a link right now.

a google search comes up with littlemachineshop but i dont think these are small enough for you ,they are hss.

maybe someone can fill me in on the link.

Good luck !!

[HuFlungDung]

I've found Iscar Cutgrip style tools are pretty good for machining aluminum, but, 1/16 is very narrow to do anything except plunge cut. I would probably do it with a Kennametal top notch grooving tool, or perhaps a "laydown" style grooving tool would work even better.

For sure, the laydown style (3 cornered) thread tools are much better for threading with than Top-Notch, because they are available with chip formers.

Special clearance geometry is required for face grooving. Iscar and several other companies manufacture face grooving tools with curved support blades and twisted geometry inserts to help form the chip cleanly. A phone call to Iscar support would probably be to your advantage to choose the correct tooling.

Aluminum can be machined with plain uncoated carbide, and a polished face is best to resist built up edge. I think there is a new coating for machining aluminum.....zirconium something, but I don't know how easy it is to get yet.

FWIW, a 1/16 O-ring requires a little bit of squish space, so you might be able to improve the sides of the groove with light secondary cuts, which will widen the groove just a little. I would definitely use an oily fluid to get the best cut surface.

[XRACERJB]

I believe Thin-Bit has what you are looking for.

[SRT Mike]

Originally Posted by HuFlungDung I've found Iscar Cutgrip style tools are pretty good for machining aluminum, but, 1/16 is very narrow to do anything except plunge cut. I would probably do it with a Kennametal top notch grooving tool, or perhaps a "laydown" style grooving tool would work even better. For sure, the laydown style (3 cornered) thread tools are much better for threading with than Top-Notch, because they are available with chip formers. Special clearance geometry is required for face grooving. Iscar and several other companies manufacture face grooving tools with curved support blades and twisted geometry inserts to help form the chip cleanly. A phone call to Iscar support would probably be to your advantage to choose the correct tooling. Aluminum can be machined with plain uncoated carbide, and a polished face is best to resist built up edge. I think there is a new coating for machining aluminum.....zirconium something, but I don't know how easy it is to get yet. FWIW, a 1/16 O-ring requires a little bit of squish space, so you might be able to improve the sides of the groove with light secondary cuts, which will widen the groove just a little. I would definitely use an oily fluid to get the best cut surface.

Thanks for the info - I had talked to Iscar (who I figured was my best bet) and they said they had stuff that would work, and would send a catalog "right out", but it's been a week and no catalog. I called again asking if I can give them my shipping account and they can express one, but no dice.

I'll check out the thinbit stuff mentioned above. For the threading I want to do something close to an M50x1 thread (sort of like a camera lens) but I'll maybe have to play with it to get such a fine thread to work OK in Al. The issue I had with the face grooving was any tool formed to work on that diameter came in a larger width.

I'm just shocked there seems to be such a hassle to find some of this tooling

[aminear]

Mike,

I do a little a little bit of o-ring grooves on faces when making my dive light heads. I just use a HSS blank and grind it for my tool. I grind it to about a 50 mil width. I get a better finish and avoid chatter marks with a smaller cut width. The only thing you have to be careful with is the edge that goes towards the OD needs some relief, the amount based on the diameter.

I am using Mach3 and made a wizard to generate the gcode for it. It cuts it in a peck motion then moves over to get the correct oring width, and pecks again moving back & forth until the finish cut which follows the final profile at the depth you select.

Arnie