6-flute endmill for finishing aluminum?

[cnczoner]

Hi all,

My mill does 1500rpm max, and I'm roughing, then using a separate endmill for finishing 6061-T6. The usual recommendation is to use 2-flute EM's for aluminum (general milling) for increased chip clearance between the flutes, but if I'm just finishing (profile) taking about .010" to .030" off, couldn't I use a 1/2" 6-flute endmill, as the chips would be much smaller (both because of the light pass, and because there's more flutes)? My thought smaller chips should get me a finer finish, and I could perhaps increase the feed rate a bit too. The mill has 1.5 hp which is more than I need for this.

I'm thinking I'd pick up a Hanita 6-flute 1/2" endmill from JL for ~$30.

Cheers,
-Neil.

[crazythunder]

Sure I would keep my chip load per tooth between .003 to .005 and run the rpm at 1500. For that little of money for the endmill do not see any problems make sure you are getting the chips out of the way with either air or coolant.

[dertsap]

6flt should get a good finish with light cuts , i used to do alum. castings that had to be perfect , we cut them with a 3/4 8flt and when we tried to farm the job out everyone said we were grinding the parts to accomplish that kind of finish , we never did tell anyone how we did it

[cnczoner]

Cool. I think it's a fairly low cost experiment anyway.
Thanks.